Hi,

I'm considering moving my Swiss vested benefits pension to the UK as i've departed and de-registered from Switzerland and want to use it on a deposit for a mortgage, for a UK based property.

Are there UK taxes to be paid, if I get the go-ahead to do so, when moving the money from Switzerland to the UK, such as UK CGT ?

What have other people done in this situation.

Thanks

It should be taxed at Zurich rates and then covered under double taxation rules

A great deal depends on when the pension was earned & if you lived & worked 100% in CH for the years when the pension was earned. You have not given enough info to give a meaningful answer. It could be 100% UK tax free, or you could be liable to UK taxes on 90% of the payout.

Thanks for both of your reply's, I really appreciate your input.

@Fatmanfilms: The pension was earnt whilst living and working 100% in Switzerland. Does that mean that the 'vested benefits pension' is 100% UK tax free and if so, why ?

@Porsche1909: Can you please share a little more, are you sure ?

Can you point me to any official documentation, either on the UK .gov or in Switzerland .ch. websites.

Thanks

I have in the past quoted the HMRC's details, it took me about 12 hours to get all the info a search of the forum will do the trick.

you can discount the standard 80%/90% of foreign pensions taxable as income as it does not apply to you.

I withdrew recently and the confirmation letter said as much.

"you can discount the standard 80%/90% of foreign pensions taxable as income as it does not apply to you."

Sorry but you lost me there, what do you mean exactly ?

Did you spend 12 hours of research to reply to 1 particular post, or 12 hours in total to investigate the tax implications of transferring pensions from Switzerland back to the UK.

Do you recall in which year that you posted this advice, was it 2015 or 2016, there's quite a few posts (85 in total) when I search on your username and HMRC and i'd like to reduce the matches

If you look at foreign pensions on HMRC's site, it says it's 90% (?) taxable.

The dates the pension was earned makes a difference as the rules tightened after 2011.

The 12 Hours to check any potential liability to UK taxation.

Within the last year, after I cashed my pension out.

EDIT
Look at ESC A10 (extra statutory concession) this is a brief explanationhttps://www.taxinnovations.com/tax-lump-sum-payments-foreign-pensions/

I asked a Swiss accountant regarding the tax who said that:

"The decisive factor is where your Freizügigkeitsstiftung is domiciled."

However, as there is a double tax treaty, i'm not convinced what he's saying is correct.

I would be interested to hear if you have any advice.

That's for Swiss taxation ........

Why would you ask a Swiss accountant about UK tax?

Hi Kyo,


would be interested to know how you got in with this as i'm leaving switzerland too.


Mack

Short answer, it's much more complicated than I had thought due to the UK's tax and residency laws and the changes over the past few years.

Basically you'll pay tax in Switzerland which the fund will deduct but not pay tax in the UK due to the dual taxation treaty but it depends upon various factors.

My best advice is to hire a specialist UK tax accountancy who specialise in offshore funds, there is a link in this thread for a very good one to double check to see if your liable.

There is a chain of paperwork that has to be filled out which looks like this and takes 6-9 months to get processed, very slow, painful and frustrating. There is no way to speed it up!

Swiss Vested Pension Fund -> Me -> HMRC -> Swiss LOB -> Swiss Pension Fund -> The funds are then released.

Feel free to private message me, if you need more help.

This is only for the obligatory part of the pillar 2.

Quick question, did you get your pension fund released by Swiss LOB? I recently received a letter saying I wasn't entitled to because compulsory insurance exists in the UK or something to that effect.

I'm not expecting to get the non-pillar 2 part of my fund approved for release by the Swiss LOB because if you work in the UK or have your own business, then your paying national insurance contributions. You have to wait until retirement for that part.

Intersting comment, national insurance being equivalent to pillar 1

Like I said to you before, my application to the LOB was denied