NI and Pensions

[LouLou]

Hi All

Thought Id tap you yet again before I go down the official routes, you lot respond soooo much quicker.

Andy had a conversation with a chap who had previously lived in NZ and he said that because we are all in the commonwealth we could still contribute NI and still claim a govt Pension when we are old and grey, anyone else know about this one.

And does anyone know where we stand with private pensions, I guess we just keep paying the pounds in to get the pounds out at the end... what do you think.

Thanks in advance

Loulou

[SteveNetWriter]

Hi,
I don't know the answers.
All I can offer you is links to places that cover that sort of thing.
My NZ links page, click on 'tax & benefits'.

Cheers

Steve

Hi, LouLou,

I'll post what I know and encourage you to continue to seek out information, since I am writing from a US perspective and not a UK one. Some of the information is applicable to both situations, however, so I'll share what I've learned:

In order to collect a state-sponsored pension in NZ, you must work there for at least 10 years, 5 of which must be over the age of 55. NZ does have a coordinated agreement with the UK regarding state-sponsored pensions, the specifics of which I do not know; in this respect, it is different for those coming from the UK than from the US.

Private pensions are excluded from the calculation, so the good news is you can collect any private pension benefit without reducing any state-sponsored benefit you receive in NZ.

Hope this helps!

All the best, Rae