Pensions? How do they work in NZ?

[lmsee]

Hi
Just found this sight a couple of days ago and have found it really useful. We are at the very early stages and just looking into whether it will be the right move for us - early indications seems very favourable!
My husband needs to dot all the i's and cross all the t's first - not a bad thing I suppose. We're wondering what happens to our uk personal pensions - will they have the same value in NZ? Is there a state pension in NZ - do they have arrangements with the UK?
Hope this makes sense - my mind is whizzing!!!!!

[MotherBear]

Hi Imsee. Welcome to the forum.

There is a state pension in NZ that they refer to as 'superannuation'. You have to be a tax resident for 10 years to be able to claim it though.

Here's a bit about private pensions that are outside NZ. 2 years ago new rules regarding the transfer of UK pension funds to overseas schemes came into force, resulting in NZ Superannuation Scheme providers having to get specific approval from the UK HMRC to be able to accept transfers, so you need to be very careful how you go about it if you want to transfer to NZ.

I don't know if you'll find something of interest in here and this is the Social Security Agreement between NZ and the UK if it's of any use. A bit about superannuation .

Your husband is doing the right thing gathering all the information together. The better prepared you are, the less likely it will be that there will be any nasty shocks along the way.

[lmsee]

Thanks Mother Bear

Wow - you're up early!

Thats really useful information - I'll pass it on - he just gone to the USA today.

Thanks again.

[MotherBear]

Originally Posted by lmsee

Wow - you're up early!

No, I'm just about to go to bed. Just gone 10 p.m. here in Oman.