Living in Canada? Do you have a UK pension plan?
We can help you to transfer the pension plan, avoid a potential tax liability and grow it faster.

We have been helping to bring pension fund investments to Canada since 2001. The one constant is change - on both sides of the pond. The rules on taxation, transferability and eligibility are altered frequently. There is currently a window of opportunity for tax-effective transfers of pension monies. Nobody knows how long it will stay open. Take control! Act today and you will soon enjoy the benefits:

        Avoiding a Potential Tax Liability.
        Growing your Pension Faster.
        Avoiding Exchange Rate Risks.
        Avoiding the Turmoil in the Pension Industry.
        Simplified Administration.
        Increased Flexibility.
        Automatic Spousal Rollover.
        Additional Benefits.

International tax laws are complex and change frequently. Until recently, one interpretation of the Canadian tax code meant that Canadian citizens had to declare the income and capital gains in their UK pension plans (despite not being able to access these funds to pay the tax!). This declaration of worldwide income may still include certain foreign pension plans.

PensionTransfer.ca has been advised by Grant Thornton that recent Canadian legislation means that you can transfer certain pensions to an RRSP – the main system that Canadians use for tax-sheltered retirement saving (Over 6.1 million of us contributed almost $30.6 billion in 2005 and now hold hundreds of billions in these special savings accounts). While nothing is certain, it is highly unlikely that these large tax-sheltered benefits will be changed retroactively. However we are not so sure that pension legislation will not be changed; the possibility of using RRSP’s may disappear. You can take advantage of the current opportunity – click here to get started.

When you leave a company and its pension plan, your pension entitlement normally increases by the lower of inflation or some lowly percentage – often 2 or 3%. If you bring your funds to Canada, you can invest the money in a way that could exceed these returns and provide a bigger pension.

To learn more about Canadian Retirement plans and the advantage of tax free savings – click here.

In 1997, the taxation of UK pension funds was changed and they no longer enjoy tax relief on the dividend income they receive on their investments. The dividend income in Canadian retirement plans enjoys a tax credit on dividend income and the entire account is completely sheltered from tax (until it is withdrawn to provide pension income). This means that the same investment held in a Canadian plan will grow more quickly than if it were held by a UK pension fund.

You can make your pension grow quicker – click here to get started.

3. Avoiding Exchange Rate Risks.

If you leave your UK pension plan outside Canada, you will eventually receive payments from it in local currency. You will have the expense of converting each payment to Canadian dollars or every time you need the money. If you retire in Canada most of your expenses will be in Canadian dollars. All of the time you are enjoying your pension payments you are subject to swings in exchange rates. If you are lucky your income will be worth more than your expenses but what happens if the reverse is true?

You can remove this uncertainty by having your pension fund assets (income) and liabilities (expenses) in the same currency. You can only transfer a pension plan before retirement payments start - click here to get started.

We often read about the difficulties faced by the pension industry. Some companies have let their pension contributors down. Some face serious shortfalls between the assets in the fund and its potential liabilities as members draw their pensions.

You can avoid the uncertainty – click here to get started.

If you have more than one pension plan, you may be able to consolidate them into a single retirement savings account. You will have great flexibility over the mix and type of investments held in your account but you will have the simplicity of receiving regular reports on a single statement and will only have to deal with one administrator.

Simplify your pension administration – click here to get started.

With most pension plans, you must start to draw the pension on a fixed date e.g. age 60 or 65. You are often required to purchase an annuity. Once your monies are transferred to a retirement fund in Canada, your investments can basically be left to grow, tax free, until you need them. There are few restrictions and no requirement to purchase an annuity but you can certainly do that if you wish.

Most pension funds give you little or no choice in how your funds are invested. Working with a fully qualified, registered financial adviser, you can create a portfolio that suits your needs perfectly. You can invest in just about anything that suits your aappetite for risk (or the lack of it!).

Take control of you pension funds and gain increased flexibility – click here to get started.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of all! If the pension plan is transferred to an RRSP and the owner dies, the investments are automatically transferred, tax free, to the surviving spouse. Tax will eventually be paid from the estate when the spouse passes on but the remainder will be available for beneficiaries. In the UK there could be a survivor's pension (sometimes paying only half of the original pension). Once the spouse passes on, payments usually stop and there is nothing to leave to beneficiaries.

Enjoy Automatic Spousal Rollover – click here to get started.

Normally amounts withdrawn from an RRSP as subject to tax. In some circumstances, money can be withdrawn from the plan to fund an education or to purchase a home. No tax is payable as long as the money is repaid in accordance with the terms and conditions set out by the Canada Revenue Agency.

Transfer your pension plan and enjoy all of the benefits – click here to get started.