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.

Taking control of your pension investment is as easy as 1 - 2 - 3. Follow these three steps and you will soon be enjoying the benefits of having your pension plan in Canada.

        1. Check that your plan is eligible for transfer.
        2. Collect the required information about your plan.
        3. Contact our recommended Investment Adviser.

There are basically two types of pension plan: (1) "Occupational Plans" where as part of a remuneration package an employer provides a retirement plan for employees (sometimes employees are allowed or are required to make extra contributions), and (2) "Personal Plans" where individuals (and or employers) make contributions which are invested to provide retirement income. See our Glossary for further details.

Occupational Pension plans can be transferred to a Canadian Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP). No tax is deducted in the UK and while the monies remain in the RRSP, no tax is payable in Canada.

Although the Inland Revenue will allow tax-free transfers of Personal Pension Plans from the UK, Personal Pensions cannot be transferred to an RRSP in Canada and the receipt of the pension monies could create a tax liability in Canada. We are actively seeking a solution to this problem but the tax code is complex and we have been unable to get a clear, general ruling from Revenue Canada. Signing our petition might help. If, like us, you feel aggrieved that US Individual Retirement Accounts are allowed but, despite their similarity, UK Personal Plans are not, click here to sign the petition.

Old Age (state) pensions and any pension that has already started to pay out cannot be transferred. However, if you are in Canada and receiving a UK pension, you can lock in an exchange rate for a year or more and save worry and expense. Contact HIFX by clicking the graphic below:

The above is not intended to be a definitive analysis of tax law. The comments contained herein are general in nature and professional advice regarding your particular tax position should be obtained in light of your specific circumstances.

You have an occupational pension plan that you wish to transfer. To effect the transfer on your behalf, an Investment Adviser will require the following information:
       Your Full Name and Address
       Your UK National Insurance Number
       Your Canadian Social Insurance Number
       The Name and Address of the Pension Plan Administrators
       Your Pension Plan Reference Number and/or
       Your employee number when with the company sponsoring the Pension Plan
       An approximate value of the funds to be transferred

N.B. If you intend to transfer multiple plans, you should have the last four information items for each of the plans.

If you do not have this information, you will need to contact your Pension Plan Administrators. Click here to download sample letters.

Pension transfers can take quite a while. You can help to speed up the process by e-mailing or writing to your pension fund administrators to request that they send you (by e-mail if possible) the form that they use to transfer a pension to a Qualifying Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS) - see the link to draft letters above. Believe it or not, getting the right form and sending it with the other documentation can trim several weeks off the time it takes for your pension monies to arrive in Canada.

3. Contact our recommended Investment Adviser.

When you have collected all of the information detailed in Section 2 above for each Occupational Pension Plan that you wish to transfer, you are ready to contact an Investment Adviser.

We have been helping to bring pensions to Canada since 2001. We have found that the specialist team at BMO Nesbitt Burns does the best job. They are knowledgeable, efficient and provide excellent customer service. They are a subsidiary of one of Canada's largest financial institutions - Bank of Montreal - which operates from coast to coast.

We are associated with the Charlton Group – the BMO Nesbitt Burns team that is aware of the pension issue and will be able to assist you. The team’s web site is: www.charltongroup.ca.

In the first instance we recommend that you contact Kevin Devine, Investment Advisor. His co-ordinates are:

Telephone:	416-359-4471
Fax:	416-359-5649
E-mail:	Kevin.Devine@nbpcd.com

I am sure that Kevin will look forward to hearing from you and you will soon be enjoying the benefit of having your pension investment in Canada.

Thanks for your interest in PensionTransfer.ca - please inform any of your friends, colleagues and acquaintances that have British pensions that it is now possible to bring them to Canada.