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I have an old work pension which I contributed to for 3 years when working in UK. Its value is sub £30k and I would like to access it and drawdown the full amount if possible. I don’t live in the UK. I’ve read articles re tax free drawdown for first 25% and then the rest is taxed but that seems to be aimed at those aged over 55 (I’m 42). Anyone know if this is possible?
As far as I’m aware, unless you’ve reached 55 you can’t get it back, best you can do is transfer it into your main pension pot.
You would need to wait until 55 I think. I am doing a similar thing and cashing in a pension I had for 18 months 20 years ago as hitting 55 in couple of weeks.
Your earliest access date is ten years before state pension age. So for you 58.
I don't think you could access any of the funds. Unless you had terminal illness.
I thought you can get at it earlier than 55 or 58,but you end up having to pay a shed load of tax on it (something like 50%). Could be wrong though.....
Edit here you go
https://getpenfold.com/pension-guides/pension-withdrawal/when-can-i-withdraw-my-pension
55% tax!
Your earliest access date is ten years before state pension age. So for you 58.
True in this case, given his age, but in my case (for example) it's 12 years as the two limits aren't always in sync....
There are iirc circumstances where you can pull you pension ahead of time without tax, but it's mostly terminal illness.
Technically the age is 55 for you at the moment but will likely to be changed to 58 before you get there
I looked into this a couple of years ago, for uk to Ireland transfer. If the uk amount is under £30k you can move the fund into aQROPS pension, unfortunately my Irish pension in not in QROPS so I had to leave it in UK for now. If your fund is over £30k you need to get qualified financial advice before they will let you at it. You will also need to check with your provider as to what the draw down age is, mine is 55 but changing to 58 in 2028. No sure what country you are in so rules may be different. As mentioned you could also be hit for tax.
Don’t forget that any drawdown lowers your future tax free pension contributions to £4k per year
Since you're outside the UK but your pension isn't, the UK provider is unlikely to allow you to draw it down to a foreign account. I guess if you draw it down to a UK account you can only do so in accordance with UK rules on age and tax. So you need to look at QROPS:
https://www.gov.uk/transferring-your-pension/transferring-to-an-overseas-pension-scheme