In order for UK pensions to be transferred to a local Superannuation Fund, the Fund must be QROPS (Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme) compliant.

There is a set of rules a local Superannuation Fund must adhere to in order to be recognised as a QROPS compliant Fund by the UK government.

If your Australian Superannuation Fund is placed on the QROPS list, there is no additional tax imposed on pension benefits transferred from the UK to Australia. The transferred amount will however be regarded as a non-concessional contribution to the Fund and subject to the non-concessional contribution caps. Due to changes in UK pension law, on 6 April 2015 the UK government removed most Australian Superannuation Funds from the QROPS list because the rules in Australian law provide for access to pension savings before age 55. As such, you cannot move UK pension to a QROPS compliant SMSF until the Member has reached the age of 55.

If the SMSF is QROPS compliant, the governing rules of the Fund must prohibit the Member from withdrawing the benefits before they are retired and have reached their preservation age. For more information on preservation age, please click on the button below:

Members are also not allowed to have early access to the portion of benefits received from QROPS on compassionate grounds or severe financial hardship grounds.

The conditions under which the Member can access their benefits received from QROPS are subjected to the limitations noted in the SMSF Trust Deed.

When Trustees advise us of their intention to transfer benefits from the UK to the SMSF in Australia, we can set up the SMSF in a QROPS compliant manner. A QROPS Deed and Governing Rules will be issued on your request to meet the criteria of a QROPS transferable fund with specific customisation clauses to limit any lump sum drawdowns. Please note that you cannot transfer your pension balance from the UK into an SMSF until the SMSF Members are aged 55 and over. If you want to proceed in setting up a QROPS compliant Fund, please instruct us on the setup page. We have also included an article about recent changes in QROPS.

If a Fund has received benefits via QROPS, the benefits will be subjected to more stringent conditions of release. In order to account for QROPS benefits received from the UK, we separately identify the QROPS balance in the Member Statement. This is a similar process followed to identify the balance under the First Home Super Savers Scheme.

When the Member has reached preservation age and is retired, they can commence a pension for the QROPS balance through a process similar to the commencement of a normal account based pension. For more information on commencing a pension, please click on the button below:

To transfer UK Pounds to Australian Dollars, you can use TorFX, and we give the links and contact details here.