Question:
Dear 10X, I am 44 years old and have been living in the UK since 2006. I became a naturalised UK citizen a few years ago, however I have also retained my South African citizenship. So I have dual nationality. I have been paying a monthly amount into two retirement annuities in South Africa for about ten years, maybe a bit longer. My query is: I am looking to transfer all my retirement investments to the UK. Am I able to transfer my two RA's to a UK pension/RA fund? Or do I need to stop paying into my two South African RA's making them "paid up" then open a separate UK RA? Many thanks
Answer:
Graeme, Unfortunately, you will not be able to transfer your retirement annuities abroad. You can keep contributing locally, or you can make them paid up. However, to access the money as a lump sum (in order to take it overseas) you would need to go through the financial emigration process with SARS. You would be taxed per the withdrawal lump sum tax table here, but any contributions you made that you could not deduct for tax would be returned to you tax free. You could then send the after-tax proceeds to the UK and re-invest them there.
