My ex husband received his French pension at 62 through Carsat Pole International(EU aggregation of years scheme).As he had worked for 8 years in the UK he had to wait until 66 to claim the British part. He applied through Carsat 4months before his 66th birthday and has only just received the backdated UK pension payment 10months after his birthday.However his UK years were made up to 10 as is the rule.
Apparently the hold up was from the UK(although you could say that Carsat would say that!)
I,m in a similar stuation and just about to claim the UK part of pension through Carsat.However I hope the pensions people(both sides)have sorted out the glitches and I can be paid in August(some hope!!)
I retired in 2020 at age 60 and am living on a reduced local gov pension.
Last year I wasted an hour being sent to and from different government offices on the phone and ended up none the wiser … I nearly slammed the phone down several times…
By my reckoning the increase in pension I could get is 0.7 of 468 (1:1 exchange rate, French 30 percent tax rate as I may just tip the threshold at that point ) = 0.7 (x reasonably optimistically 30 years based on genetics and lifestyle) = £9,828 - for an investment of either £1600 or £3200 of NI years …
45 years of full contributions
4 years to contribute before 5 April 2026
1 year when you did not contribute enough (I retired midway through that year)
My forecast is £176.81 a week
"Forecast if you contribute another 2 years before 5 April 2026
£185.15 a week
£185.15 is the most you can get"
If this is a UK Govt Service pension, it should be being taxed in the UK - not France.
Have you completed the Double Taxation Treaty Form France-Individual to put this in place for your French tax submissions?
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I don’t know if the Avon LGPS qualifies …
And the French tax system would be kinder to me …
Actually I checked again and it would take a very generous exchange rate to take me materially over the 27478 Euro threshold …
It will be a while yet. At present I pay a grand total of £500 tax per year …
@verdoux
I too have an Avon govt. pension which is taxed in UK and declared in France as pension publique on the annexe No. 2047 as revenues étrangère.
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What if I choose to pay tax in France with the rates being more generous ?
And will my UK state pension necessarily be taxed the same way when that is added to my income ?
She is referring to deferring her State Pension I believe, which is taxed here.
You can’t chose. Taxation of pensions from various public sector bodies is laid down, as is the UK State Pension
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not so as confirmed by the later comment…
Your UK State pension will be assessed for tax in France. If your Avon Local Govt pension is taxed in UK under the DTT arrangements, you will likely benefit.
@verdoux
It’s not clear from your earlier posts whether or not you are resident in France.
When tax resident in France, a person declares all their worldwide income as required by the tax authorities.
There’s plenty of information on this forum re: annual tax declaration.
If you are planning a move to France then the following might be useful to you -
French Taxes : Liability to Income Tax in France.
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This actually upsets me - not just because I’ll pay more tax, but also because I wanted to pay my taxes to my chosen country of residence.
Before learning that the S1 had been restored, I was happier with the thought that I would pay social charges in France than an insurance company…
I’m hoping to move to France in 2024 - two years off state retirement age…
Ah… then the DTT is not currently available to you. Thanks for the clarification.
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I’m sure you know this, remember LGPS was ‘contracted out’ and the new state pension amount calculated in 2016 was reduced because of that - each year since is an opportunity to catch up to the maximum new state pension amount.
It looks like the figures you gave / were given have factored that in - i.e. you have 2 more years needed to ‘catch up’?
Well I think that’s what they mean - but after an hour on the phone going from one govt agency to another I was none the wiser …
I just checked (needed to for myself too) - It is correct - you need two more years only.
From the website -
If your starting amount is less than the full new State Pension
You can get more State Pension by adding more qualifying years to your National Insurance record after 5 April 2016. You can do this until you reach the full new State Pension amount or reach State Pension age - whichever is first.
Each qualifying year on your National Insurance record after 5 April 2016 will add about £5.29 a week to your new State Pension. The exact amount you get is calculated by dividing £185.15 by 35 and then multiplying by the number of qualifying years after 5 April 2016.
Regards.
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Morning Larkswood
I qualified for my pension 2 years ago. i got an update in the same way.
I paid an additional 4 years contributions and received a substantial update to my pension. It has a payback period of 4 years.
2 years to go and I will be in profit.
Worth doing
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As a French resident, I did not qualify for the 25% tax free lump sum from the pensions I held in the UK. This could affect those still resident in the UK with the plan to move permanently to France in the future, planning and careful consideration needed.
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I applied as instructed for my UK state pension four months before my qualifying birthday which passed by last week. Nothing heard from the International Pensions dept at Wolverhampton apart from the original birth and other certificates returned a couple weeks after they received my papers which I sent by ILRAR as proof. I have put off my french pension until next year as it will be a lot more money than taking now but when I rang the UK earlier this week, they said they are currently weeks behind with all applications from overseas qualifiers. I had to tell them I was being threatened by the CAF about having to go for job interviews as I get a partial RSA payment from being widowed so they have now promised to prioritise my dossier for the UK payments I have been told I will receive. The UK office also blamed the post strike but I got birthday cards sent and arrived within five days of posting from family so not really an excuse now.
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I suppose I had better brave the UK govt phone lines again and get my payments in…
I’m still annoyed about paying any tax in the UK on my LG pension rather than in my country of choice - but it’s only £600 a year and doubtless offset by French people resident in UK so assuming my state pension is paid gross to France, I will only be about £100 a year out of pocket due to the UK vs French allowance and tax rate.
My two pensions combined will barely scrape the threshold for 30 percent rate even with a favourable exchange rate so I will be better off in France - albeit dependant on how my frugal lifestyle translates…
A key part of my plan is to grow as much of my own food as I can , so I reckon I will live comfortably even at 1:1 ER…
I hummed and ha’d over my lump sum in 2020 - I’m appallingly inept where money is concerned and the whole business of retirement and pensions is so full of existential anguish … in the end I went for the default balance …