UK State Pension paid direct to France - A Good Idea or Not?

Any experiances would be appreciated. We are residents and there is no tax paid on receipt of UK pension (it’s not enough!).
Many thanks!

It’s what I do Beth, rate seems to average out ok, saves fiddling about making transfers :thinking:

It’s what we do too…the money comes in regularly, without us doing anything…

and it makes the annual Income Declarations dead simple, as the pensions arrive in Euros… :relaxed: plus, should we ever need to prove stable income… voila… there it is…

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We do this too. The rate is generally quite good and much better than that offered if we were to move our Gov’t pensions to being paid in euro.
One thing though; make sure you know how much to expect in euro becuase we have found on a couple of occasions , because of our Govt pensions, that HMRC have incorrectly taxed the State pensions.
Once we have pointed this out to them, they readjust the tax code to the UK free pay level and repay the tax taken in error quite quickly.
You need to keep on top of it by doing a simple sum to reflect the rate of exchange…

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Yes, indeed… we always keep an eye open… with the UK Tax folk… but, as Graham says, they are generally helpful if a hiccup does occur.

Just a general reminder… with regard to the amount any of us may be receiving…be it large or small… it must be included in the annual total Income Declaration here in France…

There are still one or two who think they don’t need to declare if their income is below the thresholds… ooops…

Cheers…

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Many thanks. What sort of rate do you get - is it pretty similar? Also does the money turn up on the same day as it usually does?
regards B

Beth, the rate of exchange applied to my pension seems very much the same month on month. But the payment date is a bit unpredictable, because it seems to be paid every 28 days, so I think there are 13 payments per annum, rather than 12 “monthly” payments. This is just my own experience, so you may be dealt with otherwise. :thinking:

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OH gets his paid in to his UK bank account (I don’t yet have a state pension). We are lucky enough not to have to rely on it on a monthly basis, so we can transfer across when rates are good. And useful to have a bit in the bank in pounds to order things to be sent across, or buy presents for family, etc etc.

State Pension is paid every 28 days and arrives on the dot… :relaxed:

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My next payment is 13 years away :face_with_hand_over_mouth::face_with_hand_over_mouth::face_with_hand_over_mouth:

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Unless that nice Mrs May doesn’t change the rules again… You’ll need to get to 90 before you get it before long Simon :rofl:

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and if the 28th day falls on a Sunday, it’s often paid on the Friday before…
We use a spreadsheet to calculate the 28 days throughout the year, to keep a record of how much is paid and the exchange rate between what is paid in euro and the expectation in sterling.

IIRC, the date of payment is triggered by your date of birth… Mine (4 March) is paid on the 14th of each Month and herself (15 April) is 18th each month.

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Totally agree Graham - I’m not making any long term plans for spending it !! :slight_smile:

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My Local Gov Pension goes into a UK bank, handy having Sterling and Euro’s :slightly_smiling_face:

Bill I have made the same arrangement over my NHS and Teachers’ pensions, so as to have access to a Sterling account; but the apparently very favourable exchange rates applied to converting the OAP into Euros seems to make sense too. And makes the Declaration easier as well, I find.

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‘Adds up’ for me Peter :wink:

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we get our uk state pensions paid directly - absolutely no problems…we are informed of any increases (better than our French pension which never goes up) and even had a small Xmas bonus a couple of years ago. No hassle…no middle man… however we will have to keep an eye on Brexit developments of course

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Many thanks to everyone who was kind enought to reply to me. Looks like the way to go!
kind regards
Beth

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The UK government have denied outsourcing the payment of state pensions but use an American bank to facilitate payment. The result is late payment on US holidays and aower exchange rate. I have written to the DWP as vice chairman of Labour International NW France askingwhy pensioners are being treated differently to all other pensioners that are paid early on public holidays. They have yet to explain why

How strange… mine has always arrived at 28 day intervals… for many years…

When can I expect things to change, Bob…??? :anguished:

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