Claiming tax relief on your contributions to overseas pension schemes
Find out about the UK tax relief you can get on contributions to overseas pension schemes and how to claim it.
Overview
You can get UK tax relief on contributions you make into certain types of overseas pension schemes. You can get relief on your contributions up to the value of your earnings that are subject to UK Income Tax. You must report the payments to your pension scheme in your tax return.
You’ll still have to pay tax if you exceed the annual allowance or take a lump sum that exceeds your available:
- Individual Lump Sum Allowance
- Individual Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance
Find out the rules around Individual Lump Sum Allowances.
Types of tax relief
Migrant member relief
You can get migrant member relief on contributions to an overseas pension scheme if you moved to the UK and:
- you were paying into the scheme before you moved to the UK
- you were receiving tax relief on those contributions
- the pension scheme is a qualifying overseas pension scheme (QOPS)
You need to tell the overseas scheme manager that you’re going to claim migrant member relief.
Double taxation relief
You can get double taxation relief on contributions to an overseas pension scheme if:
- you were paying into the scheme before you moved to the UK
- you were receiving tax relief on those contributions
- a double taxation agreement covers your contributions to the scheme
You need to check the UK’s tax treaty with the country where your pension is based to see what relief you can get under the double taxation agreement.
Transitional corresponding relief
You can continue to get corresponding relief if you received it on contributions to your overseas pension between 6 April 2005 and 5 April 2006. You must make contributions to the same overseas pensions scheme to get tax relief.
Your overseas scheme manager will need to report relevant benefit crystallisation events to HMRC for you to get tax relief.
Work out your tax charges
You need to pay tax on your contributions if more than £60,000 in total is added to your pension schemes in a tax year. This includes non-UK registered schemes in a tax year. Read section ‘Annual allowance’ on our guidance for tax on your private pension contributions.
Your overseas pension scheme does not have to send you a statement to tell you how much you’ve paid into your pension.
Claim tax relief
You can claim tax relief in your Self Assessment tax return.
In the ‘Additional information’ section, you must include the:
- scheme name
- scheme address
If you’re claiming:
- double taxation relief, also include the tax treaty and article that you’re using to claim double taxation relief
- migrant member relief, also include the QOPS reference number for migrant member relief claims
- corresponding relief, also include the SF74 reference number for transitional corresponding relief claims
Ask your overseas scheme manager for this information.
If you have any tax charges add them to the ‘Pension savings tax charges’ section.
Last updated 6 April 2024 + show all updates
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Added reference to lump sum allowances and updated rules around contributions and tax relief, as lifetime allowance will no longer be available from 6 April 2024.
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Information about annual and lifetime allowances has been updated.
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Guidance on working out your tax charges has been updated.
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Amendments made following changes to the pension tax rules for overseas pension schemes, that take effect from 6 April 2017.
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First published.