Transferring foreign pension to Ireland

i am investigating my options. I have 5 years of pension contributions inSwitzerland and am looking at transferring them to a pension fund here (has to be transferred out of existing scheme).

Currently I don’t have a permanent job so no pension scheme- I do however have an existing pension that I paid into for a few years in the past.

My pension will be transferred directly to a bank acc in my name therefore will there be any tax implications in transferring to a pension fund, or even just on the initial transfer to my acc?

Should I just add to my existing pension pot or what other options exist? The goal would be to have a permanent job in the coming months therefore would hope to combine into one acc.

Thanks!

So there are a couple of things on the Swiss side. First of all the pension fund contributions will not be transferred into a bank account in your name, they will be transferred to an account at a pension foundation of your nomination or to the state foundation if you fail to make a nomination. There is no Swiss tax implications at this point.

Next, you cannot just transfer it to a pension fund in Ireland. There are a complex set of rules for calculating the amount you can transfer and the type of Irish fund it can be transferred to. The pension foundation should be able to help you with this. This transfer does have Swiss tax implications and it is important that you have nominated a foundation in a low tax Kanton such as Zug to minimize the tax liability.

Also you should be aware the if you return to Switzerland in the near future you may be required to come up with any short fall that might have happened in the period of your absence from Switzerland.

I don’t see why you’d want to move the funds out of Switzerland in the first place, but it is your money in the end.

Jim2007 said:

I don’t see why you’d want to move the funds out of Switzerland in the first place, but it is your money in the end.

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I'd say his money is better off in Switzerland too. Even without looking into it. Good solid country with an excellent track record.

If it is possible, I'd keep the pension in Switzerland. Your money will be safe and you're likely to have a much wider choice of investment options, and probably with lower fees.

Remember the levy on private pension funds in Ireland? I suppose it's possible the Swiss could at some point start confiscating private pension assets to fund government shortfalls, but they'd do a lot of damage to their image as a reliable place to invest and bank in. However, we know for certain the Irish government has "form" in this!

And if you keep the pension in another country, you might be able to continue contributing to it using Migrant Member Relief, just as if you were contributing to an Irish-based pension.