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questionsinkorea
Joined: 15 Jan 2012
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 Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 7:38 pm Post subject: Pension refund for UK citizens? |
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I assumed I would be able to collect my pension contributions lump sum when i left korea, as americans can. it now appears that i am not able to because i am a UK citizen. Can anybody confirm this is true?
Additionally, how then can we go about claiming back our payments. If we cannot claim them back, are we able to claim them once we actually reach retirement age?
Any advice/experience much appreciated (UK related only) |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 8:42 pm Post subject: Re: Pension refund for UK citizens? |
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| questionsinkorea wrote: |
I assumed I would be able to collect my pension contributions lump sum when i left korea, as americans can. it now appears that i am not able to because i am a UK citizen. Can anybody confirm this is true?
Additionally, how then can we go about claiming back our payments. If we cannot claim them back, are we able to claim them once we actually reach retirement age?
Any advice/experience much appreciated (UK related only) |
As a UK citizen you are covered under the treaty between the UK and Korea.
http://english.nps.or.kr/jsppage/english/main.jsp
To confirm: You cannot get a cash refund of your NPS contributions.
Details here:
http://english.nps.or.kr/jsppage/english/agreement/agreement_02_02_01.jsp |
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questionsinkorea
Joined: 15 Jan 2012
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| Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 8:48 pm Post subject: |
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| I read this website and did seem to think that lump sum was not available for me. But i cant find what IS available... surely they cant just be taking contributions from me for nothing, i.e. if theyre not giving me it back in a lump sum, surely they must intend to give it back once I reach retirement? |
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Setaro
Joined: 08 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 10:12 pm Post subject: |
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| questionsinkorea wrote: |
| I read this website and did seem to think that lump sum was not available for me. But i cant find what IS available... surely they cant just be taking contributions from me for nothing, i.e. if theyre not giving me it back in a lump sum, surely they must intend to give it back once I reach retirement? |
Yeah you can get it when you retire...so forget about it, basically. |
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questionsinkorea
Joined: 15 Jan 2012
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| Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 10:26 pm Post subject: |
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| setaro, do you know where you have seen this information? It's possible I WILL be in korea during retuirement for family reasons. Currently I'm organising my pension at home in the UK and just want to know how it will sync together... |
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deizio
Joined: 15 Jun 2007
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| Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 4:59 am Post subject: |
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I'd always thought there was no payout for Brits because such agreements are reciprocal and Korea could only bothered to negotiate those kind of terms with countries where a reasonable number of Koreans - USA, Canada, latterly Australia - would be working to make it worth their while to get round a table. Seems I was way off though, there are quite detailed provisions with a lot of countries, some not getting their lumps, but others beyond those noted above - Germans, Austrians, French from the few I clicked - can get it back too.
The idea of reciprocity is duff too, Korea gives lump sums to nationals of some other countries but don't even get the same in return.
So all that being the case, I'm madder than ever that we don't get it back. Did someone forget to tick a box?
Not sure if this means there is hope or not either. I dread to think how much is in my pension account by now. |
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schwa
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Yap
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| Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 5:09 am Post subject: |
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As far as I know, & I've looked into this, & I've never heard anything contrary, UK citizens are SOL. Your required contributions are down the toilet.
Same as NZers. Aussies were in the same boat but their govt reached an agreement with Korea, which actually worked retroactively. Gripe to your MP back home & best luck, but dont hold your breath. |
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JustinC
Joined: 10 Mar 2012
Location: We Are The World!
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| Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 8:06 am Post subject: |
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| The funds are supposed to be added to your final pot when you retire and receive a British state pension. No idea if this would work but I imagine having British tax collectors on your side would be a bonus! |
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b-class rambler
Joined: 25 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 4:31 pm Post subject: |
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| schwa wrote: |
As far as I know, & I've looked into this, & I've never heard anything contrary, UK citizens are SOL. Your required contributions are down the toilet.
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Schwa is correct. Although you could, of course, receive pension payments in Korea when you reach the statutory retirement age here, if you're here long enough to have sufficient qualifying years (I think the minimum is 10 years).
But yes, for most people, that's not gonna be a option and they will indeed be SOL. Put simply, you cannot get a cash refund and there is presently no provision whatsoever for any transfer of state pension contributions. A lot of people think there is, and I used to be one of them, but it's not true, unfortunately.
Don't blame Korea for the lack of a reciprocal agreement, however. Korea has made such an agreement with lots of countries, but the problem is the UK won't agree to one because they'd be refunding more to Koreans who'd worked in the UK than Korea would to Britons in Korea. That's because Koreans working in the UK pay National Insurance, which covers a much wider range of social security benefits than just pension and the UK will not split it up into a separate pension element. So indeed don't hold your breath for a reciprocal agreement like the ones with the US, Canada, Australia etc. happening, because it isn't likely to.
There might be a way out for any Britons who also have citizenship of some other country whose nationals DO get a pension refund and who could claim a cash refund using that other passport. I had initially thought that you could only claim the pension refund based on whatever nationality you entered Korea as, but apparently that's not the case. I know of 2 British citizens with other nationalities (one Hong Kong, one other EU nationality but I forget which) who managed, with only a couple of minor hoops to jump through, to get their pension refund on leaving Korea. |
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Jaffazoid
Joined: 04 Dec 2011
Location: Ulsan
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| Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 5:51 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm just curious, but if you worked for a year on 2mil a month, how much would the rebate of your pension be? |
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Setaro
Joined: 08 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 5:59 pm Post subject: |
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| Jaffazoid wrote: |
| I'm just curious, but if you worked for a year on 2mil a month, how much would the rebate of your pension be? |
They sent me an official letter, and it told me how much I would received if I continued to work in Korea earning 2 mill for the next 30 odd years. I haven't got that form on me at the moment so I can't tell you how much it was until later. |
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b-class rambler
Joined: 25 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 6:06 pm Post subject: |
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| Jaffazoid wrote: |
| I'm just curious, but if you worked for a year on 2mil a month, how much would the rebate of your pension be? |
Like many state pensions, it won't be a lot, probably won't be anywhere near enough to live on, but would still be more worth having than not having.
You can check your pension contributions online via the Korean Pension Office site, as long as you have a digital banking certificate. IIRC, you can also see what you're presently forecasted to receive per month when you reach the retirement age. |
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deizio
Joined: 15 Jun 2007
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| Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 8:17 pm Post subject: |
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| b-class rambler wrote: |
Don't blame Korea for the lack of a reciprocal agreement, however. Korea has made such an agreement with lots of countries, but the problem is the UK won't agree to one because they'd be refunding more to Koreans who'd worked in the UK than Korea would to Britons in Korea. That's because Koreans working in the UK pay National Insurance, which covers a much wider range of social security benefits than just pension and the UK will not split it up into a separate pension element. So indeed don't hold your breath for a reciprocal agreement like the ones with the US, Canada, Australia etc. happening, because it isn't likely to. |
It seems some countries have asymetric agreements where foreigners get a lump in Korea, but Koreans get monthly payments or a refund under a different law.
E.g. Austria:
④ Korean lump-sum refunds are granted to Austrian nationals based on the Agreement.
⑤ There is no lump-sum refund under the Austrian social security system, and as such any contribution which a Korean national paid to the Austrian social security system will be granted in monthly installments not in a lump-sum.
But I guess maybe you're right, the UK and Korean systems are somehow irreconcilable.
Of course, the argument could take the form that despite paying out the sum of all NI contributions to Koreans, this is more than offset by the far higher (assumption) number of UK workers in Korea than vice versa who will eventually pump that money back into the UK economy.
Grrrr. |
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b-class rambler
Joined: 25 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 11:14 pm Post subject: |
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| deizio wrote: |
It seems some countries have asymetric agreements where foreigners get a lump in Korea, but Koreans get monthly payments or a refund under a different law. |
Yeah, quite possibly so. But presumably both governments were satisfied that the respective arrangements for repayment were sufficiently equivalent to one another.
| deizio wrote: |
Of course, the argument could take the form that despite paying out the sum of all NI contributions to Koreans, this is more than offset by the far higher (assumption) number of UK workers in Korea than vice versa who will eventually pump that money back into the UK economy.
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That is a bit of an assumption and who says that a bunch of mostly EFL teachers would be pumping that money back into the British economy? And anyway, what would matter more than the numbers of people would be the total amount of money paid in contributions in either country. I only know a handful of Koreans who are working (or have worked) in the UK, but all of them had considerably higher salaries than I'm sure any British EFLer here had and would've paid a lot more in even a hypothetical pension segment of N.I. than any Britons would have in Korea, perhaps even more than several of them put together
And ultimately if the issue does drive you nuts, this is perhaps the area where you can find some solace - just remember that Koreans working in the UK are losing a lot more money down the toilet in this way than Britons in Korea are. |
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