GW wrote:Just to be clear and sorry to labour the point but am I right in thinking that you can transfer all your Flexiplan AVC contributions to another provider for drawdown so long as none of it has been used to fund your lump sum for NRA65 benefits ?
You can transfer your Flexiplan and/or Bonuslan independently of taking your NRA60 or NRA65 benefits.
So if you take all of your pension at age 60 for example, you could transfer your Flexiplan at 59 and your Bonusplan at 61, or any age up to 75.
If you do transfer your AVC's, normal DC pension rules will apply to that money once it's in your personal pension. So only 25% is guaranteed to be tax free with the remainder being classed as income.
From a tax point of view, most people will be better off taking their AVC's with their NRA60/65 benefits as more of it is likely to be tax free. But as always, it'll come down to personal circumstances.
Personally, my AVC's are over 25% of my total pot value so i plan to transfer my Bonusplan into my personal pension to reduce the amount of tax i pay.
If i kept it with RM to take with my NRA60/65, I'll pay around £3,500 tax on it, based on current values. But by transferring it into my personal pension and drawing it down along with the other savings in there, I probably won't pay any tax at all.