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Claiming Your Pension In Gran Canaria

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You can claim your state pension and other related benefits while you are living in a foreign country, including Gran Canaria, but you knew that already yes?. Gran Canaria is also part of the scheme that will allow you to receive the yearly increases to your pension.

If you are moving abroad, in this case to Gran Canaria permanently and are doing so before you reach the age to qualify for your UK state pension, you need to inform the UK pension Service to ensure that the claim form you will receive through the post reaches the correct destination.

One of the essentials to living abroad successfully requires a bank account issued by the country where you have chosen to live, in this instance Gran Canaria. Your UK pension will be paid electronically into your spanish bank account in the local currency. Alternatively you can choose to have your pension into a UK bank or building society and organize transfers to your spanish back account as and when you require. If it should be the case that you live part of the year in a foreign country and the rest of the year in the UK, then you will need to choose where you want your pension paid. You cannot have your pension paid in Gran Canaria for example, for part of the year and then change it over when you are living in the UK. It has to be one or the other.

Tax and Your Pension

Paying the correct tax on your pension is determined by your status as a UK resident. If you have chosen to live in a country with a double tax agreement (Gran Canaria does) with the UK, and you live their permanently, you will pay your tax locally, as your status will be, Non resident. If however you live for example in Gran Canaria for 6 months and the rest of the year you live in the UK, you will be classed as resident and will pay your tax in the UK.

Working Abroad and Paying Pension Contributions.

If you are working abroad, you may be able to pay into the UK state pension scheme. You can do this from Gran Canaria. Depending on the length of time that you have worked abroad, you can have your payments credited to your UK state pension or you may receive two pensions. One from the UK and the other from the country where you have lived and worked. This will usually be decided upon reaching retirement age, and taking into account where you are living at this point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who to Contact Regarding Your Pension and Living Abroad

If you have moved abroad and are about to reach retirement age, or you are of retirement age and about to move abroad you should contact:

• The International Pensions Centre

Phone number +44 191 218 7777
Fax number +44 191 218 7021
Textphone (for those with speech or hearing difficulties)+44 191 218 7280
Address for the International Pension Centre.
Tyneview Park
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE98 1BA
United Kingdom
Opening hours Monday to Friday 8.00 am to 8.00 pm

• HM Revenue & Customs' National Insurance Contributions Office

• Your Tax Office

You will need to inform them of the change in your circumstances and also give them your change of address.

Where to Make Your Claim for a Pension

If you have worked in the country you are now living in, the claim for you pension should be made through the usual channels belonging to that country, i.e. Gran Canaria. If you have not worked in the country where you are now living, you should claim your pension the International Pensions Centre in the UK.

We hope that this information has been useful to you. Of you are looking for more detailed information regarding your pension and living in Gran Canaria we would first recommend that you contact the relevant government departments. This page is intended as an overview of what is quite a complicated issue. If you think we have missed some useful piece of information that would not be out of place on this pahe, then, by using the contact information found on the Contact Us page, please feel free to email us. We will do the research and update the information as soon as possible.

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