No, unfortunately we can’t transfer a pension from outside the UK into your PensionBee plan. This restriction includes pensions from the Isle of Man, Jersey, the Channel Islands, and the Republic of Ireland.

Withdrawals must be paid into a UK bank account in the name and address of the customer (matching their PensionBee details). In addition, the bank must be directly regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). We’re unable to authorise payments to any bank accounts that don’t meet this criteria. If you don’t hold a UK bank account that meets these criteria, then you can’t make any withdrawals from your PensionBee pension and you’ll need to transfer to another FCA-regulated, UK-based pension scheme in order to access it.

As long as you’re still classified as a ‘relevant UK individual’, you can keep paying into your PensionBee pension. If you’re not classified as a relevant UK individual, you won’t be able to contribute. To be a relevant UK individual, you’ll need to be in at least one of the following categories:

• you’re/were a UK resident for tax purposes at some point during the current tax year;
• you’re/were a UK resident for tax purposes at some point during the last five tax years, and when signing up to PensionBee;
• you’ve a spouse/civil partner with general earnings from overseas Crown employment, subject to UK tax; or
• you have ‘relevant UK earnings’†, subject to income tax.

If you’re unsure, speak to a specialist tax advisor to better understand your situation.

†Relevant UK earnings are normally your total taxable earnings from UK-based work. This includes earnings from employment, self-employment and bonuses. It generally doesn’t include any investment income.

You now have the choice of what you’d like to do with your pension if you move abroad.

This means you can choose to leave your pension where it is, and you can even continue to pay into your UK pension plan. There may be a limit to the amount of tax relief you can claim though, so you should look into this more if you’re thinking of continuing payments.

Alternatively, you may be able to transfer your pension to a Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (ROPS). Get in touch with your BeeKeeper if you wish to request the transfer so that we can confirm initial requirements. Please be aware, we review each request on a case-by-case basis and there are extensive checks required under HMRC’s transfer regulation rules.

It’s OK if you don’t have a UK address at the moment, but you’ll need to tell us your previous UK address when you sign up. Please be aware that we use emails wherever possible and don’t send our customers letters unless we really have to (e.g. your old provider demands a physical copy of your signature on one of our letters).

After you’ve signed up, you can request that we update your address by calling us on 020 3457 8444, and we can amend this using a bank statement or utility bill. It must be:

• from the country that you now reside in;
• translated into English, if originally in another language; and
• dated within the last three months.

Please note: we won’t be able to register you with an overseas address until you’ve left the UK.

PensionBee’s an active Non-Financial Foreign Entity as we don’t hold client money. There’s an agreement between the UK and the US that there is no reporting requirement for HMRC-registered pension schemes that are generally exempt from income tax and established to provide an income in retirement. The contracts with the investment managers are directly with PensionBee and not with the customers, therefore the investment managers also don’t need to report on US end-clients.

Our app is only available in the UK App Store and Google Play Store at the moment. If you’re in the US and have a UK account with us, you can access your PensionBee account (known as your “BeeHive”) on our UK website only. If you want to join PensionBee US, you can sign up via our US website.