Accessing super early: Australian citizen retiring overseas

Q: I’m a Filipino-Australian citizen, 45 years old and working for the past 15 years in Australia. I would like to retire to the Philippines at 60 years of age. At that age, I plan to buy an income stream from my super lump sum. Am I allowed to receive my income stream monthly payment in the Philippines to maintain myself in the Philippines? I read somewhere in the ATO website that Australian citizens and permanent residents can’t take their super out of Australia.

Trish’s response: The restrictions on accessing super relate to withdrawing super before retirement. Pension income from a superannuation fund can be paid to an individual residing overseas, although residency issues become a problem if the pension is paid from a self-managed super fund.

In the Australian tax system, superannuation benefits paid on or after the age of 60 from most super funds are tax-free, although you would need to check how such pension income is taxed (if at all) in the Philipines. The tax treatment of foreign income is a specialised area; outside the scope of SuperGuide.

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