Claiming your pension while living in Cyprus is a straightforward matter. How you claim your pension depends on several factors, a key one being where you are living when you retire. The below outline and web-links should help as an initial guide.

Moving to Cyprus while already claiming a UK pension
If you are living in the UK, already in receipt of your state pension and planning to relocate to Cyprus you will still be able to receive your payments abroad. Your first point of contact when making arrangements for your pension payments will be the UK Pension Service. The International Pension unit of the service is very helpful and can provide all of the advice you need for your particular circumstances.

The main pieces of information they need are the date you will be moving and your new address. Once in Cyprus, you can have your UK state pension transferred to a local bank account or it can continue to be paid into your UK bank or building society. One point worth noting is that, as Cyprus is part of the European Economic Area (EEA), you will be entitled to annual index-linked increases on your pension.

Claiming a pension from within Cyprus
If you reach UK retirement age while you are living in Cyprus and are entitled to a pension from the UK, you make the application through the Cypriot authorities. The UK retirement age for men is 65. For women, the situation is a little more complicated as, since April 2010, this has depended on the date of birth. Check with the Pension Service about your particular situation. The Cyprus Pension Service will contact the UK Pension Service whereupon your entitlement will be assessed.

The UK Pension Service will contact you directly at your personal address in Cyprus about how much pension payment you are entitled to. This all depends on how many years you paid into UK National Insurance scheme whether you were in the UK or paying from abroad. This applies to Class 1, 2 or 3 payments.

If you have been paying into the Cypriot state pension scheme simultaneously, you may be entitled to a local pension as well. The retirement age for men and women in Cyprus is 63. The application for an old-age pension must be submitted within three months after the day the old age pension is required. Again, how much you may be entitled to depends on how long you have paid into the system.

Living between Cyprus and the UK
If you divide your time between Cyprus and the UK, you'll have to choose which country you want your State Pension paid into. It isn't possible to have it paid in one country for part of the year, and a different country for the remainder of the year

Company and personal pensions
Where you live should not have any impact on your company or personal pension as you are usually entitled to any rises regardless of your location and it will continue to be paid in full. However, two points to check are whether your scheme will pay into a Cyprus bank account and, if so, if any annuity will be transferred abroad free-of-charge.

Pension taxation
Britain and Cyprus have a double taxation treaty allowing retirees to pay tax in Cyprus at a fixed rate of 5 per cent on their state, personal or company pensions.

Useful websites
UK Pensions: www.direct.gov.uk/pensions
Cyprus Pensions (Greek and English) www.mlsi.gov.cy/mlsi/sid/sid.nsf

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