Transferring superannuation to spouses temporary fund?

[hiimkristina 9]

Hi gang,

I apologise if this is a silly question or is just the wrong thing to do but I wanted to ask everyone's opinion.

My (now wife!) was living with me in Australia for 2.5 years. She has a super fund and is able to withdraw the money since she was a temporary resident. We are now living in America and have gotten married.

Since I am still an Australian citizen I obviously cannot withdraw anything from my superannuation. To cut a long story short and not bore you with why we need to access my funds, is there any way for me to transfer some of my superannuation to my partner's fund so that we are able to also withdraw that money when we apply to her super fund? I read somewhere you can transfer up to 85% of your super to a spouse but there's so much information it has confused me.

I appreciate any responses.

[Sukie 1,459]

Hi gang,

I apologise if this is a silly question or is just the wrong thing to do but I wanted to ask everyone's opinion.

My (now wife!) was living with me in Australia for 2.5 years. She has a super fund and is able to withdraw the money since she was a temporary resident. We are now living in America and have gotten married.

Since I am still an Australian citizen I obviously cannot withdraw anything from my superannuation. To cut a long story short and not bore you with why we need to access my funds, is there any way for me to transfer some of my superannuation to my partner's fund so that we are able to also withdraw that money when we apply to her super fund? I read somewhere you can transfer up to 85% of your super to a spouse but there's so much information it has confused me.

I appreciate any responses.

You ask a very interesting, but, unfortunately, very complicated question. I don't know the answer, but I sure would like to!

I think the biggest answer is "it depends". It depends on the super fund, and you are somewhat limited in what you can split. Here is one article I found:

http://www.superguide.com.au/how-super-works/can-i-split-my-super-benefits-with-my-spouse

I think you need to get some good tax and legal advice before you do this. Please also know that your spouse MUST report her super fund on the FBAR (Foreign Bank Account Report). In addition, the US is doing its best to figure out how to TAX the distributions and/or yearly gains on supers, so be careful what you wish for.

I'm the USC, and my spouse is Australian. This is the first year we are filing jointly, and our tax guy (an international tax specialist) has warned us about how the US treats super funds. Be very careful. And note: YOU will also have to declare your super on an FBAR report.

Sukie in NY

[Olives24 9]

From my understanding it depends on the Super Annuation company. I've saved these links for this very reason since I'm a USC working in OZ.

Claiming Super http://australia.gov.au/service/superannuation-departing-australia