PRSA questions - living in the US

batter

Hi all,

I'm 53 years old and live in the US. I worked in Dublin for about 3 years between 2007 and 2009 and paid into a company provided PRSA while there. The PRSA is managed by Zurich Life.

The PRSA has about €9K now. It is in a cash-only fund that is depreciating in value each year. I recently contacted Zurich about changing to another fund, but they told me that since I lived in the US they are not allowed to change the fund. They also told me that I can't access any of it until I reach retirement age.

I was wondering if anyone knew if there were any alternatives to consider? Is there a way to cash out the PRSA at this point? Or is there a way to move it to another type of account that would allow me to change the fund type?

Thanks for your help!

Henry Ford III

Can't see why you can't change fund. It's your money. Where you live shouldn't matter.

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121042744#Comment_121042744

I expect it does as Zurich Life would need to be in full compliance with US financial & tax regulations to accept such instructions from a US based resident. And as Zurich Insurance have substantial operations in the US the penalties are high for falling foul of these rules.

Hibernicis

I’ve long experience of dealing with Zurich Life and I have never come across any organisation with such a strong “can’t do” culture. They have reasons for not doing even the simplest task. They are really awful to deal with.

Have you asked them what your options are ?

Could they retire you now, or at 55, take a 25% lump sum and take the rest as a year 1 pension ?

Could they transfer it to a US 401K ?

Can the close it down as you have permanently left the jurisdiction and refund it, and what are the tax and other implications of this ?

Did you ask if they be able to take any instructions in the future, i.e. notice of retirement, pension payment details etc as you will still be resident then ?

There's a reason why pension companies can't do certain transactions (particularly cross border), they're following the rules and regulations forced on them by Regulator, Revenue etc.

It's not a conspiracy.

Can't find a link to the exact reason for this but not being able to switch a fund from USA I've come across it before. Also, being able to exercise leaving service options (via transfer to a PRB) from USA AFAIK is a no no.

The advisor attached to the OPs PRSA should be able to provide them with the actual reasons for not being able to do a transaction. It baffles me why customers don't contact the person who's getting paid to service the contract to get the full details but then criticize the product provider.

if they legally 'can't do' it, what do you want them to do?

A cautionary moral of the story, get all your pension/saving/investment products sorted before you leave Ireland.