Retirement account in US while earning Pension in UK?

Hi All!
From my research, it looks like the UK pension amount my husband would earn would not be enough to retire on, esp since he he is starting work in the UK at 44 years old. My question is, is there private firms in the UK that we could invest with or do some employers do a contribution/match like they do in the US? And if so, I'm guessing we will still end up paying a US tax on them?  We are also considering holding a portion of his 401k in an IRA and just contributing to that, either out of his UK earnings OR out of US earnings from my US held company (I could make him an employee). Anyone have any thoughts or tips on this predicament?  We will certainly talk to a tax expert on this, but I'm curious if anyone has any 1st-hand experience with this. Thanks!

I believe if he gets a job in the U.K. it should come with an employee pension plan,  similar to a 401k.

https://www.gov.uk/employers-workplace-pensions-rules

That’s all I know I’m afraid, I moved to the U.K. a few years after retiring in the USA. I do have a Roth IRA, US final salary pension and U.K. final salary pensions from previous jobs in England.

Look at making as many NI contribution; as close to 35 years as you can. WEP will come into play though on the earned portion.

Assuming you are accompanying your husband to the UK your US incorporated company will automatically become UK resident and subject to UK corporation tax on its profits.  It could reduce its UK corporate tax liability for contributing to a UK pension for directors and employees. 

The key points as regards the private UK pension are-
•   There are statutory requirements that an employer provides a pension for employees and there are minimum contribution levels. Have a look here for an initial guide.
•   An employer might allow employees to reduce their salary and in return pay a higher level of pension contribution. There is no requirement to offer this. This arrangement can offer substantial savings, because employer pension contributions do not attract National Insurance costs.

You don't say if your husband is working for himself or not, but assuming it's a job through a UK employer, then putting funds into a pension fund while you're in the UK is one of the best UK tax breaks you will get - at least until the Government decides enough is enough and they put more and more restrictions in place (but most likely only for high earners) You can still put up to 100% of your earnings into a pension (annual max £40k). Employers are obligated by law to put in at least 3% (subject to various rules, blah, blah, blah).

Others will give opinion I'm sure on any US tax implications but I declare all my pension contributions (and my employers also) as income and additionally claim a Treaty position - not sure how it will all wash out, but avoiding paying 40/45% tax here in the UK is for me at least a no brainer!

Good luck.

I was just researching a similar question today and found this (I have no ties with Greenback, in fact was going to ask here in another post if anyone in this forum ever used this service):

https://www.greenbacktaxservices.com/faq/topic/expat-taxes-101/ 

Since you weren't asking your initial question as a focus on the US side but parenthetically mentioned it, I thought I'd add that you could take a disbursement from a US 401K or IRA to put into a SIPP in the UK but unless it was in a ROTH account in the US you will end up paying taxes on the disbursement in the US. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet esp given issues with exchange rates.

Anyway, there's a good introductory overview for UK pensions and retirement accounts here:
https://www.gov.uk/plan-retirement-income

For what its worth I've used Greenback for the last 7/8 years and found them very good. I always get allocated the same guy in Fl.

For what its worth I've used Greenback for the last 7/8 years and found them very good. I always get allocated the same guy in Fl.

I am on their email subscription list and have attended some of their webinars. They do seem to be very competent so it is great to hear a solid recommendation for doing returns.

I had mixed results with Greenback. They pointed me towards a streamlined submission because I hadn't filed FBars - I was just about to write a penalty cheque for $23K (US resident) when I found better advice and I just filed delinquent FBars (I owed no tax). I paid them anyway for their time and I used their modified returns but didn't go streamlined. I use a US based accountant to file now - and it's around $500 each year - return (with rental properties), UK pension accounting and Fbar and 8938 and some others I can't remember...Anyone need a referral send me a PM.