Any exeptions for US in UK?

11% for NI / pension? Cmon, if i am not going to use the pension do I have to pay for it? I must be able to get some of this back?

Does anyone know of any exceptions for US expats?

ps, there are rediculous taxes here

how long do you intend to work here?  less than 3 year assignment or more permanant?

John,

You shouldn't post your *intentions* on a public forum visible to the HMRC and the IRS.  Your intentions may change once you know the consequences of hose intentions.  Intentions can not be proven, but once you put them in writing, you kind of stuck.

There are loads of exemptions for people intending to stay for two years or less; extendable to three years.  You'll want to discuss these options over the phone with a qualified UK accountant rather than in writing for the reasons given in the previous paragraph.

The totalisation agreeement gives you entitlement to a UK State pension in any case so not all is lost!

Sorry for all the weird grammatical bits in my last post.  That's not how I typed it!  It's the right gist though.

11% for NI / pension? Cmon, if i am not going to use the pension do I have to pay for it? I must be able to get some of this back?

Does anyone know of any exceptions for US expats?

ps, there are rediculous taxes here

US and UK has a reciprocal SS agreement so you can use NI contributions to top up your FICA/SS contributions. So you will be using them!

I have some FICA contributions in the US and about a year of NI in the UK. I don't know where I'll be when I'm 65, but I hope to combine my FICA and NI payments to get a pension from one country or the other.

It's much better than that -

You can & should get partial benefits from both!

You may be eligible for a rebate after filing a Personal Tax Return from HMRC.   If you've been overpaying your taxes they'll notify you once you've filled out a self assessment, however you may possibly end up owing them more money in taxes.