Susie N.

I do not believe that is correct. A 401k is not an IRA account. Some people roll their 401k plan into an IRA. But I have not done that. I understand that IRAs are treated differently, particularly the interest income. A 401K is the US equivalent of a defined contribution pension pot and is administered by the company I once worked for. IRAs are administered by retail fund managers. I was asking about the lump sums from 401ks as I have read on the other, longer, HMRC community 401k forum that the lump sums are treated very differently from a more regular withdrawal.

This is an update to my previous post on withdrawing from my 401k (I am not a US citizen any more, just UK) I have now read all the forum messages I can find and now understand the following: A) There is no formal definition of a lump sum B) HMRC is empowered to tax the lump sum as well as the the IRS C) They may or may not do so That seems to be the upshot. Could HMRC correct any misunderstanding with the above. BUT my big question now is: if HMRC does tax a lump sum withdrawal, will this be seen as UK income and hence factored in when determining my tax bracket? Many thanks

I am a UK citizen/resident with a 401k plan from years working in the US. [As an aside: I recently renounced my US citizenship (this was a strightforward renounciation, I was not "covered" and did not need to pay exit tax]. a) Could you please outline what constitutes a lump sum from a 401k plan? is it defined by size or frequency? I have read that this is treated differently from a regular withdrawal from a 401k on which I should simply pay UK tax, not US tax. b) where a lump sum withdrawal is recognised as such with tax payable in the US not the UK, is there any danger of this withdrawl bumping me up a UK tax bracket? Many thnaks