PRSA & Completing Form 12

leinsterman

I'm a little confused as to how to complete a form 12 in relation to PRSA contributions.

My payslip shows that PRSA deducted before tax and my P60 shows total pay income which seem to be net of PRSA contributions ... so I'm guessing that makes me a net pay filer.

I contribute 10% and my employer 5% ... according to Revenue.ie my max allowance is 25% ... so I'm guessing that also means I get full relief on all contribtions including my employers ... Is this correct?

My question is how do I put all of this on my Form12 for 2008?

There appears to be sections 7, 8 and 35 to complete ... but very little guidance.

dbran

If you have a PRSA and it is being deducted at source by your employer before tax then you have got all tax relief you are entitled to already and you are not obliged to file a form 12.

You get relief on all contributions up to a certain limited based on you age. you can also make additional personal contributions to gain extra tax relief.

leinsterman

dbran wrote: »

If you have a PRSA and it is being deducted at source by your employer before tax then you have got all tax relief you are entitled to already and you are not obliged to file a form 12.

Thanks ... Revenue ask me to file a form 12 every year ... they don't give me an option not to file.

Up to now I've had a non contributory defined benefit scheme ... but have switched to a PRSA with a new employer ...

So are you saying I can complete my form 12 without having to add details for my PRSA since it is already taken care of by my employer?

dbran

Hi

If you are a normal PAYE employee (not a company director) you have no obligation to file anything unless you have additional income to declare. Nor are you subject to self assessment rules. It is the responsibility of your employer to deduct the correct tax via the PAYE system. If you have a PRSA, the contributions are deducted at source before tax and you therefore get all the relief each month through the PAYE system.

The only reason you would need to file a form 12 is if you made additional personal contributions to your pension scheme in the year that were not deducted by your employer and you have therefore not obtained the relief for them.

If you do not have any additional income to declare then unless you are totally sure you are due a refund then don't file anything!!! If your employer is using the wrong tax credit for whatever reason you may find yourself owing money instead.


Hope this helps

dbran

leinsterman

Thanks

VikingGirl

Hi there,

Delighted to see this thread today as I have a similar problem. The Revenue had selected me for a 4 year audit review dating back to 2005. I 'm stuck too on how to complete the sections relating to pensions. I had a personal persion for some of the time and then once eligible, joined my works pension scheme. I pay 10% and my employers 5%. I called into the tax office on O'Connell St earlier today and came away none the wiser as to how to complete it.

I understand that as my own contributions were taxed at source, I do not have to include them on the Form 12, but in relation to my employers contributions, do I have to declare these as benefit in kind at Section 7 of Form 12?

Also, you may be able to advice me in relation to this. The Revenue have decided to audit me because it seems there was a problem with my tax credits. Once I joined my works pension scheme, I wrote to tax office advising them that I was freezing my personal pension to join my works pension scheme and to amend my tax credits accordingly. The Revenue now advise me that this wasn't in fact done and that my credits were actually doubled instead meaning I've been receiving too much tax credits for nearly three years. I confess to not understanding how tax credits worked and assumed that the credit I had was because I was still paying in some sort of pension scheme. I'm flabbergasted that I'm going to penalised for a mistake made at the Revenue's end when I had actually written to them advising them of my change in circumstances and asked them to change my credits accordingly, assuming that they'd change them in the correct way.

I'm going to be hit with a tax bill now once the Revenue have processed my Form 12s. Do I have any case for appealing this in light of the above?
Having had pay cuts and tax cuts already several times this years, like most the country, I'm pretty unhappy to have to be taking another cut in my monthly wage once my credits are eventually corrected and then forking out more money to the tax man because of an underpayment through no fault of my own. What also amazes me is how the Revenue never picked this up before now as they have been sending me balancing statements for the last few years.

Look forward to a reply.

Many thanks.

leinsterman

I spoke to revenue and they told me I did not have to declare either my own nor my employers Pension contributions on Form12... due to the fact that the total did not bring me into any tax liability bracket (based on my age) ...

However, that seems a bit strange to me ... so I wrote a covering letter for my Form 12 explaining what I was told and declaring the income anyway ... let them figure it out ... since they don't seem to provide decent guidance

VikingGirl

I think I'll be just doing the same and giving them copies of the pension statements for them to figure out because I truly haven't a clue and don't want to make it any worse for myself than it is .... and based on my conversations with 2 seperate revenue personnel, one on the phone and one in person...I'm beginning to wonder if they do either????

Hope yours works out favourably!

leinsterman

... or we could both just pay €500 to an adviser who understands how to work the system as opposed to just following the rules ... as the more I look into it, the more I find the rules are imprecise ... and their application variable ...


Best of luck to you too ...

dbran

See if this link explains things a bit better.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/money-and-tax/personal-finance/pensions/personal_retirement_savings_accounts

Regards

dbran

VikingGirl

Thanks for the link which explains it all. Returns ready to go...fingers crossed the damage won't be too bad.