Claiming tax back on pension contributions

Siamsa Sessions

Hi all,

I set up a private pension earlier this year and for some reason my employer couldn't sort out the tax relief at source aspect of it.

The broker I used said I could simply claim back the 20% I'm entitled to around September/October, and he has sent out the 'Retirement Annuity Certificate' from the pension company.

Does anyone know what I need to do now?

I'm a PAYE worker and I've looked at ros.ie and revenue.ie to see if I could figure it out, but I couldn't see where I might make such a claim.

Has anyone else been through this process?

Any pointers would be most welcome.

Thanks,
Kieran.

Kennie1

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Hi all,

I set up a private pension earlier this year and for some reason my employer couldn't sort out the tax relief at source aspect of it.

The broker I used said I could simply claim back the 20% I'm entitled to around September/October, and he has sent out the 'Retirement Annuity Certificate' from the pension company.

Does anyone know what I need to do now?

I'm a PAYE worker and I've looked at ros.ie and revenue.ie to see if I could figure it out, but I couldn't see where I might make such a claim.

Has anyone else been through this process?

Any pointers would be most welcome.

Thanks,
Kieran.

Sounds to me as your broker has set up a Personal Pension Plan. You cannot set up payroll deduction on a PPP and therefore you cannot claim tax relief at source. As you are an employee your tax year ends on the 31 December.

I would question whether your broker is any good at his/her job by giving you the impression that you could claim tax relief at source on a PPP and telling you that you need to claim before the self employed self assessment deadline.

You need to set up a PRSA and then pay the premiums through payroll by doing this you will not need to claim tax relief at the end of each year going forward.

You need to write a letter to Revenue to claim tax relief and include your PPSN number and attach your RAC Cert and they will issue a tax refund within 8 weeks usually.

How long are you paying premiums?

iminireland

Your employer is obliged to offer a pension to all employees where tax relief is given at source. These pensions are called PRSA's

I do not know why the broker used a Personal Pension for you, unless you had very specific investment request it would be unusual that you were not advised to set up a PRSA with your employer. Not all brokers are obliged to give best advice so it may be best to check if your broker is obliged to and either way ask for an explanation (in English) why you are in that type of pension plan instead of an PRSA with your employer.

Check the charging structure on your pension, there will be entry costs on every contribution (this is usually a percentage charge, 5% is the max this should be). If there is a mention of anything above this in entry charge or a nil allocation period you have a problem and need advice. There may be monthly policy fees (typically €3 to €5 per month) and then there is the Annual Management Charge (typically 0.75% to 1.5% per year).

Your employer is obliged to offer a Standard PRSA where the max entry charge is 5% on contributions but maybe less if they negotiated a good deal and the maximum Annual Management Charge is 1% per year, no other fees and you get tax relief at source.

If you feel as though you have been sold an inappropriate pension you could make a complaint to the Financial Services Ombudsman.

Siamsa Sessions

Thanks lads.

I could have set up a PRSA at work, but I wanted to keep my financial dealings separate. I thought this would make things easier, ironically enough!

I spoke to the work-appointed pension person and to an adviser at the bank, and they both said similar things to the broker I eventually went with: we'll try to sort out tax relief at source, but you may end up having to claim it back yourself. (The amount I wanted to contribute affects the type of plan I could access, apparently - is this correct?)

I'm only paying €100 per month since the start of this year, but I'm already starting to feel like it's more hassle than it's worth.

Thanks again for the replies.

Kieran.

ontheditch2

Just going to piggy back on this.
Received my RAC form this morning.
In order to claim my tax back, is it just a matter of forwarding the RAC letter, along with my PPS number and letter requesting tax back??

Also, i am on it for 3 years, do i have to get a different form for each year, or just state how long i am claiming.

Any advice/information is very welcome.

Thanks

Pablo Sanchez

ontheditch2 wrote: »

Just going to piggy back on this.
Received my RAC form this morning.
In order to claim my tax back, is it just a matter of forwarding the RAC letter, along with my PPS number and letter requesting tax back??

Also, i am on it for 3 years, do i have to get a different form for each year, or just state how long i am claiming.

Any advice/information is very welcome.

Thanks

Normally yeah, simply send this to the local revenue office, best to give them a call first just to make sure you have everything they need.

If you pay the same amount every month then the one RAC cert should do you on an ongoing basis (if your an employee, self employed will need to submit one every year for their returns).

iminireland

ontheditch2 wrote: »

Just going to piggy back on this.
Received my RAC form this morning.
In order to claim my tax back, is it just a matter of forwarding the RAC letter, along with my PPS number and letter requesting tax back??

Also, i am on it for 3 years, do i have to get a different form for each year, or just state how long i am claiming.

Any advice/information is very welcome.

Thanks

Is all your income PAYE?

Siamsa Sessions

Pablo Sanchez wrote: »

Normally yeah, simply send this to the local revenue office, best to give them a call first just to make sure you have everything they need.

If you pay the same amount every month then the one RAC cert should do you on an ongoing basis (if your an employee, self employed will need to submit one every year for their returns).

I can concur with this. I went back to the broker who set up my pension and he gave me the name of the person who sorts out such stuff at the local tax office.

I phoned up, asked for yer man, got straight through and everything was sorted in less than five mins.