Private Pension Tax Relief

charlietheminxx

Hi,

I set up a private pension in January 2013 and have paid into it monthly since. Having previously had a pension in work, tax relief was applied from my wages. I never considered applying for tax relief for my private pension payments, partially as I was unaware of the procedure for doing so.

I'm meeting with the broker who set up my fund for me next week to get properly clued in. In the mean time, I've been wondering if this means I am due a tax refund?

I really am clueless when it comes to this stuff (something I am trying to change) so I would appreciate any advice people could give me!

relax carry on

charlietheminxx wrote: »

Hi,

I set up a private pension in January 2013 and have paid into it monthly since. Having previously had a pension in work, tax relief was applied from my wages. I never considered applying for tax relief for my private pension payments, partially as I was unaware of the procedure for doing so.

I'm meeting with the broker who set up my fund for me next week to get properly clued in. In the mean time, I've been wondering if this means I am due a tax refund?

I really am clueless when it comes to this stuff (something I am trying to change) so I would appreciate any advice people could give me!

You probably are due some tax relief.

http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/reliefs/pension-contributions.html

charlietheminxx

Thanks! I have read that but as I've built up 2 years will it come as a tax refund? Or will I just be taxed less over the next while?

relax carry on

charlietheminxx wrote: »

Thanks! I have read that but as I've built up 2 years will it come as a tax refund? Or will I just be taxed less over the next while?

It's like any tax relief/credits claimed relating to prior tax years, if any relief is due, it's issued as a refund from Revenue.

charlietheminxx

Thanks so much for your advice!

jjjd

charlietheminxx wrote: »

Thanks so much for your advice!

Try to get your pension contributions going through payroll so you get the tax relief upfront. Don't forget your pension is taxable at the other end when you retire, so there is little point in not claiming tax relief as it most certainly will be taxed when you're retired!

charlietheminxx

My employer doesn't like to get involved with private pensions because part of the business has such a large staff turnover that they found it too time consuming. It's a shame really but at least I know where I stand going forward.

silent_spark

Since 2003 employers have to offer their employees working for them for more than six months the facility to put in place at least one Standard PRSA in situations where there is no pension scheme currently in place.

charlietheminxx

Hmmmmm that's food for thought. I'll speak to them again.

nompere

charlietheminxx wrote: »

Hmmmmm that's food for thought. I'll speak to them again.

Read this first: http://www.pensionsauthority.ie/en/LifeCycle/Joining_a_plan/Employers_obligations_to_provide_access/

and particularly this bit:

An employer must enter into a contract with a PRSA provider and is obliged to:

make deductions from payroll at the request of employees and remit these to the designated PRSA provider (employers cannot charge for deducting and remitting contributions);

charlietheminxx

Sorry to bring this up again, but does anyone know how long it usually takes for Revenue to review things like this online? I put a query in with them on My Enquiries about how best to submit the information to them and they replied asking me to add it to My Enquiries, which I did over 2 weeks ago. I've had no further response so far.
Is this usual?

nompere

Partly it depends on the amount of refund you are expecting. The bigger it is the more people in Revenue have to sign off on it.

There would generally be quite a lot of PAYE end of year enquiries at this time, so a couple of weeks isn't unusual.

charlietheminxx

Brilliant! Thanks again for the advice, hopefully they'll get back to me soon.