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Tax Reliefs

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 September 2021

Wednesday, 22 September 2021

Questions (35, 36, 37)

Pearse Doherty

Question:

35. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the total cost to the Exchequer of tax relief on pensions contributions from 2016 to 2020 disaggregated by year and pension type in tabular form. [45649/21]

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Pearse Doherty

Question:

36. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the total cost to the Exchequer of tax relief on pension contributions from 2016 to 2020 disaggregated by year and salary band with intervals of €10,000 in tabular form. [45650/21]

View answer

Pearse Doherty

Question:

37. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the number of persons availing of tax relief on pension contributions from 2016 to 2020 disaggregated by year and salary band with intervals of €10,000 in tabular form. [45651/21]

View answer

Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 35 to 37, inclusive, together.

I am advised by Revenue that the cost of tax relief on pension contributions for the years 2004 to 2018 (the latest year currently available) are available on the Revenue website at www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/documents/statistics/tax-expenditures/costs-tax-expenditures.pdf.

For 2018 the published items in relation to pension contribution relief are:

- ‘Employees’ Contributions to Approved Superannuation Schemes’,

- ‘Employers’ Contributions to Approved Superannuation Schemes’,

- ‘Exemption of Employers’ Contributions to BIK’, and

- ‘Pension Contributions (Retirement Annuity and PRSA)’

For the convenience of the Deputy, the following table sets out the relevant tax costs for the years 2016-2018 as figures for 2019 and 2020 are not yet available.

Tax Relief

2018

2018

2017

2017

2016

2016

Cost€m

Number of taxpayers

Cost€m

Number of taxpayers

Cost€m

Number of taxpayers

Employees’ Contributions to Approved Superannuation Schemes

677.7

663,900

598.1

614,200

582.4

599,200

Employers’ Contributions to Approved Superannuation Schemes’

173.2

413,000

159.8

366,700

158.4

345,500

Exemption of Employers’ Contributions to BIK

658.3

413,000

607.3

366,700

601.9

345,500

Pension Contributions (Retirement Annuity and PRSA)

241.3

98,300

229.3

93,600

221.3

95,900

Total Cost

€1,750.5m

€1,594.5m

€1,563.7m

In relation to the Deputy’s question regarding the total cost to Exchequer of tax relief on pension contributions and the number of persons availing of this relief from 2016 to 2020, disaggregated by year and salary band, I am advised by Revenue that prior to the introduction of real-time reporting (PAYE Modernisation) on 1 January 2019, pension contributions were reported to Revenue at an employer level rather than an employee level, and therefore the breakdown requested by the Deputy is not available for years prior to 2019.

The Deputy may be interested in Revenue’s paper on ‘Statistics and Insights from the First Year of Real-Time Payroll Reporting (PAYE Modernisation)’ which is available at www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/documents/research/pmod-statistics-paper.pdf. In this paper, on page 17, a breakdown is provided of the level of pension contributions through payroll, as well as the number of individuals, broken down by income band for the year 2019.

I am advised by Revenue that a broad indication of the tax cost by income band may be inferred from this table in relation to employees. However, comparable information for employees and self-assessed cases combined is not available. Data from tax returns (PAYE and self-assessed individuals) for the year 2019 are currently being processed and will be available in the coming months.

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