Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 September 2021
289. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Finance the full tax expenditure data relating to the forgone cost of tax expenditures associated with private pensions for the year ending 31 December 2020; the total taxation collected in the same period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46295/21]
View answerI 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 2018 as figures for 2019 and 2020 are not yet available.
|
Pension Type |
2018 |
|
Cost €m |
|
|
Employees’ Contributions to Approved Superannuation Schemes |
677.7 |
|
Employers’ Contributions to Approved Superannuation Schemes’ |
173.2 |
|
Exemption of Employers’ Contributions to BIK |
658.3 |
|
Pension Contributions (Retirement Annuity and PRSA) |
241.3 |
|
Total Cost |
€1,750.5m |
I am further advised by Revenue that it is not possible to estimate the tax paid on pensions separately from other income sources. This is due to the manner in which all incomes are combined within the tax assessment calculation.
