Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 January 2022
330. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the 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. [1420/22]
View answer331. 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. [1421/22]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 330 and 331 together.
I am advised by Revenue that the available information in relation to the cost of tax relief on pension contributions is available on the Revenue website at link www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/documents/statistics/tax-expenditures/costs-tax-expenditures.pdf.
The information includes the number of taxpayers availing of the relief as well as the total cost, broken down by year, to the tax year 2018, the latest year for which data are currently available.
For the convenience of the Deputy, the following table sets out the relevant tax costs for 2016, 2017 and 2018, as data for 2019 and 2020 are not yet available.
|
Pension Type |
2018 |
2017 |
2016 |
|||
|
|
Cost € |
Numbers |
Cost € |
Numbers |
Cost € |
Numbers |
|
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 |
The information above reflects the totals for each year. Information on pension contributions at individual (employee) level was not separately recorded on tax returns prior to 2019. However, following changes to the PAYE system, the information sought by the Deputy will become available in the coming weeks for 2019 and for subsequent years as soon as possible thereafter. The data will be published on the Revenue website once available.
