Indo - "Revenue is chasing tens of thousands of pensioners over owed tax"

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Revenue is chasing tens of thousands of pensioners over owed tax

The Revenue Commissioners have written to thousands of pensioners to warn of incorrect tax payments.
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The Revenue Commissioners have written to thousands of pensioners to warn of incorrect tax payments.

Many people owe money to the tax authority because they have an occupational pension in addition to their state pension.

State pensions are paid gross and no tax is deducted at source, but if a person also has an occupational pension, they owe tax on the state payment.

Revenue has revealed that it has written to 68,000 pensioners who it suspects have outstanding tax issues for the tax year 2022.
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I’m surprised it’s not more than 68k… I have heard a lot of people tell me confidently that state pensions are NOT taxed. People who are a few years retired with decent work place pensions and get their state pension in addition a few years later.

Sorry edited as I left out the NOT above.

It’s a commonly held belief that state money isn’t taxed
 
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How does this happen in practice? Isn’t it a bit like having two jobs?

Suppose I’m a 67 YO with a state pension of €13k and drawing down €2k a month (€24k a year) from an ARF. I have tax credits like anyone else of my age.

Do the pension provider and DSP not download my credits from Revenue so that tax is deducted at source?
 
It's difficult to see Charlie's point here.

Does he think that pensioners shouldn't gently be reminded that, like any other citizen, they may be liable to pay income tax if their yearly income is in excess of the tax-free limits?

Is he unaware that, under the Equality Acts, it would be wrong of the Revenue Commissioners to discriminate against people over a certain age by not inviting them to consider their tax situation?

Is he unaware that Revenue's excellent data mining software is fully capable of identifying people who are in receipt of more than one pension and thus, I suspect, the vast majority of those 68,000 letters are being sent to people who Revenue believe are very likely to have a tax liability.
 
Marsupial said:
Revenue's excellent data mining software
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All you need is a file from DSP with the PPSN in receipt of a contributory state pension. This could be done in Excel at a stretch!

As per my previous comment it’s mystifying why DSP are paying benefits to pensioners in wilful ignorance of their tax credits.
 
Marsupial said:
Taxpayers are expected to inform Revenue that they are in receipt of a State Contributory OAP
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Really? Not according to Revenue...

The Department of Social Protection (DSP) payments listed below are taxable payments. Information on these payments is provided by the DSP to Revenue. You do not have to contact Revenue to report these payments. The DSP will notify Revenue of the amount for Income Tax purposes. The payments are:
State Pension (Contributory or Non-Contributory)
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Taxable payments you do not need to declare

This page explains taxable Department of Social Protection payments you do not need to declare
www.revenue.ie www.revenue.ie

When my wife received Maternity benefit, her credits and SRCOP was adjusted to make it taxable (but was received gross). Presumably the credits and SRCOP would be adjusted by the provider of the occupational pension to account for OAP.
 
The RTÉ piece referred to Revenu saying "Any letters issued are data driven, proportionate, and accompanied by assistance channels."

So I suspect they have been data mining. I know that for some people it’ll be a scary letter, anything with the harp on it and revenue in the senders name is scary. Hopefully there aren't too many deceased people in there too. I recall a few people getting letters for deceased family members I. The last, it happens.. and it can cause stress.
 
Marsupial said:
The DSP has quite enough to do without having to become a tax collection agency as well.
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Why not?

Hundreds of thousands of employers of PAYE employers are de facto tax collectors already. It would not be very difficult technically for DSP to do the same.

The tone of all of this discourse - finger wagging at old people - is dreadful given that the state has all the information and means at its disposal to remedy the issue.
 
I am fairly certain that when I do my tax return any payments such as statutory sick pay are already pre populated.. I could be wrong, it’s rare enough for me,
 
For the dsp to deduct tax wouldn’t they need a tax cert from everyone? Not impossible to do of course, just wondering how they’d manage it.

Actually would the same apply to all benefits… I can see it getting messy. Probably easier to ask tax payers to sort it out at the year end.

Yikes, I hope my dad isn’t one of them, he’ll get uber stressed and will fret until I sort it out. Nonagenarians don’t do online tech very well in my (limited) experience.
 
Annieindublin said:
Yikes, I hope my dad isn’t one of them, he’ll get uber stressed and will fret until I sort it out. Nonagenarians don’t do online tech very well in my (limited) experience.
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You mean to say that he may have been avoiding paying tax on his pension for almost 30 years! OMG - a warm cell in Mountjoy Prison awaits him! ;)
 
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