Pension top up

I’m self employed company director mid 40’s.I set up pension a few years ago putting in lump of €50k and have been paying in €1500 per month all funded by company and was based on the salary I was paying myself.The last few years I had built up cash funds in company so I decided to pay myself a dividend of €400k(net €200k)last year to pay off all my personal mortgage.
By paying myself this dividend will that allow me to take money from company and make extra contribution to my pension?

see here for a maximum funding calculator


The main issue to watch is to cap out your total fund at €2m otherwise you will pay a punitive rate of tax on benefits.

The goal for many directors is to get to €2m at age 50 and then extract the value without having to dispose of their shareholding in the company.



As you may be aware, all pension providers in Ireland have suspended One Member Executive Pension arrangement applications. The reason for the withdrawal of these products is the Pensions Authority’s position in relation to compliance of One Member Arrangements (OMAs) with IORP II.

As recently publicised, the second Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision Directive (IORP II) was transposed into Irish law in April 2021. Under IORP II, Irish pension schemes are required to comply with a significant number of additional requirements.

The deadline for compliance of all schemes (including one member arrangements put in force since April 2021) was the 1st of July 2022. Over the last year, resources and structures have been put in place industry wide to comply with the new legislation.

However, one week prior to the deadline, the Pensions Authority expressed concerns that OMAs were unlikely to meet the compliance threshold.

As I'm sure you can appreciate, this update so close to the deadline, left no time for pension providers to increase their compliance or establish alternative pension options for clients.

The implementation of the legislation has increased the responsibilities on Pension Trustees which in turn makes One Member Pension arrangements too costly for all but the largest funds.

This change is essentially retrospective back to April 2021 for new schemes and older scheme will have to comply in full with the new rules in the coming months.

As yet there is still no direct equivalent pension product available from any provider in the Irish market. However, our understanding is that a suitable One-Member Pension arrangement will become available before the end of 2022.

You need to tread very carefully through this minefield

dividends are no use for pensions. The calculation will be based on your current salary. best to pay bonuses to your self. The company will also benefit from the tax deduction on bonuses

Would be interested to hear how you can access the pension from 50 and not sever ties with the company.