PRSA Questions

[Steven Barrett]

From a blog I wrote a couple of years ago. The "may trigger" is really "it will trigger". So while it may in theory (and as @VInterested has pointed out, may be very different in practice) be possible, you will have to pay tax on the transfer value, making the whole thing pointless.

If you cannot put the money into a master trust, I would invest the money in a non pension arrangement .

For transfers to another EU Member State, the overseas scheme must be operated or managed by an Institution for Occupational Retirement Provision (IORPS) and must be established in a Member State of the European Communities which has implemented the IORPS Directive in its national law. If the transfer is to a country outside the EU, a transfer may not be made to a country other than the one in which the member is currently employed.

Transfers that comply can be made without prior Revenue approval, but details of the transfer must be sent to the Revenue before the transfer payment is made. The amount that can be taken as a lump sum should be notified to the receiving scheme.

1. If the money is in an Occupational pension scheme, a transfer may be possible to a IORPS scheme.
2. If the money is in a PRSA, a transfer may be possible to a IORPS scheme but it may trigger a tax liability.
3. If benefits are in a Buy Out Bond, a transfer is not possible and you can only transfer these benefits to the UK.

It is very important for non-nationals who intend to leave Ireland at retirement to take care with the decision that they make with regards to their pension before leaving Ireland.

 

[VInterested]

I imagine that transferring pensions from one country to another would be difficult to be agreed between different companies from different countries in terms of accepting all terms and conditions. You could also argue why would the Irish government give tax reductions for people who intend to spend their pension in another country unless this is also replicated in other EU countries?

I mentioned before that the EU is working on pan European pensions. They call them PEPPS (Pan-European Personal Pension Products) and that could be the way to go in the future until the transfer issue is resolved. EU workers can work in different countries and place their pension pots in a PEPPS.
It is mentioned by revenue. There is no much info on it or at least I don't really know how that works. PEPPS are active since March 2022.