Tax relief on PRSA if public sector worker?

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Refresh1

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I have worked as a public sector employee for the past year and a half and have been contibuting to a PRSA pension that I had set up years in advance.

I had been receiving tax relief on this but when I contacted Revenue recently with a cert advising that I was adjusting my contribution amount, I was told I shouldn't have been eligible for tax relief as I am now a member of the public sector pension scheme. Is this correct? I'm sure it is but I can't find any details online so any links to the relevant info would be great.
 
Refresh1 said:
I have worked as a public sector employee for the past year and a half and have been contibuting to a PRSA pension that I had set up years in advance.

I had been receiving tax relief on this but when I contacted Revenue recently with a cert advising that I was adjusting my contribution amount, I was told I shouldn't have been eligible for tax relief as I am now a member of the public sector pension scheme. Is this correct? I'm sure it is but I can't find any details online so any links to the relevant info would be great.
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If you're a member of a public service pension scheme, then any additional contributions you choose to make should be either Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) or PRSA AVCs - additional contributions made through a PRSA. While a PRSA and an AVC PRSA are very similar, an AVC PRSA must be documented as such and must make reference to the main pension scheme - same retirement age, contributions and benefits aggregated for calculating upper limits etc.

So, yes - what Revenue have told you is correct. Did they say that they're clawing back the tax relief?
 
Thanks for the info. I'm going to have to review my situation and how I'm going to proceed with the PRSA going forward, I had the PRSA long before I moved to the public sector. They have readjusted my tax cedits to facilitate paying back the relief...it's not a huge amount so I might just pay it off in one payment rather than messing around with tax credits.
 
Once the relief has been given back, you could discuss with your financial broker the possibility of the PRSA company setting you up with an AVC PRSA, rewinding contributions made to your PRSA for the past 18 months and transferring them to your AVC PRSA. They might or might not agree to it, but if they have proof that you didn't receive tax relief on the PRSA contributions after a certain date (because you gave it back), then it might be a runner. Seems a shame to have made contributions and not to get tax relief on them if you were eligible, but just in the wrong product.

Anyway, discuss with your financial broker the pros and cons of setting up an AVC PRSA for future contributions.
 
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