Taxation of government/local authority pension

J

jupiter

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I’ll be moving to the UK and registering for UK self-assessment tax. Apart from a partial UK state pension my income is an Irish public sector pension, from which tax is automatically deducted.
I gather that my public sector pension will continue to be taxed in Ireland after I move:

Irish public sector pension
You may be receiving an Irish pension from the Government or a local authority. In general, this pension is taxed in Ireland regardless of your residence status. Refer to the Government Services article of the Double Taxation Agreement between Ireland and the country you intend to be resident in.
https://www.revenue.ie/en/life-events-and-personal-circumstances/moving-to-or-from-ireland/leaving-ireland/if-you-have-retired-and-are-moving-abroad.aspx

I am curious about why an Irish government/local authority pension would be treated differently to an Irish state pension for tax?
Has anyone any insight into Revenue’s thinking on this? Many thanks.
 
It's not the Revenue's thinking; it's the provisions of the IRL/UK Double Taxation Agreement.

In general, a pension paid from Ireland to a resident of the UK will be taxable in the UK, and vice versa. However there's a provision in the Double Taxation Agreement that a pension paid by the Irish goverment to a UK resident in relation to service as an Irish public servant or local authority employee is taxable in Ireland, unless the recipient is a UK citizen and not also an Irish citizen. (And vice versa for UK public service pensions paid to residents of Ireland.)

This isn't a particularly Ireland/UK thing; there are somewhat similar provisions in many (all?) of Ireland's double taxation agreements with other countries. They are all based on a provision in the OECD model tax treaty, under which pensions for government service are taxed by the country that pays them, even if the recipient becomes a resident of another country.
 
It is generally the case in double taxation treaties that pensions from employment in public services (for example local government workers, teachers,...) paid to non-residents are taxed in the originating country.

Pensions from employment in private or public companies or from self-employment are taxed in the country of residence

This is how it is
 
TomEdison said:
This isn't a particularly Ireland/UK thing; there are somewhat similar provisions in many (all?) of Ireland's double taxation agreements with other countries.
Click to expand...
Correct. It’s standard internationally that public service pensions are always taxed in the home country.

There is probably some rationale for this. I don’t know what it is but it’s not going to change.
 
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