# Private Pension tax relief



## duck1 (15 Jan 2014)

Hi 
I have a private pension for the past number of years and need to claim tax relief on it. Is it up to 4 years i can claim so 2010/2011/2012 and 2013

I am a PAYE worker on the higher tax rate so is the relief calculated at the higher rate or base rate.

Thks


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## elcato (15 Jan 2014)

Higher rate


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## Steven Barrett (15 Jan 2014)

Duck

You can only go back 1 year. They stopped allowing you go back further about 12 years ago. 

If you are in a company scheme and it comes directly out of your pay, you have already got tax relief at source and so don't need to claim anything. 

If you are self employed, who does your tax returns? They should have picked that up. 

If there are years you haven't claimed, you can always write to the Revenue, explain you didn't know and would they allow it as a once off. 

As elcato said, tax relief is at the marginal rate. 


Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie


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## orka (21 Jan 2014)

SBarrett said:


> You can only go back 1 year. They stopped allowing you go back further about 12 years ago.
> Steven
> www.bluewaterfp.ie


That's not correct. 

The OP is correct - you can go back four years to claim pensions tax relief (See section 3.4 of the Revenue's pension manual "_The claim for relief must be made within 4 years of the end of the year of assessment in which the payment is made."_) 

You might be thinking about the ability to put a pension contribution back into a previous year for assessment purposes which you have to do by 31 October - eg you could pay a contribution in October 2013 but elect to have it assessed as a 2012 contribution. 

The OP can still claim (until 31 December 2014) for 2010, 2011, 2012 & 2013.


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## Conan (21 Jan 2014)

Orka,
Not sure you are correct.
If you look at 3.4 of Revenue Manual it states that under S774, relief may be spread back over up to four years but only in 3 specific circumstances. And it is not clear that the OP's circumstances fit those 3 criteria.


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## orka (21 Jan 2014)

Conan said:


> Orka,
> Not sure you are correct.
> If you look at 3.4 of Revenue Manual it states that under S774, relief may be spread back over up to four years but only in 3 specific circumstances. And it is not clear that the OP's circumstances fit those 3 criteria.


The OP is not asking about spreading back contributions - but just bog-standard claiming of tax relief. He wants to know if he can still claim tax relief in 2014 for his 2010 contributions - NOT whether he can allocate a 2014 contribution back to 2010 for assessment purposes. 

Maybe I quoted the pensions manual out of context (although the quote is actually correct in the OP's circumstances) but as a PAYE taxpayer (as the OP is), you can do your tax returns up to 4 years after year-end - so that's your deadline for claiming any reliefs - includes pension contributions where there is no issue with spreading/allocating to different years. I've done this myself a few times - got back the tax relief for contributions made 2/3/4 years previously - stupid I know from a cashflow point of view but definitely possible.

Are you saying that PAYE employees only have 12 months after year-end to claim tax relief on pension contributions? If that's true, it must be very new and gone quite unpublicised. I think it's a very important issue to clarify for readers of this thread.


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## duck1 (21 Jan 2014)

Yes Orka you are correct it is purely claiming back the tax relief.

Thanks


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## Steven Barrett (21 Jan 2014)

orka said:


> That's not correct.
> 
> The OP is correct - you can go back four years to claim pensions tax relief (See section 3.4 of the Revenue's pension manual "_The claim for relief must be made within 4 years of the end of the year of assessment in which the payment is made."_)
> 
> ...



Hi Orka

Yes, I was thinking of making the contribution to go back more than one year. 

I had a look at the Revenue manual under Section 3.4

_Section 774, Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 provides that relief may be allocated to 

earlier years in certain circumstances. The circumstances are:

(a)A scheme that requires benefits for widows, widowers, children or 

dependants to be paid for by deduction from the employee’s lump sum 

benefit.

(b) A repayment by the employee to the scheme of contributions which were 

previously refunded to the employee.

(c)Where the employee opted prior to 6 February 2003 to purchase additional 

years service.

The claim for relief must be made within 4 years of the end of the year of assessment 

in which the payment is made.
_

Does that 4 years refer to those particular circumstances or to any contribution? To be honest, I've never had a client who's had 4 years worth of unclaimed pensions tax relief!


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## Conan (21 Jan 2014)

OK, I think we are agreed. If it is the case that the contributions are already invested over those four years but simply that the OP never claimed the relief in each year, then the 4 year rule applies.


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## orka (21 Jan 2014)

Conan said:


> OK, I think we are agreed. If it is the case that the contributions are already invested over those four years but simply that the OP never claimed the relief in each year, then the 4 year rule applies.


Yes - the OP has confirmed that it's just tax relief on contributions already made.





duck1 said:


> Yes ... it is purely claiming back the tax relief.


So we're all agreed that the OP is correct that he can claim back up to four years.


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## Sophrosyne (22 Jan 2014)

Duck1

Do you mean that you want to claim for _ordinary_ pension contributions as opposed to additional voluntary contributions (AVCs)?

If so, then most likely you have _already_ received tax relief. Employers operate what is known as the "net pay arrangement". This means that tax relief is applied by reducing your gross pay by the amount of your pension contributions before it was taxed.

You should first check this out with your payroll section.


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