Early Drawdown of pensions

[DrDoolittle]

I am 52 and finishing up work. I have a deferred DC pension from previous job and a PRSA from current job.

My husband has a good deferred DB pension, that will meet our needs, but he will not draw that until 65. Currently he is on a low income and I will be on no income shortly.

Would it make sense now to drawdown my pensions which would effectively be tax free because we will be covered mostly by tax credits ?
Would drawing this pension now generate PRSI credits ?

Could the PRSA and deferred DC be combined into an ARF and drawn down now as needed to carry us towards my husbands drawdown ?

 

[Kev1964]

I am 52 and finishing up work. I have a deferred DC pension from previous job and a PRSA from current job.

My husband has a good deferred DB pension, that will meet our needs, but he will not draw that until 65. Currently he is on a low income and I will be on no income shortly.

Would it make sense now to drawdown my pensions which would effectively be tax free because we will be covered mostly by tax credits ?
Would drawing this pension now generate PRSI credits ?

Could the PRSA and deferred DC be combined into an ARF and drawn down now as needed to carry us towards my husbands drawdown ?

The professionals on here may give you a more holistic response but here are a couple of nuggets that I've learnt on here just by reading the various threads.

If you buy an ARF and draw an income from it, it is subject to PRSI deductions until age 66 so those will go towards your state pension entitlement. Annuities are not subject to PRSI so to maintain your social welfare record you will need to submit an unemployment claim to the DSP now for either JSB (which includes PRSI credits) or just PRSI credits alone.

You can draw down an ARF or not....as needed. However the tax treatment changes in the tax year that you attain age 61. A process called deemed distribution applies which means you will be taxed on the basis that you have drawn down 4% of your pension pot irrespective of whether you did or not. This rises to 5% at age 71.

Just thinking out loud perhaps there is an option for your husband to draw down his DB pension a few years earlier? This will reduce it's value but when combined with your pension drawdowns the two together may still meet your needs at a younger age.