New company paying pension through salary

[ctlsleh]

Hi.....I am about to move job and will be the first Irish employee. How should I advise my prospective US employer on how to paY me reension.
My guess is that they will use Merc or some global HR company to set up an entity here so they can pay me salary.

But when it comes to pension contributions, they are thinking of just increasing my salary by the 4% that they want to pay me as that benefit.

Are there any pitfalls in that approach? As I assume I can set up a private pension and claim back the tax paid against it?

Any advice on this and on the general set up welcome.

 

[dub_nerd]

How are they doing your payroll in general? If they have to administer all the usual tax affairs anyway, what's so complicated about doing pension contibutions the normal way? An employer is required to offer access to a PRSA if they don't have an occupational pension scheme.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/e...ons/personal_retirement_savings_accounts.html

(How come the employer doesn't either know this or has hired someone local who knows it. You wouldn't expect to hire someone in a foreign country without having the first clue about local tax and employment laws. Presume this is a bona fide employer and not one of those internet offers - which is the subject of another thread here - which turn out to be a money laundering scam).

 

[ctlsleh]

Yes, it's a bona fide employer and they are investigating what they need to do, but as I pointed out, I will be the only Irish employee in the medium term at least( ie, my role is a European wide sales role, I just happen to live in Ireland) so they will not be setting up a normal pension fund or a company here except what ever they need to do to employ and pay me.
Any advice welcome

 

[markpb]

But when it comes to pension contributions, they are thinking of just increasing my salary by the 4% that they want to pay me as that benefit.

I could be wrong but if they do this, your pension will be subject to all the usual taxes instead of helping reduce your tax bill like it does normally. You'll need to take this into account when calculating how much they'll need to pay (maybe they have already?).

 

[ctlsleh]

I'm thinking that if I set up a private pension, then they can just pay into it.....any catches there?

 

[LDFerguson]

I'm thinking that if I set up a private pension, then they can just pay into it.....any catches there?

Yes - you will pay USC if you do this. Better to set up an Occupational Pension Scheme with you as the only member. Your employer can pay into this without any tax or USC implications for you.

Liam D. Ferguson

 

[ctlsleh]

Thanks liam