non compliant with PRSA

I run a small co., myself, wife and 2 sons. I do not have a company PRSA scheme set up as none of us wanted to contribute yet to a pension and thought we would leave setting it up until one of us wished. Now I have heard that the Pensions board is tracking down non compliant companies. If I explain to the Board my reasoning behind not setting one up can I be granted an exemption? Also is there a charge for setting up such a scheme.

I don't think they will just let you away with it. At the least they will probably require you to set up the scheme, even though nobody utilises it.

I had this situation before (when the deadline was approaching) when I needed to set up one for my one-man company. I knew I didn't need one as I had other provisions in place, but that didn't mean I didn't have to have a PRSA provider arranged.

It was a bit of a weird conversation on the phone - "I want to set up a PRSA." "How many people will be taking it up ?" "None" "I see, so what do we (PRSA company) get out of it ?" "Nothing" "And you want us to facilitate you, because . . . ?"

At the end of the day I knew nobody was going to use it, they knew nobody was going to use it, but it was set up anyway.

The thing is - if I ever did expand and take on a staff member I would need to have the scheme in place immediately.

z

PRSA complying

Complying with the rules is not as hard as it sounds. Get in touch with any PRSA provider, tell them you want to nominate them as your chosen PRSA provider. They will send you a short form, you will sign it, that's it. You can then show this to the Board and they will be happy.

If the PRSA provider asks any hard questions, tell them you want to get the nomination sorted first and you will worry about actual PRSAs some other time. They will still be happier that you nominate them rather than one of their competitors.

d