Pension / AVC Q - Form 12 - Simple but Urgent

Hi,

I have a simple but urgent question on what to fill in on the Form 12 around Pension AVCs (need to post it today).

I'm a PAYE worker & my employer has a pension scheme (approved).
They contribute 2% to it as long as I match it, which I do.
I contribute a further 8%.

So if my salary was 10K a year the contributions would be.

Employer: 200
Me: 1000 (200 to match employer + 800 additional (referred to as AVC?))

All this is sorted through payroll.
As far as I can see it all gets deducted from gross and I pay no tax on it.

I'm slightly confused about a couple of questions on the Form 12
Section extracted below with my queries in bold.

35 - Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs)
If you have made Additional Voluntary Contributions to your superannuation fund tick
the box(es) to indicate the type of payment and give the details requested below. If you
or your spouse availed of the Government Incentive for SSIA holders to invest some or all
of your SSIA proceeds into a pension product, do not include those amounts in this Return.

- PRSA AVC

- Other <Presume this is the box I tick>

State the name of the employment where your Superannuation
Fund is held <Company Scheme Name>

If you are a member of a Pre-Approved Pension Scheme
please tick the box(es) <Presume I tick this box>

Total Amount paid in 2007 (for which relief has not been claimed
or granted in 2006) <is this the 1000 I paid this year?>

Amount of AVC Contributions already relieved under
the net pay arrangement in 2007 <is this the 800 AVC? Seems strange that how much or my contribution is called an AVC is determined by my company >

Total Amount of AVC Relief claimed in 2007 <not sure what goes here?: 0 or 800 or 1000 or 1200 >


Would really appreciate any help as I've contacted the tax office twice and got two different answers

M.

Check on your p60 whether your gross takes into account your pension contributions. If your gross on your p60 is 90% of your salary (i.e. your salary less pension contributions) then you've already gained the tax-free benefit from your contributions and don't claim them as an avc on the form 12. If your gross is 98% then you should claim for the 8% as an avc.

That space on the form 12 is designed for people with an AVC not deducted at source by your company (though even if you do you should check on your p60 that your company has administered this correctly).

The previous answer was quite right but it all boils to whether you have been requested by the Revenue commissioners to complete this form and is so why? If it is voluntary then you should follow the advice of the previous response regarding checkinng your P60 however this is not always straight forward so the best way of checking your pension contributions would be from your December 2007 payslip. If your employer runs a good payroll system this should tell you all. If I can be of further help please let me know.

Thanks Claireposts and circle.

I understand what you have explained.

As far as I can tell I have received relief on these pension contributions already. But on my P60 it still seems to show my full Gross Figure (without subtracting these pension amounts) as the taxable amounts.

Anyway I filled in the Form 12 as best I could in relation to this section.

Thanks for your help.

Your P60 should not show your full gross pay.

Your P60 should show your gross pay after any pension contributions and phi contributions done through your payroll.