prsa query

hi

i am in a company pension scheme
i pay 10% of my salary into it
i make avc's about one a year
i am 48 years old ( 25% of salary max)

my question is can i start a prsa as well as keeping my current pension
and will i get tax relief

Regards

Noel

Why would you want to start a pRSA as well? Why not just increase the amount you are paying into your AVCs instead?

i thought that if i spread the savings around
it would be better
do you know is it possible to start a prsa and get tax relief whilst having an other pension

Thanks

I think it's only possible if the PRSA is used as an alternative to an AVC on an occupational scheme which doesn't provide that option. In general it's only possible to claim tax relief on contributions to one pension at any one time. You can have multiple pension funds paid up and one actively receiving contributions though.

Lots of reasons why poster might want to make a PRSA AVC rather than an AVC in the existing scheme. Big one may be that a PRSA AVC may offer lower charges than the scheme AVC. Or he or she may not want employer knowing what level of AVCs they can make.

Yes you can start your own PRSA AVC with your own choice of provider in the circumstances you describe.

thanks for your help

Re: prsa query - contributing to PRSA as well as company AVC scheme?

Marianne said:

Lots of reasons why poster might want to make a PRSA AVC rather than an AVC in the existing scheme. Big one may be that a PRSA AVC may offer lower charges than the scheme AVC. Or he or she may not want employer knowing what level of AVCs they can make.

Yes you can start your own PRSA AVC with your own choice of provider in the circumstances you describe.

Click to expand...

I can't find anything that says you can't contribute to both. Does anyone know if it's a problem?
Let's say you have a PRSA which you used to contribute to when you were self-employed in 2004 and to which you're currently not contributing. It's still sitting there though.
Now, you're a PAYE employee in a company scheme. You contribute AVC's on a regular basis to the company scheme. You received some bonuses in 2005 on which you have not yet made any pension contributions.
Can you make extra AVC's to bring your contributions up to the max for your age to the PRSA rather than to the company scheme?
(You then mention the lump sum to the PRSA on the tax return for 2005, before Oct 31st!)

The reasons are mentioned by Marianne above
- not wanting the employer to know
- lower charges

Many thanks