Retired Public Servant acted as Presiding Officer decucted pension levy.

[Vinpaul]

I recently acted as Presiding Officer at the elections. There was a cut of 12.5% on the amount paid for previous election duties. This is acceptable in view of the current economic climate.
There was a further 10.5% pension levy deducted. I contacted the Returning Officer and was advised that the instructions from Revenue were that the pension levy was to be applied to all payments.
I feel that pensioners should not be subject to a pension levy as any payments earned after retiring will not affect the pension already being paid. There is no benefit. Any view on this?
Who or how do I seek an adjustment in this. It is going to affect all the people currently conducting the 2011 census as well. Times are hard but this is really squeezing every last cent from an already reduced pay rate>

 

[ajapale]

Moved from Pensions to Work, Careers, Employment Rights and title reworked to reflect question.

 

[jpd]

The "Pension Levy" has nothing to do with pensions - it is a ruse used to reduce public servants pay and pension payments without reducing the gross pay.

Calling it a "Pension Levy" is an attempt to justify the pay reduction by linking it to the fact that public service workers enjoy better pension arrangements than available to most private workers - but this is just PR.

 

[ajapale]

I agree with the previous posters.

An alernative to the pension levy would be simply to apply a pay cut AND since most (not all) public service pensions are index linked to the salary of the current imcumbant then logically all current public service pensions should have been reduced pro rata as well.

aj

 

[TheJackal]

Yes, I'm told retired persons still pay PRD on their pension salary. Complete joke.

Edit: I'm finding it hard to confirm this online. Anyone got a Revenue link or something?

 

[Leper]

1. It is right that the Pension Levy was deducted at source. This is standard practice.

2. You are entitled to a refund from the Revenue Commissioners and you can do this by obtaining a certificate from your Election Day employers and sending it to the Revenue Commissioners outling the fact that you are already retired and in receipt of a pension.