Tax relief for AVCs, allocation system?

Hi,
Okay I know you can make AVCs which benefit from tax relief up to X% of your gross salary per year based on your age.

Is this similar to how tax credits and tax bands work? i.e. you get allocated a weekly / monthly amount and if you have a surplus e.g. if you only started work in the second half of the year you 'accumulated' the credits / lower tax band from the first half of the year and get to use this 'surplus' to reduce your tax bill while your working in the second half of the year.

Lets say I started making AVCs in March of this year. Could I potentially avail of the tax relief that I could have gotten in January and February in future AVCs that I make? (e.g. a once off lump sum).

Basically I want to tweak my AVCs to maximise the tax relief I can get.

In answer to your question you get tax relief on xx% of income regardless of whether its paid over 12 months or in a lump sum.

To maximise your AVC relief you can get tax relief for the 2012 tax year on a lump sum paid up to 31st October 2013. i.e. If you are in your 30's you can get tax relief on 20% of Net Relevant Earnings up to €115,000.

If the premium is not paid monthly at source you will need to claim the tax relief back by way of a tax return.

Thanks.