Finance Act, 2002

Amendment of Part 30 (occupational pension schemes, retirement annuities, purchased life annuities and certain pensions) of Principal Act.

10.—(1) Part 30 of the Principal Act is amended:

(a) in Chapter 1—

(i) in subsection (3) of section 772—

(I) by substituting the following for paragraph (b):

“(b) that any pension for any widow, widower, children or dependants of an employee who dies before retirement shall be a pension or pensions payable on the employee's death of an amount that does not or, as the case may be, do not in aggregate exceed any pension or pensions which, consonant with the condition in paragraph (a), could have been provided for the employee on retirement on attaining the specified age, if the employee had continued to serve until the employee attained that age at an annual rate of remuneration equal to the employee's final remuneration;”,

(II) by substituting the following for paragraph (d):

“(d) that any benefit for any widow, widower, children or dependants of an employee payable on the employee's death after retirement is a pension or pensions such that the aggregate amount of such pension or, as the case may be, pensions so payable does not exceed any pension or pensions payable to the employee;”,

and

(III) by deleting paragraph (e),

(ii) in subsection (7) of section 774, by substituting the following for paragraph (c):

“(c) The aggregate amount of annual contributions (whether ordinary annual contributions or contributions treated as ordinary annual contributions) allowed to be deducted in any year shall not exceed—

(i) in the case of an individual who at any time during the year of assessment was of the age of 30 years or over but had not attained the age of 40 years, 20 per cent,

(ii) in the case of an individual who at any time during the year of assessment was of the age of 40 years or over but had not attained the age of 50 years, 25 per cent,

(iii) in the case of an individual who at any time during the year of assessment was of the age of 50 years or over, 30 per cent, and

(iv) in any other case, 15 per cent,

of the remuneration for that year of the office or employment in respect of which the contributions are paid.”,

(iii) in subsection (2) of section 776, by substituting the following for paragraph (c):

“(c) The aggregate amount of annual contributions (whether ordinary annual contributions or contributions treated as ordinary annual contributions) allowed to be deducted in any year shall not exceed—

(i) in the case of an individual who at any time during the year of assessment was of the age of 30 years or over but had not attained the age of 40 years, 20 per cent,

(ii) in the case of an individual who at any time during the year of assessment was of the age of 40 years or over but had not attained the age of 50 years, 25 per cent,

(iii) in the case of an individual who at any time during the year of assessment was of the age of 50 years or over, 30 per cent, and

(iv) in any other case, 15 per cent,

of the remuneration for that year of the office or employment in respect of which the contributions are paid.”,

and

(iv) in section 780(5), by substituting “the standard rate in force at the time of payment” for “25 per cent”,

and

(b) in Chapter 2, by substituting the following for subsection (1) of section 784:

“(1) (a) Where an individual, being an individual referred to in paragraph (b), pays a premium or other consideration under an annuity contract for the time being approved by the Revenue Commissioners as being a contract by which the main benefit secured is, or would, but for the exercise of an option by the individual under subsection (2A), be a life annuity for the individual in his or her old age or under a contract for the time being approved under section 785 (in this Chapter referred to as a ‘qualifying premium’), relief from income tax may be given in respect of the qualifying premium under section 787.

(b) An individual referred to in this paragraph is an individual who is or was (or but for an insufficiency of profits or gains would be or would have been) for any year of assessment chargeable to tax in respect of relevant earnings from any trade, profession, office or employment carried on or held by him or her and who paid a qualifying premium in that year.”.

(2)  (a) Paragraph (a)(i) of subsection (1) applies from the passing of this Act.

(b) Paragraph (a)(iv) of subsection (1) applies to any repayment of contributions referred to in section 780 of the Principal Act which is made on or after 5 December 2001.

(c) Subsection (1) (other than paragraphs (a)(i) and (a)(iv)) applies as respects the year of assessment 2002 and subsequent years of assessment.