Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 16:

In page 21, subsection (1), between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following:
“(a) in section 770(3) by substituting “Schedules 23 and 23C” for “Schedule 23”,”.

Amendments Nos. 16, 18 to 20, inclusive, and 22 to 25, inclusive, all relate to section 16 of the Bill as published. I propose to deal with them together by agreement. Section 16 inserts a new section 782A to the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 and provides for limited pre-retirement access to additional voluntary contributions. It also provides for the temporary rescinding of certain provisions included in the Finance Act 2011 relating to the conditions that must be met by an individual before he or she can have access to an approved retirement fund, ARF. In the Finance Act 2011 changes were made in the context of the extension of the ARF option to all defined contribution occupational pension arrangements.

The amendments are primarily for the purpose of clarifying elements of the AVC access provision and use some of the administrative aspects of that proposal to ensure that it gets up and running as quickly and efficiently as possible. The amendments in part reflect feedback received by my Department since the Bill was published. Amendment No. 16 corrects the omission of a reference in section 770(3) to the new Schedule 23C and sets out the information reporting requirements of PRSA administrators in respect of AVC access provision.

Amendments Nos. 18 and 23 are similar in intent and are designed, as mentioned earlier, to get the AVC access option operational as quickly as possible. In this regard in order for the AVC access legislation to be effective the Bill as published would oblige the trustees of occupational pension schemes and PRSA providers, respectively, to make specific provision for the access option in their schemes and PRSA products by amending scheme rules or the terms of the products. It has been put to me that this requirement would inevitably cause delays and give rise to administrative costs as rules and terms are redrafted and trustees meet to consider them before the amendments become effective. Having regard to these concerns and the fact that AVC access is a purely temporary facility the amendments replace the rule change requirement in the published provision with an overarching provision that effectively permits trustees and PRSA providers to allow scheme members or PRSA contract holders to avail of the AVC access option notwithstanding that the scheme rule or product term as approved by Revenue would ordinarily not allow for such access.

Amendment No. 19 replaces an incorrect reference to "trustees" in the definition of the term accumulated value in the new section 782A with a correct reference to "administrator". Amendment No. 20 replaces the definition of administrator in the new section 782A with a more precise definition to clarify that the administrator of an AVC fund who will in effect be administering the AVC access option is the person or persons who actually manage the relevant pension scheme on a day-to-day basis, whether the main scheme or a separate but associated AVC scheme or the PRSA administrator where it is a PRSA AVC scheme.

Amendments Nos. 24 and 25 extend the period within which pension scheme administrators and PRSA administrators, respectively, must provide information to Revenue in respect of the use of AVC access options from seven days to 15 days after the end of each quarter. I commend all these amendments to the committee.

If Deputy Doherty wishes to propose his amendment I can read the briefing note on it now.