Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 104: To ask the Minister for Finance the cost of tax relief for private pensions in each of the past 10 years; and the average number of people who availed of such tax relief in each of those years. [24857/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the relevant available information relates to the cost of tax relief on pension contributions by employers, employees and self-employed and the exemption from tax of income and gains in the pension funds. This information, together with the numbers of employee and self-employed contributors, is provided for the ten income tax years 1993-94 to 2002, the latest year for which it is available. The estimates of cost in relation to contributions by employers and contributions by employees are particularly tentative as this information is not captured in such a way as to enable more precise estimates to be compiled.

It should be noted that as PAYE taxpayers were charged to tax on their earnings in the period from 6 April to 31 December 2001 and self-employed taxpayers were assessed to tax for that short year on 74% of the profits earned in a 12 month accounting period, the cost figures will not be directly comparable with those of earlier or later years.

A married couple who has elected or has deemed to have elected for joint assessment is counted as one tax unit.