Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 75: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the number in respect of the last year for which figures are available of single and married people availing of tax relief on their pension contributions, by contribution bands starting at a contribution of €50,000 and with bands above this at intervals of €25,000. [25933/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the only relevant information available is in respect of income tax relief allowed for contributions to Retirement Annuity Contracts (RACs) and Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs) for the income tax year 2004. RACs and PRSAs are available to the self-employed and to employees not in occupational pension schemes. A distribution by contribution ranges of the number of cases, amount of deduction and reduction in tax for tax relief for RACs and PRSAs is contained in the tables that follow this reply. The information is based on income returns on Revenue records at the time the data were compiled for analytical purposes, representing about 96 % of all returns expected.

A married couple who has elected or has deemed to have elected for joint assessment is counted as one tax unit. It is not possible to provide corresponding figures in regard to the take-up of the tax relief for pension contributions by employers and employees to occupational pension schemes as the relevant data are not captured in such a way as to make this possible. The Finance Act 2004 includes provisions that require employers to provide data on superannuation contributions in the P35 form to be filed by employers from 2006 on. These changes will yield additional information regarding the overall cost of tax relief for pension contributions. However, as the returns are aggregated at employer level, they will not provide a precise basis for measuring the potential impact on the Exchequer of proposals for change to pension tax relief, including across different income or contribution cohorts.