Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Finance the savings to the Exchequer from standardising all discretionary tax relief. [46949/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that the deductions and reliefs which are allowable for tax at an individual’s marginal rate of income tax and for which estimates of cost can be provided are set out below together with estimated costs for the year 2009, the most recent year for which the necessary estimates are available. If relief for these deductions and reliefs was confined to the standard rate of income tax the saving to the Exchequer could be of the order of €1,000 million. This estimate does not take into account any possible behavioural change on the part of taxpayers as a consequence of such a change or the economic effect of such a change. This applies in particular to the BES, Film Relief and Capital Allowances regime. The standard rating of employee pension reliefs would also have an impact on workers’ take home pay.

It should be noted that there have been changes since this period, i.e. some schemes have been abolished or modified and others have been introduced. For instance, as the Deputy will be aware, the BES was re-launched as the Employment and Investment Incentive, with changes to the amount of relief payable and types of companies that can qualify.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Finance the savings to the Exchequer from standardising pension tax reliefs. [46950/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I assume the Deputy is referring to individual pension contributions, the tax relief on which is allowed at the taxpayer’s marginal tax rate — the standard or higher rate of income tax as appropriate in each case. A breakdown of the cost of tax relief on employee contributions to occupational pension schemes is not available by income tax rate, as tax returns by employers to the Revenue Commissioners of employee contributions to such schemes are aggregated at employer level. An historical breakdown is available by tax rate of the tax relief claimed on contributions to personal pension plans — retirement annuity contracts and personal retirement savings accounts — by the self-employed and others, to the extent that the contributions have been included in the personal tax returns of those taxpayers. There is, therefore, no statistical basis for providing definitive figures. However, by making certain assumptions about the available information, it is estimated that the full-year yield to the Exchequer from confining tax relief to the standard rate of 20% in respect of pension contributions to occupational pension schemes, retirement annuity contracts and personal retirement savings accounts would be approximately €470 million.