Arthur Spring (Kerry North-West Limerick, Labour)
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116. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the parent's pension contributions in relation to a child's student grant application that can be disregarded; if the pension contributions have to appear on the parent's P21; and if so, the panels of the P21 must the pension contributions be found on. [8877/14]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Contributions to pension schemes and pension or retirement products, within the limits allowed by the Revenue Commissioners, are deducted in determining the reckonable income of an applicant as set out in the Student Grant Scheme 2013. However, 'unrelieved' contributions carried forward from previous years are excluded for the purposes of the Student Grant Scheme even though they may qualify for tax relief from Revenue in the relevant tax year.

Where pension contributions are made by way of deduction at source from wages or salary under a "net pay" arrangement with an employer, the income figure on the applicant's P60 (and consequently on the P21 or Notice of Assessment) is the amount after deduction of pension contributions. Therefore no further deduction is allowable for the purposes of calculating reckonable income for the Student Grant Scheme. A deduction for the public service pension levy is also allowed where it has not already been reflected in the pay figure shown on the P60.

Where an applicant (or where relevant his/her parents) makes pension contributions by means of a PRSA, a RAC or an AVC then a certificate stating the amount paid in that relevant tax year should be submitted to Revenue when requesting a P21 or a Notice of Assessment. The appropriate amount qualifying for tax relief (and thereby qualifying for deduction when calculating the reckonable income for Student Grant Scheme purposes) will appear on the P21 or Notice of Assessment on the panel showing "Tax Credits" on the relevant document.