Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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93. To ask the Minister for Finance the expected revenue from standardising the tax relief on employee pension contributions when an individual exceeds €4,000 in annual employee pension contributions, that is, employee pension relief which applies as normal up to €4,000 in contributions and when this amount is exceeded, relief is applied at 20%. [5179/16]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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94. To ask the Minister for Finance the expected revenue from standardising the tax relief on employee pension contributions when an individual exceeds €3,000 in annual employee pension contributions, that is, employee pension relief applies as normal up to €3,000 in contributions and when this amount is exceeded, relief is applied at 20%. [5180/16]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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95. To ask the Minister for Finance the expected revenue from standardising the tax relief on employee pension contributions when an individual exceeds €3,500 in annual employee pension contributions, that is, employee pension relief applies as normal up to €3,500 in contributions and when this amount is exceeded, relief is applied at 20%. [5181/16]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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96. To ask the Minister for Finance the expected revenue from restricting the tax-free value of employer pension contributions to €25,000 per employee per year, that is any contributions above this value to be taxed under normal income tax rules. [5182/16]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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97. To ask the Minister for Finance the expected revenue from reducing the standard fund threshold to €1 million, €1.1 million and €1.2 million. [5183/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 93 to 97, inclusive, together.

I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that, regarding the first three questions, a breakdown of the cost of tax relief on employee contributions to occupational pension schemes is not available as tax returns by employers (of employee contributions) to such schemes are aggregated and do not provide the detail per employee required to estimate the changes suggested. There is therefore no basis on which an estimate of the impact on the Exchequer of the changes in the Questions could be compiled.

Regarding  the fourth question, I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that data on employer contributions to pension schemes and other pension arrangements are supplied to them in aggregate form and do not provide a sufficient basis to provide a reliable estimate of any tax saving in the terms set out in the Question.

In regards to the fifth question, the Standard Fund Threshold (SFT) is the maximum allowable pension fund on retirement for tax purposes, which was introduced in Finance Act 2006 to prevent over-funding of pensions through tax-relieved arrangements. The threshold was initially set at €5 million, it was subsequently reduced to €2.3 million with effect from 7 December 2010 and further reduced to €2 million with effect from 1 January 2014.

Information on the numbers and values of individual pension funds or on individual accrued benefits are not generally required to be supplied to the Revenue Commissioners by the administrators of pension schemes and personal pension arrangements. There is, therefore, no underlying data readily available to the Revenue Commissioners on which to base reliable estimates of the savings that would arise specifically from the respective changes to the SFT indicated in the question.