Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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82. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of pensioners that their sole income in the State pension; the number of pensioners that have an income below what would be required to pay income tax; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31075/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by Revenue that due to the way in which pensions payments from the Department of Social Welfare are declared by taxpayers on a Form 11 tax return it is not possible to separately identify taxpayers where their sole income is the State pension, or to explicitly identify those with this source of income.

Revenue advise that, on a Form 11 tax return, taxpayers are asked to declare all taxable social welfare payments, benefits or pensions in one single combined field (excluding carer’s allowance and jobseeker’s benefit, which are declared separately). As a result, it is not possible to associate amounts declared against any one particular payment or benefit, such as State pensions.

In relation to the second query, Revenue have advised that it cannot provide the number of pensioners that are below the income tax threshold because jointly assessed couples’ income is assessed together, and their net income tax liability is determined taking account of the various reliefs, deductions and credits etc. that are available to both partners.