I am advised by Revenue that the transfer of deferred benefits may be made from an occupational pension scheme or a Personal Retirement Savings Account (PRSA) to an overseas pension arrangement, once such a transfer complies with the Occupational Pension Schemes and Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (Overseas Transfer Payments) Regulations 2003, available at www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2003/si/716/made/en/print. The Regulations are under the remit of the Minister for Social Protection and prescribe the conditions for transfers to pension arrangements established outside the State.
Such conditions must therefore be satisfied to ensure that a transfer to an overseas pension scheme is a bone fide transfer. When facilitating the transfer of an occupational pension scheme or PRSA to an overseas pension scheme, the trustees or PRSA provider must be satisfied that:
(a) the member or PRSA contributor has requested a transfer,
(b) the overseas arrangement provides relevant benefits as defined by section 770 Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (TCA), and
(c) the overseas arrangement has been approved by the appropriate regulatory authority in the country concerned.
To comply with (b) and (c) above, the trustees or PRSA provider should also obtain written confirmation from the administrator of the overseas arrangement to which the transfer is to be made.
Transfers from an Irish pension scheme to a pension scheme in another EU Member State, must be to a scheme which is operated or managed by an Institution for Occupational Retirement Provision (IORP) within the meaning of the EU Pensions Directive, and must be established in a Member State of the EU which has implemented the Directive in its national law. Transfers are also permitted from an Irish pension scheme to a pension scheme in the United Kingdom which is subject to governance and regulatory requirements similar to those under the IORP Directives. The scheme administrator must be resident in an EU Member State or the UK as appropriate. Transfers that comply with the above may be made without prior Revenue approval.
I am further advised by Revenue that moving pension funds overseas in an effort to circumvent the requirements of Irish pension tax legislation may fall foul of the conditions under which a pension scheme was approved by Revenue as an exempt approved scheme or the conditions under which a PRSA product received Revenue approval. This could result in the withdrawal of the approval of an occupational pension scheme in accordance with the provisions of section 772(5) of the Taxes Consolidation Act (TCA) 1997 or the withdrawal of the approval of the PRSA product under section 787K (3) and (4) TCA 1997. Any such withdrawal of approval could trigger significant tax liabilities on the sums moved overseas and the withdrawal or claw back of tax reliefs. Moreover, in such cases and depending on the circumstances and the motivation of the individual concerned the possibility also arises that such transactions may also fall foul of the legislation designed to counter tax avoidance transactions.
In relation to the transfer of occupational pensions to other EU jurisdictions under the IORP II Directive (Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision Directive) and to the UK, the number of declarations signed by the individual concerned that have been submitted each year since 2012 to 2024 and to date in 2025 are set out below:
|
Year
|
Declarations
|
|
2012
|
102
|
|
2013
|
147
|
|
2014
|
121
|
|
2015
|
63
|
|
2016
|
64
|
|
2017
|
65
|
|
2018
|
81
|
|
2019
|
58
|
|
2020
|
50
|
|
2021
|
67
|
|
2022
|
68
|
|
2023
|
48
|
|
2024
|
47
|
|
2025
|
<10
|
Revenue approval is required in advance of transfers to a pension scheme in a country other than the UK or an EU Member State. If the transfer is to a country outside the EU (other than the UK) a transfer may not be made to a country other than the one in which the member is currently employed.
The number of overseas transfers to countries other than to another EU Member State or to the UK each year since 2014 which have been approved by Revenue, and for which confirmation has been received of the date and amount of the subsequent transfer, are set out below:
|
Year
|
Transfers
|
|
2014
|
27
|
|
2015
|
14
|
|
2016
|
13
|
|
2017
|
15
|
|
2018
|
<10
|
|
2019
|
<10
|
|
2020
|
12
|
|
2021
|
<10
|
|
2022
|
<10
|
|
2023
|
<10
|
|
2024
|
<10
|
A breakdown of these transfers by destination country and the average per country is set out in the table below:
|
|
Transfer
|
Average
|
|
Australia
|
37
|
€ 93,938.87
|
|
Canada
|
13
|
€ 38,518.01
|
|
Cayman
|
<10
|
€ 773,070.45
|
|
Channel Islands
|
<10
|
€ 48,876.59
|
|
Hong Kong
|
<10
|
€ 106,597.60
|
|
Iceland
|
<10
|
€ 17,360.54
|
|
India
|
18
|
€ 37,887.58
|
|
Isle of Man
|
<10
|
€ 99,821.69
|
|
New Zealand
|
18
|
€ 66,343.58
|
|
Norway
|
<10
|
€ 17,286.14
|
|
South Africa
|
<10
|
€ 52,223.08
|
|
Switzerland
|
<10
|
€ 33,580.95
|
In relation to the number of applications that were not approved, I am advised by Revenue, Deputy, that Revenue’s Pensions Branch maintains statistical information in relation to applications for transfer of pensions arrangements overseas which have been approved by Revenue and for which confirmation has been received that the applicant proceeded with the transfer as well as the date and value of the fund transferred. Statistical information in relation to applications for which approval was denied is not maintained and is therefore not available.
In relation to the share of transfers that relate to public sector and the share that relate to private sector workers, Deputy, I am advised by Revenue that applicants are not required to provide information as to whether the scheme transferred relates to public sector or private sector employment and, as such, this information is not available.
