Pearse Doherty
Ceist:246. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the revenue raised by reducing standard fund threshold from €2.2 to €1.5 million. [47041/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 23 June 2026
Ceisteanna (246)
Freagraí scríofa
The Standard Fund Threshold (SFT) is the maximum allowable pension fund on retirement for tax purposes. The SFT was introduced in Budget and Finance Act 2006 to prevent over-funding of pensions through tax-relieved arrangements.
I am informed by Revenue that they are unable provide a costing for changes to the SFT. Information on the numbers and values of individual pension funds or on individual accrued benefits in pension schemes are not generally required to be supplied to Revenue. Therefore, currently there is no readily available underlying data or methodology on which to base reliable estimates of any possible yields that might be realised arising from reductions to the SFT as outlined by the Deputy.
However, in the context of the 2024 examination of the SFT, my officials examined the issue of estimating the impact of changes to the SFT using the available information about previous payments of Chargeable Excess Tax (CET) in 2023. Following this examination, the Department prepared some indicative estimated costs of increases to the SFT, based on the information available and several assumptions in relation to the basis for the CET paid in 2023. The estimated costs do not take account of behavioural changes or future increases in earnings and are based on a reduction of the 2023 CET yield. Applying the model which generated these costs to your question, the indicative estimated yield to the Exchequer arising from reducing the standard fund threshold to €1.5 million would be approximately €67.6 million.