Minister Noonan went on to say; "there is currently no underlying data available to my Department or to
the Revenue Commissioners on which to base reliable estimates of the savings
from a further significant reduction in the SFT to the level indicated in the
question. 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. The estimated savings indicated at the time in respect
the Budget and Finance Act 2011 change in the SFT were quite conservative,
based as they were, on incomplete data and using very broad assumptions. Indeed,
those underlying data and assumptions may not be directly applicable to
determining the effect of a further significant decrease.
My Department has been engaging with representatives of the pensions
industry with a view, among other things, to gathering private pensions-related
data which may be of value into the future in estimating the costs of potential
changes in the pensions’ tax area. These engagements are ongoing".
Source: www.oireachtas.ie
