FORMER MINISTERS who have gifted their pensions to the State will receive no benefit for the “donation”, the Department of Finance has confirmed.
Twenty six politicians have gifted their pensions to the State or donated them to charity.
Of the 26, six TDs and a former TD are reported to have donated their pensions to charity. Qualifying charities will be able to claim tax relief on the gift.
TDs as PAYE employees are not eligible to claim tax back. Tax relief can generally only be claimed by a company or self-employed individual.
The Department of Finance issued a statement in response to a Sunday newspaper report that the former cabinet ministers and ministers of state could have their pensions gifts written off against income tax, and could get a large amount back because of tax credits. But the department said “there is no net benefit for a person gifting money to the Minister for Finance”.
It added that formal arrangements with the Revenue Commissioners, “are designed to ensure that the person is not charged income tax on the amount gifted to the Minister. There is no tax offset against other income.”
