Workers face losing €1.3bn in tax relief on pensions

Workers are facing a double threat to the €1.3 billion-worth of annual tax relief on their pension contributions.

The Department of Finance has set up a working group to examine the scrapping of the higher pension tax relief of 40 per cent and replacing it with the standard 20 per cent band.

Separately, it is also planning to cut pension tax reliefs for private sector workers to fund the state’s new “automatic sign-up” ...