pension for school paid teacher

kingkev100

i get so confused with pensions with different answers from pension experts to the same questions, i really hope someone can advise me!
i am a teacher who is paid privately by the school. in 2006 i started a pension and avc. the pension is paid to d.e.s. and avc to cornmarket.
i have yet to receive tax credits for pension which costs approx 9k a year!
i also do not know why i pay a pension to the dept. if i am paid by my school. My employer/my school does not make any pension contributions on my behalf, never informed me of their pension scheme and are not aware that i pay the d.e.s. a pension.
What am i doing wrong? why am i not getting any tax rebate/credits on my pension and why am i paying the dept. pension contributions since they are not even my employer and why has my my employer not put me in their pension scheme??
please help,
a very confused and frustrated teacher

broker2008

Are you a primary or secondary teacher ? Do the primary school teachers get paid direct by the school while the secondary teachers get paid indirectly by the department with a portion made up by the school ?

If this was the case, it could explain why the school would have a pension scheme for the primary teachers and not the senior school. I think the first port of call should be the staff room as there is bound to be someone who is able to help. Failing that, the consultant from Cornmarket should be able to help with the tax relief element.

kingkev100

thanks for your reply broker2008.
i am a second level teacher and paid privately by the school. Cornmarket advised me that in order to do avc's with them, i had to take a pension with the department( even though they are not my employer!) ... very bad advise here i think??
I called the tax office and they said that they cant give me tax relief on my pension contributions 'cos dept. are not my employers. I also haven't gotten any tax relief on my avc's 'cos cornmarket not issue me with any receipts... 2 years later! i was told that i would get tax relief into my bank account automatically but this not happened.
I am actually thinking of stopping my pension with dept. and stopping my avc's with cornmarket and starting afresh with a new pension c/o... even my employer!
any advice greatly welcomed

LouOB

Forget the tax office
Id write a letter to Revenue - they usually get back sharpish

Ensure you add in latest statements of amounts posted for ALL pensions. This is kinda tricky as you are not employed by the dept, so you are not going to get a straight forward answer really

broker2008

Something is not right here. How could you have taken out a pension with the department if you are not employed by them? Who signed the form as trustees ? You are not eligible based on the info provided. If you were not eligible to be a member of the main scheme, you probably weren't eligible to take out an AVC. Also if the school is not making any contributions on their scheme , it doesn't sound like a scheme maybe a PRSA ? I'd talk to staff room initially, then Cornmarket senior administration manager or eagle Star (?) and if they can't resolve, Revenue, who may give a two liner stating that you weren't eligible but this will still require the assistance of one of all of the aforementioned offices to tidy up. Do let us know of outcome.

kingkev100

thanks for all your advice broker2008. it really has been a great help.
i eventually sorted out the problem after about 5 hours on the telephone.
there is an agreement between the d.e.s. and cornmarket allowing privately paid teachers join the dept. pension scheme and take avc's with cornmarket.
the reason why i was not receiving any tax relief on my pension contributions or avc's was because the revenue simply never processed it. they had all the paper work and receipts but for some unknown reason never did anything about it!! it has been rectified now but they couldnt give an answer as to why it wasnt done right in the first place!
Cornmarket never issued me with a end of year avc statement so i could never get any tax rebate on my avc's !! incompetentancy all over the place!
is my employer/my school meant to make any pension contributions on my behalf as well ??

LouOB

the revenue did that to me one year - I had no prsi or paye credits

broker2008

Normally an employer has to pay 1/10 of the premium but because of special arrangement, they may not have to do so. School secretary or Cornmarket should be able to answer this.