Pensions to charity and the tax reliefs on donations to charities

thebman

Maybe I'm missing something but doesn't this just seem like a PR scam by politicians?

Instead of giving up lavish pensions they donate them to charities so everyone gives them a free pass but the issue seems to be ignored that there are tax reliefs available on this.

2. Individual taxpayers on self-assessment benefit directly from relief at the marginal rate by claiming the donation as a tax-deductible expense.

Example 2 Self-assessment Donor

Siobhan is self-employed and makes tax returns on a self-assessment basis. Her marginal rate of tax is also 41%. Siobhan makes a donation of €250 to her favourite charity over the course of the tax year by monthly standing order of €20.83. Siobhan receives a receipt from the charity and when she fills out her tax return she deducts the donation of €250 from her taxable income thus reducing her tax bill by €105. It is Siobhan who benefits directly from the tax relief in this case.

http://www.wheel.ie/funding/fundraising-guide/tax-relief-donations-charities

It does seem like politicians could still be massively benefiting from this and it is just a way of not having to give up the whole thing.

And all this ignores that we are still in a massive budget deficit crisis and that them donating them to charity isn't really good enough as we don't have the money to pay them to donate to the charities even if there was no tax reliefs and they were doing it out of the goodness of their hearts.

Seems particularly relevant with the headlines today:
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/former-tanaiste-mcdowell-gives-his-pensions-to-charity-3244303.html

And many other examples I'm sure.

Manach

I'd say good for Mr. McDowell, in that by donating to charities he is supporting good causes and that the money would be more effectively and efficiently targeted spending that by having the inefficient bureaucracy spend it, cause the latter surely cannot save any money to pare down the paternalist social welfare state budget.

Qualitymark

Is he going to name the charities and list the amounts?

Godge

thebman wrote: »

Maybe I'm missing something but doesn't this just seem like a PR scam by politicians?

Instead of giving up lavish pensions they donate them to charities so everyone gives them a free pass but the issue seems to be ignored that there are tax reliefs available on this.



http://www.wheel.ie/funding/fundraising-guide/tax-relief-donations-charities

It does seem like politicians could still be massively benefiting from this and it is just a way of not having to give up the whole thing.

And all this ignores that we are still in a massive budget deficit crisis and that them donating them to charity isn't really good enough as we don't have the money to pay them to donate to the charities even if there was no tax reliefs and they were doing it out of the goodness of their hearts.

Seems particularly relevant with the headlines today:
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/former-tanaiste-mcdowell-gives-his-pensions-to-charity-3244303.html

And many other examples I'm sure.

What a non-story. If you read your link, the tax relief direct to the taxpayer only applies to self-employed self-assessed people working in the private sector.

All public sector wages and public sector pensions are paid on a PAYE basis meaning that the tax relief goes directly to the charity.

This thread is a new low for ignorant bashing of someone doing something decent and donating to charity.

jbkenn

Godge wrote: »

What a non-story. If you read your link, the tax relief direct to the taxpayer only applies to self-employed self-assessed people working in the private sector.

All public sector wages and public sector pensions are paid on a PAYE basis meaning that the tax relief goes directly to the charity.

This thread is a new low for ignorant bashing of someone doing something decent and donating to charity.

And where do you think Mr. McDowell is plying his trade at the moment?, hint, he is a practising barrister, in the private sector.

jbkenn

Manach wrote: »

I'd say good for Mr. McDowell, in that by donating to charities he is supporting good causes and that the money would be more effectively and efficiently targeted spending that by having the inefficient bureaucracy spend it, cause the latter surely cannot save any money to pare down the paternalist social welfare state budget.

How many pensions does Mr. McDowell get
Ministerial pension?
T.D.'s pension?
Attorney General pension?

How much exactly, is enough for these people?

nice_guy80

some of these ex ministers are on the boards of some semi states and other bodies.

juan.kerr

Despite the extra taxes, service cutbacks etc we still have a 25 billion deficit that is nothing to do with the bank bailout. Any extra tax is going into the pockets of the public sector, be it increments, allowances, early retirement lump sums or pensions, all thanks to the public sector unions and the Croke Park agreement.

Until a concerted effort is made to address this deficit I would encourage anyone why can avoid tax (as opposed to evade tax it) to do so, since tax paid at the moment is basically money down the drain.

juan.kerr

jbkenn wrote: »

How many pensions does Mr. McDowell get
Ministerial pension?
T.D.'s pension?
Attorney General pension?

How much exactly, is enough for these people?

The worst one is the serving Minister for Finance, Taoiseach and other members of the current government getting a ministerial pension.

Vizzy

It is frankly unbelieveable that the donation by McDowell of all his state pensions to charity for the last 3 years(about €200,000) has now been turned in to an "Anti Public Sector" thread.

edit; no its not unbelieveable it is just typical.

thebman

Manach wrote: »

I'd say good for Mr. McDowell, in that by donating to charities he is supporting good causes and that the money would be more effectively and efficiently targeted spending that by having the inefficient bureaucracy spend it, cause the latter surely cannot save any money to pare down the paternalist social welfare state budget.

Eh no, we still have that problem, he is just making it bigger by donating pensions to charity instead of giving them back and then most likely writing it off against his taxes so he is actually hitting the taxpayer twice by doing this.

Godge wrote: »

What a non-story. If you read your link, the tax relief direct to the taxpayer only applies to self-employed self-assessed people working in the private sector.

All public sector wages and public sector pensions are paid on a PAYE basis meaning that the tax relief goes directly to the charity.

This thread is a new low for ignorant bashing of someone doing something decent and donating to charity.

I imagine him and the rest of them are self-assessed because they aren't retired, they are working in professions mostly.

Even if it was paid PAYE, he gets tax relief:

1. In the case of PAYE taxpayers, the tax relief is applied at the marginal rate and is paid directly by the Revenue Commissioners to the Eligible Charity or Approved Body on receipt of the relevant appropriate certificate (an official form that is completed by the donor and the charity receiving the donation).

It is very easy to be decent when it isn't your money. The decent thing to do would be to hand it back and reduce the deficit and help out the country by reducing the budget cuts necessary rather than donating state money we don't have to charity to seem like your being noble when really you know otherwise there would be public pressure on you to hand it back and this way you can some money back in tax reliefs.

Godge

thebman wrote: »

Eh no, we still have that problem, he is just making it bigger by donating pensions to charity instead of giving them back and then most likely writing it off against his taxes so he is actually hitting the taxpayer twice by doing this.



I imagine him and the rest of them are self-assessed because they aren't retired, they are working in professions mostly.

Even if it was paid PAYE, he gets tax relief:


It is very easy to be decent when it isn't your money. The decent thing to do would be to hand it back and reduce the deficit and help out the country by reducing the budget cuts necessary rather than donating state money we don't have to charity to seem like your being noble when really you know otherwise there would be public pressure on you to hand it back and this way you can some money back in tax reliefs.

So you finally admit that McDowell is not pocketing the tax relief and that it is going to the charity.

Whether he should hand it back to the state or not is another question. The issue you raised was that he was claiming tax relief which is not true.

So no story, no point to this thread.

thebman

Godge wrote: »

So you finally admit that McDowell is not pocketing the tax relief and that it is going to the charity.

Whether he should hand it back to the state or not is another question. The issue you raised was that he was claiming tax relief which is not true.

So no story, no point to this thread.

I never admitted he was doing that, I've not seen any evidence of this.

That was the whole point of the thread, it is a question about what is happening to this tax relief.

Where is your evidence that the donations are being made as PAYE?

femur61

Godge wrote: »

What a non-story. If you read your link, the tax relief direct to the taxpayer only applies to self-employed self-assessed people working in the private sector.

All public sector wages and public sector pensions are paid on a PAYE basis meaning that the tax relief goes directly to the charity.

This thread is a new low for ignorant bashing of someone doing something decent and donating to charity.

Maybe it is a genuine question but, couldn't Mr Mcdowellhave handed back his pension to embarrass the other leaches on our bankdeficit. It is probably an altruistic gesture but by handing it back to the taxpayer would have reverberated through Leinster House. And maybe, just maybe, someof the other exTDs in receipt of huge pensions might say "lads we haveenough lets be really fair and give the money back to the tax payer".