Last week, the Institute, under the auspices of the CCAB-I, responded to the public consultation on the Standard Fund Threshold (SFT). The SFT was originally designed to limit the level of tax relief available on the capital value of pension benefits accrued by an individual at the time of retirement. When introduced, the SFT was €5 million but had reduced to €2 million by 2014.
In our response, we recommend that the level of the SFT should be linked to changes in the Consumer Price Index. In addition, we suggested that consideration is given to harmonising the treatment of public and private sector pensions as regards the application of the SFT rules when the limits are breached.