Retirement Planning | Pensions | PRFA | ARF

Retirement Planning > Company Pensions

In general the term Company Pension relates to an employer employee relationship. Company pensions can be put in place for a multi-national employer with many employees of for a sole trader with one or two key employees. As long as there is a employer/employee relationship a company pension scheme can be put in place. There are many types of specific Company pension structures which can be used depending on the clients requirements. Some of these are listed here :

Executive Pension Schemes
These pension structures are more common for most smaller company pension schemes with typically less than 10 members. The assets of the individual members are set up in trust for each member. The individuals themselves, the company directors or a third party can be appointed as trustees of the scheme. These structures are normally set up with one of the Life Assurance companies and offer a wide range of investment options. Contribution levels are set out by Revenue Maximum Funding rules and relate back to an individual's salary and years of service to date as well term left to retirement.

Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC's)
Where a member of an occupational or company pension scheme wishes to make additional contributions in excess of their employer and normal employee contributions, to enhance their prospects of providing a meaningful retirement fund, it is possible to make AVC contributions, either through the main scheme, or to an individual AVC structure. The cope for AVC contributions is similar to the tax relief limits applied to self employed individuals making contributions to a Personal Pension. The age related limits for tax relief are set out below: