The director’s year-end pension checklist

Rules as at 24 September 2026. Budget 2027 is on 6 October 2026 and could change them.

Nine things to check before your company’s year end and the October tax deadline. Tick them off here, or print it for your accountant.

What the company pays in

Know your company’s year end. A company contribution is deducted in the accounting period in which it is paid, not the one it is provided for, so it has to be paid before the year end to count this year.
Know how much the company can pay in. For a company scheme such as a master trust, the limit depends on your salary, service and age, and needs a proper calculation. The director calculator gives a first idea.
If it pays into a PRSA (Personal Retirement Savings Account) for you, keep the year’s total within 100% of your pay from the company. Above that, the excess is a taxable benefit-in-kind for you and the company cannot deduct it.
Look again at an executive pension set up before 22 April 2021. Since 22 April 2026 it can carry on only under the full rules for occupational schemes. What changed.

What you pay in yourself

Mind the October deadline. What you pay yourself, into a PRSA, a personal pension or as AVCs (additional voluntary contributions), can be set against 2025 income if you pay by 31 October 2026 and choose to, or by 18 November 2026 if you both pay and file through ROS.
Check your age-related limit. Tax relief on your own contributions is limited to a share of your earnings, from 15% under 30 to 40% at 60 and over, on earnings up to €115,000.

The bigger picture

Add up everything you have in pensions and set it against the Standard Fund Threshold for the year you expect to take them: €2.2 million in 2026, rising to €2.8 million in 2029. The Standard Fund Threshold check shows the share you would use.
Weigh salary against a pension contribution for money you take out of the company. The director calculator shows both side by side.
Watch Budget 2027 on 6 October 2026 for any change to these rules, and keep your contribution receipts and pension statements together for your accountant.

Want to go through it?

Damian works through year-end funding with directors all the time. Book a free call, or read what changed for directors in 2026 first.

This checklist is general information, not advice. Tax treatment depends on your own circumstances and can change at any Budget. Sources: Revenue Pensions Manual, chapters 3, 4, 24 and appendix III; Revenue eBrief 034/26; Finance Act 2024, sections 12 and 13; the Pensions Authority.