Your profit is sitting in the company account. It could be building your pension and cutting the tax bill.
If you run your own company, you have funding options most people never get. Your business can contribute far beyond personal limits, and those contributions can reduce its corporation tax.
How much can my company actually contribute?
Often a lot more than you’d expect. Company contributions are based on your salary, service and existing funding, not the salary-percentage caps that limit personal contributions.
Four things only a director gets.
Fund well beyond personal limits
Personal pension contributions are capped as a percentage of salary. Company contributions to a director's pension can be far larger, letting you build a serious fund faster.
Cut your corporation tax
Money your company puts into your pension normally counts as a business expense, so it can cut the company’s tax bill while the money works for your future rather than the tax bill.
Salary versus pension, compared
Take it as salary and it is taxed three ways: income tax, USC and PRSI. Put it into a pension instead and far more of it stays yours.
€1,000 of profit taken as salary is about €478 in your pocket, after 40% income tax, 8% USC and 4.2% PRSI.
Use the funding headroom you've built
Years of trading often create room to make large one-off contributions based on your salary and service.
The personal limit: the share of salary that gets tax relief, by age.
Earnings count up to €115,000. Company funding is not capped by the salary percentages that limit everyone else.
If any of this is you, it's worth a chat.
Cash building in the company
The business is doing well and profit is accumulating, but it's just sitting there rather than working for your retirement.
Taking it all as salary
You're drawing profit as income and feeling the full weight of income tax, USC and PRSI on money you don't immediately need.
Pension on the long finger
You've meant to sort a proper pension for years, but running the business always came first. It's not too late to make it count.
Running the company usually comes first. The pension comes last.
Directors and the self-employed are the least likely group to have retirement provision behind them, and the ones with the most room to fix it. Company funding is not capped by the salary percentages that limit everyone else.
Try the director calculatorCSO Pension Coverage, Quarter 3 2025
You don't know the number. Two minutes with the calculator and you do.
The director calculator shows the pot you could build, the income it could provide, and the corporation tax your company could save. Two minutes, no sign-up.
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Company pension funding is not obvious. This is the plain-English version.
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Questions, answered.
How much can my company actually contribute?+
Often a lot more than you'd expect. Company contributions are based on your salary, service and existing funding, not the salary-percentage caps that limit personal contributions. The right figure is specific to you, and the free chat works it out.
Is this really more tax-efficient than taking salary?+
For money you don't need to live on, very often yes. Salary is taxed three ways: income tax, USC and PRSI. A company pension payment is normally a business expense instead, and the money goes into your fund.
I already have old pensions from previous roles. Does that matter?+
It can, and it's worth bringing them into the picture. Existing pensions affect how much room you have to fund, and some old plans are worth keeping as they are. We'll look at everything together.
What does the first chat involve?+
Twenty minutes, phone or video, free and with no obligation. We'll talk through your company, your goals and your options in plain English.
This page is information, not advice. Pension and tax rules depend on your circumstances and can change. The calculators are illustrations only. Regulated financial advice is given in a personal consultation with Damian.
Profit can go to Revenue.
Or it can go to your pension.
Twenty minutes with Damian to see what your business could do for your retirement. Free, no obligation.
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