The new Personal Investment Account (PIA), next to a pension.
The Government has proposed a new account for investing, with its own simpler tax. Here is what has been confirmed, what is still to come, and how the same monthly amount could compare in a pension, in the new account, and in a fund held the way you would hold it today.
Proposed · as at 25 September 2026. The tax-free threshold, the tax rate and the annual limit are to be announced on 6 October 2026, in Budget 2027. Accounts are to open during 2027. None of it is law yet.
What it is
Proposed · as at 25 September 2026
The Personal Investment Account is a proposed account for investing in listed shares, bonds, funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with one flat tax each year instead of today’s mix of rules. Official documents call it the Investment Account, and the media the Savings and Investment Account (SIA): all three names mean the same account. Nothing you pay in gets tax relief, and the tax is charged every year on the account’s average value above a tax-free threshold, even in a year it falls. It is not a pension and not a deposit: you can take money out at any time, and its value can fall.
What it offers
- No deemed disposal every eight years, no exit tax and no Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on what happens inside it.
- The provider pays the tax for you.
- No lock-in: you can take money out at any time.
- No tax at all while the account’s average value stays under the threshold.
What it costs you, and the risks
- Tax is due every year the average is over the threshold, even a year the account falls in value.
- No tax relief on what you pay in, unlike a pension.
- Not a deposit and not capital-guaranteed: what it holds can fall, and you can get back less than you paid in.
- Fees are unknown: no provider has published a price, and none is named here.
What’s confirmed, and what’s coming on 6 October
Confirmed in the Roadmap
Proposed · as at 25 September 2026
- For Irish tax residents aged 18 or over with a Personal Public Service Number (PPSN). One account per person.
- It can hold listed shares, bonds, funds and ETFs, and insurance-based investments. Not crypto assets, not derivatives.
- Cash can sit in it only for a short time, and earns nothing there.
- No tax relief on what goes in.
- A flat tax each year on the account’s average value above a tax-free threshold, due even in a year the account falls in value.
- No deemed disposal, exit tax or CGT inside it. The provider pays the tax.
- No lock-in: money can be taken out at any time.
- Not a deposit, and not capital-guaranteed. Values can fall.
Source for every item: Department of Finance, Roadmap for the Taxation of Retail Investment, 31 August 2026, published on gov.ie.
Still to come
Proposed · as at 25 September 2026
- The tax-free threshold: to be announced on 6 October 2026, in Budget 2027.
- The tax rate: to be announced on 6 October 2026.
- The annual limit on what you can pay in: to be announced on 6 October 2026.
- When accounts open: during 2027.
- The law itself: it is a proposal, and is not yet law.
- Also not yet published: which providers will offer it and what they will charge.
Figures you may have read for the rate, the threshold or the launch month are not confirmed, and this page does not use them.
How the same money is taxed today, outside the account
- Funds and ETFs: 38% exit tax on the gain, and a deemed disposal every eight years, when tax is due as if you had sold. Source: Revenue, Tax and Duty Manual Part 27-01A-02, Investment Undertakings (updated January 2026).
- Shares: 33% CGT on the gain, after an exemption of €1,270 a year. Source: Revenue, How to calculate CGT.
- Deposits: 33% Deposit Interest Retention Tax (DIRT) on the interest. Source: Revenue, What DIRT rate is applicable?
All three checked on 25 September 2026.
Side by side with a pension, a fund and My Future Fund
The PIA column is proposed · as at 25 September 2026
| Compared on | PIA, proposed | Pension | ETF outside a wrapper | My Future Fund |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tax relief going in | None | Yes, at 20% or 40%, within Revenue’s age-related limits | None | No income tax relief. The State adds €1 for every €3 you pay |
| Tax while it grows | A flat yearly tax on the average value above the threshold, even in a falling year. Rate and threshold not yet announced | None while it stays in the pension | 38% on the gain at each eight-year deemed disposal | See myfuturefund.ie |
| Tax on the way out | None: no exit tax or CGT inside the account | Up to 25% can usually be taken as a lump sum, the first €200,000 of it tax-free. The rest is taxed as income | 38% exit tax on the gain, less tax already paid on deemed disposals | See myfuturefund.ie |
| When you can take it | Any time. No lock-in | Normally from 60, and from 50 in some cases | Any time | At 66 |
| Employer money | Not mentioned in the proposals | Yes, where your employer pays in | None | Yes: your employer pays in the same as you |
| Guarantee | None. Not a deposit, not capital-guaranteed | None on a defined contribution pension. Values can fall | None. Values can fall | No |
Pension and My Future Fund rules as the rest of this site states them; see the auto-enrolment comparison and the Standard Fund Threshold page for their sources. Auto-enrolment contribution rates are phased in, three from you to three from your employer to one from the State.
Same take-home cost: pension vs PIA vs ETF
Put the same amount from your take-home pay into each, every month, and see what each could leave you with after its tax. The PIA’s rate and threshold have not been announced, so you choose them.
Your details
Slide, or tap a value to type any amount.
The same for all three. Real returns vary year to year and can be negative.
Sets the pension’s tax relief going in and the tax on what it pays out.
The PIA’s tax: not yet announced, try a figure
A yearly rate on the average value above the threshold. It starts at 0%: no rate has been announced.
Empty until you type one. No threshold has been announced.
For the pension: the share of earnings that gets tax relief rises with age, and a pension is normally taken from 60.
For the pension’s tax relief limit only.
You would be 45. A pension is normally taken from 60.
Type a threshold to see this. Neither the threshold nor the rate has been announced: try any figure.
After 38% exit tax, and deemed disposals.
Each costs you €24,000 from take-home pay over 10 years. The pension gets €16,000 of tax relief going in and is taxed on the way out.
Warning: These figures are estimates only. They are not a reliable guide to the future performance of your investment.
Warning: The value of your investment may go down as well as up.
If growth is lower, or it falls
| Product | 5% a year | 2.5% a year | A fall |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pension | €36,018 | €31,727 | €27,794 |
| PIA, proposed | No figure yet | No figure yet | No figure yet |
| ETF outside a wrapper | €28,235 | €25,975 | €23,431 |
Lower growth is half the rate you chose. A fall is your rate every year, then a 20% fall in the last year: an example, not a forecast. In a fall, the PIA’s tax is still due for that year.
Where the tax comes in, at your growth rate
| Item | Pension | PIA | ETF |
|---|---|---|---|
| From your take-home pay | €24,000 | €24,000 | €24,000 |
| Tax relief going in | €16,000 | €0 | €0 |
| Tax while it grows | €0 | No figure yet | €871 |
| Tax on the way out | €15,436 | €0 | €1,725 |
| Left after tax | €36,018 | No figure yet | €28,235 |
Employer money is not in the pension figure. If your employer would pay into a pension, that is on top.
Who it might suit
Proposed · as at 25 September 2026
It depends on your circumstances, and on figures that are not out yet. Where there is employer money or tax relief on offer, look at the pension first. Where the money is for something before 60, the PIA is the one to look at.
You have an employer who pays into a pension
It depends on how much your employer pays in and whether you are taking all of it. Employer money and tax relief go into a pension before any growth; the PIA has neither. Look at the pension first.
You pay tax at 40%
It depends on when you need the money and the tax rate you pay when you take it out. A pension gets relief at 40% going in, within Revenue’s age-related limits. Look at the pension first.
You run your own company
It depends on whether the money comes from the company or from your own take-home pay. A company can pay into your pension; a PIA is paid into from your own money, with no relief. See pensions for company directors.
You are saving for something before 60
It depends on the threshold and rate still to come, and on whether you can accept a fall in value. A pension is normally locked until 60; the PIA has no lock-in, so it is the one to look at for this money.
You already hold funds or ETFs
It depends on the threshold and the rate, and on the tax due if you sell what you hold now, since selling is taxed under today’s rules.
You cannot afford to see the money fall
It depends on how soon you need it. The PIA is not a deposit and is not guaranteed; a deposit’s interest is taxed at 33% DIRT instead.
Pension, PIA, or both?
The answer depends on your employer, your tax, and when you need the money, and on figures due on 6 October. Damian can talk it through in a free 20-minute call. Plain English, no obligation.
This page is information, not advice. It describes a proposal as at 25 September 2026 and shows figures you choose, as an illustration. It names no provider and says nothing about whether any product is right for you. Regulated financial advice is given in a personal consultation with Damian.
The assumptions behind these numbers
- The same amount comes out of your take-home pay every month into each. The pension gets tax relief at the rate you choose, within Revenue’s age-related limit for your age each year, so more goes in than you pay. The PIA and the ETF get none.
- All three grow at the same yearly rate, a month at a time, with each payment at the end of its month.
- The PIA’s tax is the rate you enter, on the average of the account’s twelve month-end values above the threshold you enter, taken from the account at the end of each year. How the average will really be measured has not been published. No annual limit is applied, because none has been announced.
- The ETF is an accumulating fund, so it pays out nothing along the way. Each month’s purchase has its own deemed disposal every eighth anniversary: 38% of the gain since the last one, paid by selling part of the holding. At the end everything is sold and 38% exit tax is due on what gain is left; where a holding has fallen since a deemed disposal, tax paid then is given back, up to the tax on the fall.
- The pension is taken at the end: a quarter as a lump sum, taxed in Revenue’s bands, and the rest taxed as income at the rate you chose, in one go. In practice the rest is usually drawn over years, and your rate then may differ.
- Fees and charges are left out of all three; the PIA’s are unknown. Inflation, the Universal Social Charge and Pay-Related Social Insurance are left out. Employer contributions are left out.
- Figures are illustrations, not a guarantee of any outcome, and not personalised advice.