Pensions when you are self-employed

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

Auto-enrolment is for employees, so if you work for yourself nobody starts a pension for you. What you can use, the tax relief on it, and the deadline that matters.

Auto-enrolment does not cover you

My Future Fund, the State’s auto-enrolment scheme, enrols employees through payroll. Self-employed people are left out by their PRSI class, so a pension is something you set up yourself. The Department of Social Protection has said it will look at whether the scheme could be extended to others.

What you can use

• A PRSA (Personal Retirement Savings Account): a personal pension contract you own, which you can keep whatever work you do.
• A personal pension, also called a retirement annuity contract. Revenue has approved no new personal pension products since 1 January 2024, but products approved before then are still sold, and existing plans keep their terms.

Tax relief

What you pay in gets income tax relief up to a share of your net relevant earnings, which for the self-employed means your profits after allowable expenses. The share rises with age: 15% under 30, 20% from 30 to 39, 25% from 40 to 49, 30% from 50 to 54, 35% from 55 to 59 and 40% from 60 on, on earnings up to €115,000 a year across all your pensions. Paying in more than the limit is allowed, and relief on the excess can be carried forward to later years. You claim it on your tax return, Form 11.

The October deadline

A contribution paid by 31 October 2026 can be set against your 2025 income, if you choose to when you file. If you both pay and file through ROS, the date is 18 November 2026. The election cannot be made before the contribution is paid.

See your own numbers

The pension calculator shows what a monthly amount could grow to and what tax relief gives back. Or book a free call with Damian.

This page is general information, not advice. Sources: gov.ie, “Auto-enrolment: your questions answered” and the Department of Social Protection’s release of 9 February 2026; Revenue, “Tax relief limits on pension contributions” and “Filing your tax return”; Revenue Pensions Manual, chapters 21 and 24 and appendix III; Revenue eBrief 034/26; the Pensions Authority, “Private pensions”; Citizens Information, “Tax relief on pensions”.