Welcome to McKeever Rowan Pensions Law legal and regulatory services

This site provides information on various aspects of Irish Pensions law as well as details of the legal services offered by McKeever Rowan (MCKR) on Pensions Law. We hope you will find the content of this site useful. Our contact details are as below.

1.            Pension Products  (With the exception of advice on taxation), the firm provides advice and drafting on all aspects of Pension Products, including :

• Defined Benefit Schemes

In general Defined Benefit Schemes are schemes which provide members with retirement and death benefits based on formulae set out in the rules of the plan. Benefits are often based on a member’s salary close to retirement and on his or her pensionable service.  Many Defined Benefit Schemes are integrated with the State pension. This means they make an allowance for the State pension. The distinction between a Defined Benefit Scheme and a Defined Contribution Scheme for the purposes of the Pensions Act, 1990 is important as Defined Benefit Schemes have to comply with the minimum funding standard of the Pensions Act, 1990.  This is a minimum level of funding that must be maintained by all Defined Benefit Pension Schemes. Each year the Scheme actuary must certify that the Scheme meets the funding standard. This funding standard is a “snapshot” of the funding level of the Pension Scheme at a particular date.

• Defined Contribution Schemes

The definition of a Defined Contribution Scheme in the Pensions Act, 1990 is complex and involves a number of different elements which are not discussed in detail here. However, the main feature of Defined Contribution Schemes is that the retirement benefits that they provide are based directly on the accumulated value of the contributions made by the member and/or his employer to the scheme.  What happens in practice is that the scheme member and his employer make contributions every year to the scheme, usually based on an agreed percentage of the member’s salary. These contributions are invested and at retirement the pension that the member will receive will depend on (i)  the contributions paid into the account; (ii) the investment returns on those contributions and (iii) the cost of purchasing the member’s pension based on the  annuity rates applying at that time.

• Small Self Administered Pension Schemes (“SSAPS)

The Revenue Commissioners impose additional compliance requirements and investment restrictions on SSAPS. A pension scheme is generally regarded as an SSAP where it has fewer than 12 members and its fund is not fully administered and insured by a life office. However it might not be necessary to regard a scheme with fewer than 12 members as small if all the members are at arm’s length from each other from the employer and the trustees.

Specifically we provide advice on

• SSAPS structuring, including the preparation of a Revenue compliant trust deed and rules and ancillary explanatory documentation,
• details of  the role of, and contracting with the Pensioneer Trustee, the qualifications that a Pensioneer Trustee is required to have and  the transactions that require  the prior approval of the Pensioneer Trustee.
• the statutory and non statutory restrictions on investments in particular those self-investment restrictions that can result in taxation, for example the purchase of shares in a private company in which the scheme member of anyone connected with him is a participator

• PRSAs   A Personal Retirement Savings Account (PRSA for short) is similar to a defined Contribution Personal Pension Scheme  insofar as the retirement benefits that it provides will ultimately depend on the contributions paid into it, the investment returns and the annuity rates at the member’s retirement. However it differs from a Defined Contributions Scheme in many respects. It is not set up under trust but is a contract taken out by an individual with an authorised PRSA provider. A PRSA is effectively an investment account used to save for retirement. A standard PRSA is one which has a  maximum charge of 5% on the contributions paid and 1% a year on the management funds. Subject to one exception, it can only be used to invest in pooled funds.

          Specifically we advise on employer obligations in providing access to PRSAs, obligations of product producers and intermediaries,
          investment restrictions, title issues, pooling restrictions, and permissible fees structures.

• Retirement Annuity Contracts or “RACs” are pension contracts taken out by individuals with life assurance companies.  They can be accessed by self employed individuals or those with earnings that cannot be pensioned under an occupational pension scheme. RACs for individuals are regulated by the Life Directives. However a trust RAC may be established for  a group of individuals approved by the Revenue Commissioners. These are subject to the provisions of the Pensions Act, 1990.

          We advise on individual contracts with insurers,  the duties of trustees under trust RACs, fees payable to the Pensions Board,
          borrowing restrictions, qualifications and duties of trustees, registration requirements of Trustees, when an investment manager
          must be appointed, statutory disclosure requirements and what they apply to, such as accounts, full annual reports etc, reporting
          obligations of specified persons.

• ARFs (An Approved Retirement Fund) is an investment product and is an alternative to purchasing an annuity on retirement. The funds in an ARF are managed by qualifying fund managers ( which can be banks, building societies and insurance companies) and which comply with the provisions of s784B TCA.

          We advise on who may access them, employer and trustee obligations, investment restrictions, qualifications of and obligations
          of qualifying fund managers etc

2.            Scheme Design the firm provides advice and drafting on all aspects of Scheme Design including :

                Ø     Scheme Authorisation ,

                Ø     Trust Deed drafting

                Ø     Application of the Pensions Act to non Irish members

                Ø     Regulation of Overseas Pensions Schemes in Ireland

                Ø     Rules and supplementary literature, drafting, including Eligibility, Equal Treatment, Contributions and Payment of Wages Act 1991, Benefits, Leaving service ( including rules on preservation of benefits and on calculating transfer benefits and the regulation of transfer payments), etc.

                Ø     Leaving service (preservation of benefits and portability of benefits under Part III of the Pensions Act, second schedule and regulations made under Part III).

3.            Contract of Employment and Scheme documentation alignment

 

4.            Changes to Scheme documentation and Members rights and rights to information generally .

5.            Underfunding - Scheme restructuring, Scheme amendments and Wind up, Employer receivership or liquidation

6.            Trustees and Administrators ( their rights and obligations )

7.            Pensions Insolvency Payments Scheme (PIPS) Specifically we advise on the rights and obligations of employers, trustees, members and liquidators/receivers where the employer is insolvent and the scheme is underfunded.