A You can claim tax relief for non-routine dental treatment such as endodontics (root canal treatment) and orthodontic treatment (fitting of braces), even if the treatment was performed outside of Ireland, according to Marian Ryan, who is the consumer tax manager at Taxback.com.

Relief is granted at your standard rate of tax, which is 20pc. As is the case if you were to receive the treatment in Ireland, you cannot claim relief for routine dental care such as fillings or teeth cleaning.

To qualify for the relief, the dentist must be a qualified dentistry practitioner under Polish law. Your dentist must also have completed a Form Med 2 for your claim, Ms Ryan said.

You don’t need to send this form to Revenue unless you are requested to do so. Note that you can only claim for expenses that you have receipts for and you are required to keep all original receipts for six years when making a claim.

In the event that you have dental insurance, you can only claim tax relief on the portion of the dental expenses not covered by your insurer, she added.

​

Q I have heard a lot about how the new pension rules which came in under the IORP II directive will impact employers. Do the new rules improve the lot of those saving into company pension schemes?

​

A The new rules, which are part of the IORP II Directive, are being introduced to protect members of company pension schemes and to ensure that those schemes are well run, said Ray McKenna, a partner with the Lockton Ireland insurance group. IORP II has new fitness and probity rules for trustees and others running pension schemes, and it gives more supervisory powers to those bodies responsible for overseeing these schemes, he said.

The new rules should also improve how information is communicated to pension scheme members.

For example, pension benefit statements, which tell you what you are entitled to in retirement based on your contributions so far and what you are currently paying into your pension, must be provided annually to both active and deferred members from January 1 this year.

An active member is an individual who is working for the company and still saving into its pension scheme. A deferred member is one who has left employment with the company but not yet retired.

Up until now, there has been no obligation to send annual pension benefit statements to deferred members.

Another advantage of the new rules is that they aim to make the cross-border transfer of pension funds easier across the EU, Mr McKenna said. On the downside, some small pension schemes could see costs escalate under the new rules.

​

Q The relaxed Central Bank rules, which allow us to borrow four times our salary, will give my wife and I a better chance of getting the mortgage. Before we do so, what can we do to tidy up our finances and improve our chances of getting a mortgage?

​

A The revised Central Bank lending rules should benefit many who were previously unable to get on the property ladder, said Trevor Grant, director at Affinity Advisors and chairperson at the Association of Irish Mortgage Advisers.

When applying for a mortgage, lenders will typically request six months’ statements for all accounts held, including saving accounts, your last three payslips, your most recent employment detail summary and salary confirmation from your employer. They will also request statements for any credit cards held or loans if applicable.

They will review this information in detail so it is important that you have conducted your banking transactions appropriately in the six months preceding your application, he said.

Six months before you apply for your mortgage, you should ensure that there is no unnecessary or unusual expenditure within your current account or on your credit card and that you operate within all approved credit limits.

Your savings or contribution to any property purchase should be clear and your repayment capacity should be in order. This means that any rent being paid and savings being made should be clearly demonstrated in your bank accounts.

​