A round-up of today's other stories in brief

New insurance policy to cover education costs

Insurance company Ace European Group has launched a new policy aimed at parents who want cover for their children's educational and after-school costs if they have to stop working because of an illness or accident for more than 30 days.

Premiums for the KidsFirst policy start at €16.95 a month and the policy will give parents who are prevented from working due to an illness or accident a monthly cash benefit of €500-€1,400. A a monthly premium of €45.95 would be needed to get the maximum benefit.

Dual-income couples can choose either individual cover or joint cover, where the benefit paid if one parent falls ill would reflect their proportion of the total household income.

There is also optional cover for stay-at-home parents.

The insurance is "community rated", which means the premiums are the same for everyone regardless of their age, gender, medical history, occupation or lifestyles.

Firm to process foreign tax returns

A new tax firm dedicated to submitting tax returns in foreign jurisdictions has been launched. Foreign Tax Returns can assist the estimated 200,000 Irish property owners in Spain, France, Portugal and the UK meet their tax liabilities.

There is estimated to be almost 75,000 non-compliant Irish property owners in Spain alone, and the Revenue's offshore assets division has indicated that this is a group they will target.

The company, which was set up by tax experts Willie Kearney and Barry O'Donnell, said it would extend its operations early next year to include Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania, the US, Poland, Germany and Hungary.

The fees are €250 plus VAT for a typical rental income tax return.

70% not aware of pension tax relief

Seven in 10 people don't understand the tax relief on pension contributions, according to a survey by Bank of Ireland Life.

The bank has started its annual pensions campaign in the run up to this year's income tax deadlines of October 31st for paper return filers and November 16th for people who use the Revenue Online Service (Ros).

Self-employed people can reduce their tax liabilities by making a lump sum pension contribution by those dates.

Bank of Ireland Life has published a guide for self-employed people called Taking the Tension out of Pensions.

Three new funds for AIB pensions

Hibernian Life & Pensions has added three investment funds to the range of funds available through AIB pensions.

Hibernian's UK property fund, high yield equity fund and target 20 fund can now be accessed through AIB pensions. Hibernian and AIB's pensions and life assurance subsidiary Ark Life formed a joint venture in January. "The addition of these funds to the AIB product range is a further step in the integration of the Hibernian Life & Pensions and Ark businesses," the company said.