Tax Efficient Life Cover

Tax efficient life cover

Take advantage of tax benefits through your life insurance.

You have a successful business and your family have a rewarding lifestyle that you have worked hard to achieve. Did you know that as a director of your own company, your life cover could provide tax benefits while giving you peace of mind your family would be provided for should the worst happen? You could also provide life cover for your employees – even if you only have a few.

If you currently pay for your life cover from your own bank account you will be paying out of post-income tax, and if you pay for it from your business account you will probably be taxed on the payment as if it was income. Larger companies avoid this tax by providing life cover for employees through a group ‘death in service’ life policies.

You can take advantage of the tax benefits available to larger companies by taking your life cover out through a ‘relevant life policy’. These can be written on an individual basis so are available to all companies no matter how small.

There are tax benefits of relevant life policies available to both the employer and employees:

1. Potential tax relief on the premiums for the employer
2. No tax assessment of premiums on the employee as a benefit in kind
3. Premiums are not subject to National Insurance payments
4. The benefit is free of Income Tax
5. Benefits do not count towards the lifetime allowance for pension purposes
6. In most cases, benefits are paid free of Inheritance Tax.