Finance Act 2001

Assignments etc involving co-ownership

9 After section 546 (calculation of certain amounts for purposes of sections 540, 542 and 545) insert—

“546A Treatment of certain assignments etc involving co-ownership

(1) This section applies in any case where—

(a) as a result of any transaction (the “material transaction”) the whole or part of or a share in the rights conferred by a policy or contract (“the material interest”) becomes beneficially owned by one person or by two or more persons jointly or in common (“the new ownership”);

(b) immediately before the material transaction, the material interest was in the beneficial ownership of one person or of two or more persons jointly (“the old ownership”); and

(c) at least one person who is a member of the old ownership is also a member of the new ownership.

(2) In any such case, the material transaction shall, in accordance with the following provisions of this section, be taken for the purposes of this Chapter (other than this section) to be one or more assignments, of part only of the rights conferred by the policy or contract.

(3) For the purposes of this Chapter (other than this section), the members of the old ownership shall be treated—

(a) where the old ownership consists of two or more persons beneficially entitled jointly, as if the material interest had been in their beneficial ownership in equal shares instead of jointly;

(b) where the new ownership consists of two or more persons beneficially entitled jointly, as if the result of the material transaction had been that the material interest was in the beneficial ownership of those persons in equal shares instead of jointly; and

(c) as if the material transaction had been the assignment by each member of the old ownership of so much (if any) of his old share as exceeds his new share (or, if he does not have a new share, the whole of his old share).

(4) In this section—

• “new share”, in relation to the material interest and a person who is a member of the new ownership, means—

  (a)

  if there is only one member of the new ownership, the material interest;

  (b)

  if there are two or more members of the new ownership beneficially entitled to the material interest in common, the member’s share in the material interest; or

  (c)

  if there are two or more members of the new ownership beneficially entitled to the material interest jointly, the share attributed to the member by subsection (3)(b) above;

• “old share”, in relation to the material interest and a person who is a member of the old ownership, means—

  (a)

  if there is only one member of the old ownership, the material interest; or

  (b)

  if there are two or more members of the old ownership, the share attributed to the member by subsection (3)(a) above.”.