The Overseas Life Insurance Companies Regulations 2004

Modifications to the Taxes Act

3.—(1) In its application to an overseas life insurance company the Taxes Act has effect with the following modifications.

(2) In section 76(6), for “branch or agency”, wherever occurring, substitute “permanent establishment”.

(3) In section 431(2), in the definition of “overseas life insurance company”, for “branch or agency” substitute “permanent establishment”.

(4) In Schedule 19AC —

(a) omit paragraph 3;

(b) omit paragraph 4;

(c) in paragraph 4A, omit sub-paragraphs (2) and (3)(1);

(d) in paragraph 5 —

(i) before sub-paragraph (1) insert —

“(A1) In section 76, in subsection (2B), the reference in paragraph (a) to income and gains shall be treated as a reference to so much of the income and gains mentioned in that paragraph as falls to be attributed, for the purposes of section 11AA(2), to the permanent establishment in the United Kingdom through which the company carries on life assurance business.

(A2) In that subsection, the reference in paragraph (b) to distributions shall be treated as a reference to so much of the distributions mentioned in that paragraph as falls to be attributed, for the purposes of section 11AA(2), to the permanent establishment in the United Kingdom through which the company carries on life assurance business.”(2);

(ii) in sub-paragraph (1) —

(aa) for “In section 76” substitute “In that section”;

(bb) in paragraph (a) of the subsection (6A) treated as inserted into section 76, for “branch or agency” substitute “permanent establishment”;

(iii) omit sub-paragraph (1A);

(e) omit paragraph 5A;

(f) omit paragraph 5B;

(g) in paragraph 5C(1), for “branch or agency” substitute “permanent establishment”;

(h) in paragraph 6 —

(i) in sub-paragraph (1), for the definition of “investment reserve” treated as substituted in section 431(2), substitute —

“““investment reserve”, in relation to an overseas life insurance company, means the excess of the value of the relevant assets over the relevant liabilities, and for the purposes of this definition —

(a)

relevant assets are such assets of the company’s long-term insurance fund as fall to be attributed, for the purposes of section 11AA(2), to the permanent establishment in the United Kingdom through which the company carries on life assurance business; and

(b)

relevant liabilities are —

(i)

such liabilities of the long-term business as fall to be attributed, for the purposes of section 11AA(2), to the permanent establishment; and

(ii)

any money debts (within the meaning of Chapter 2 of Part 4 of the Finance Act 1996) of the company which are not within sub-paragraph (i) above but which are owed in respect of that business and fall to be attributed, for the purposes of section 11AA(2), to the permanent establishment;”.”(3);

(ii) in sub-paragraph (2), for the definition of “liabilities” treated as substituted in section 431(2), substitute —

• ““‘liabilities’, where the company concerned is an overseas life insurance company, does not include liabilities that have been reinsured, and (subject to that) means —

  (a)

  the long-term liabilities of the company determined for the purposes of the company’s periodical return on actuarial principles in accordance with section 5.6 of the Prudential Sourcebook (Insurers), or

  (b)

  in the case of liabilities not determined for the purposes of such a periodical return, liabilities as determined in accordance with actuarial principles for the purposes of any return equivalent to a periodical return and required to be made by the company under the law of the territory in which the company is resident;”.”(4);

(iii) omit sub-paragraph (4A);

(iv) in sub-paragraph (5), in the definition of “value” treated as substituted in section 431(2), omit from “, or” at the end of paragraph (b) to the end of the definition;

(v) after sub-paragraph (6) insert —

“(7) In that subsection, the following definition shall be treated as substituted for the definition of “insurance business transfer scheme” —

““insurance business transfer scheme” means a scheme falling within section 105 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and includes a reference to—

(a)

an excluded scheme falling within Case 2, 3 or 4 of subsection (3) of that section; and

(b)

a qualifying overseas transfer;”.”;

(vi) after sub-paragraph (7) insert —

“(8) In that subsection, in the definition of “insurance company”, the words “permanent establishment” shall be treated as substituted for the words “branch or agency”.”;

(vii) after sub-paragraph (8) insert —

“(9) In that subsection, the following definition shall be treated as inserted at the appropriate place —

““qualifying overseas transfer” means so much of any transfer of the whole or any part of the business of an overseas life insurance company carried on through a permanent establishment in the United Kingdom as takes place in accordance with any authorisation granted outside the United Kingdom for the purposes of Article 14 of the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5th November 2002 concerning life assurance (No.2002/83/EC);”.”;

(viii) after sub-paragraph (9) insert —

“(10) In that subsection, in the case of an EEA firm of the kind mentioned in paragraph 5(d) of Schedule 3 to the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, the following definition shall be treated as substituted for the definition of “long-term insurance fund” —

• ““long-term insurance fund”, in the case of an overseas life insurance company, means the technical account for life assurance business of the company within the meaning of the Council Directive of 19th December 1991 on the annual accounts and consolidated accounts of insurance undertakings (No.91/674/EEC), and references to assets of the long-term insurance fund shall be read as references to assets from which any income or gain is or would be included in the technical account;”.”;

(i) in paragraph 6A, in the words treated as inserted in section 431D(1), for “branch or agency” substitute “permanent establishment”;

(j) for paragraph 7 substitute —

“7.   Section 432A has effect as if —

(a) the reference in subsection (1)(a) to assets of the company’s long-term insurance fund were to such of those assets as fall to be attributed, for the purposes of section 11AA(2), to the permanent establishment in the United Kingdom through which the company carries on life assurance business;

(b) the references in subsections (3) and (6) to assets were to such of the assets concerned as fall to be attributed, for the purposes of section 11AA(2), to that permanent establishment; and

(c) the references in subsections (6) and (8) to liabilities were to such of the liabilities concerned as fall to be attributed, for the purposes of section 11AA(2), to that permanent establishment.”;

(k) in paragraph 8 —

(i) omit sub-paragraphs (1) and (2);

(ii) for sub-paragraph (3) substitute —

“(3) Sections 432B(3) and 432C to 432E shall have effect as if the reference to relevant business were to relevant business of the permanent establishment in the United Kingdom through which the company carries on life assurance business.”;

(l) omit paragraph 9;

(m) omit paragraph 10AA;

(n) in paragraph 10B —

(i) in sub-paragraph (2)(b) —

(aa) omit the paragraph (g) treated as inserted in section 440(4);

(bb) in the paragraph (h) treated as so inserted, for “non-UK assets” substitute “assets of the company which are not UK assets”;

(ii) in sub-paragraph (3), for the subsection (7) treated as inserted in section 440 substitute —

“(7) For the purposes of this section UK assets are assets which fall to be attributed, for the purposes of section 11AA(2), to the permanent establishment in the United Kingdom through which the company carries on life assurance business.”;

(o) in paragraph 10C —

(i) in sub-paragraph (1), for the section 440B(3) treated as substituted, substitute —

“(3) Section 440(1) and (2) have effect as if the only categories specified in subsection (4) of that section were —

(a) UK assets of the long-term insurance fund,

(b) other UK assets, and

(c) assets of the company which are not UK assets,

and UK assets has the meaning given by section 440(7).”;

(ii) in sub-paragraph (2), in the subsection treated as substituted for section 440B(4), in the paragraphs treated as substituted in section 440A(2) —

(aa) at the end of paragraph (b) insert “and”;

(bb) omit paragraph (c);

(p) in paragraph 11 —

(i) in sub-paragraph (4), omit the paragraph (f) treated as inserted in section 440A(2) but not the word “and” at the end of that paragraph;

(ii) in sub-paragraph (5), for the subsection (6A) treated as inserted in section 440A substitute —

“(6A) For the purposes of this section —

(a) UK securities are such securities as are assets which fall to be attributed, for the purposes of section 11AA(2), to the permanent establishment in the United Kingdom through which the company carries on life assurance business; and

(b) non-UK securities are securities which are not UK securities.”;

(q) for paragraph 11C substitute —

“11C.   In section 460(10A), the reference to an insurance business transfer scheme shall be treated as including a reference to a qualifying overseas transfer within the meaning given by the definition treated as inserted into section 431(2) by paragraph 6(9) above.”;

(r) omit paragraph 13;

(s) omit paragraph 14;

(t) in paragraph 14A(2), in the paragraph 6 treated as inserted in Schedule 19AA —

(i) for paragraph (a) substitute —

“(a) the references in paragraphs 2 and 3 to assets of the long-term insurance fund were to such of those assets as fall to be attributed, for the purposes of section 11AA(2), to the permanent establishment in the United Kingdom through which the company carries on life assurance business;”;

(ii) in paragraph (b), for “branch or agency” substitute “permanent establishment”;

(iii) for paragraph (c) and the words following it substitute —

“(c) the references in paragraph 4(1) and (2) to liabilities of the company’s long-term insurance fund which represent a money debt, and the reference in paragraph 4(5)(b) to money debts of the company, were references to such of those liabilities or debts as fall to be attributed, for the purposes of section 11AA(2), to the permanent establishment.”.

(1)

“Qualifying overseas transfer” is defined in section 431(2) as modified by paragraph 6 of Schedule 19AC.

(2)

Subsection (2B) is amended by section 170 of, and paragraphs 6(6) and (12), and 12(1) and (5) of Schedule 33 to, the Finance Act 2003.

(3)

Section 11AA is inserted into the Taxes Act by section 149(2) of the Finance Act 2003.

(4)

Section 431(2) of the Taxes Act defines “the Prudential Sourcebook (Insurers)” as the Interim Prudential Sourcebook for Insurers made by the Financial Services Authority under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (c. 8).