Finance Act 1995

34 After section 442 of the Taxes Act 1988 insert—

“442A Taxation of investment return where risk reinsured.

(1) Where an insurance company reinsures any risk in respect of a policy or contract attributable to its basic life assurance and general annuity business, the investment return on the policy or contract shall be treated as accruing to the company over the period of the reinsurance arrangement and shall be charged to tax under Case VI of Schedule D.

(2) The Board may make provision by regulations as to the amount of investment return to be treated as accruing in each accounting period during which the reinsurance arrangement is in force.

(3) The regulations may, in particular, provide that the investment return to be treated as accruing to the company in respect of a policy or contract in any accounting period shall be calculated by reference to—

(a) the aggregate of the sums paid by the company to the reinsurer during that accounting period and any earlier accounting periods by way of premium or otherwise;

(b) the aggregate of the sums paid by the reinsurer to the company during that accounting period and any earlier accounting periods by way of commission or otherwise;

(c) the aggregate amount of the net investment return treated as accruing to the company in any earlier accounting periods, that is to say, net of tax at such rate as may be prescribed; and

(d) such percentage rate of return as may be prescribed.

(4) The regulations shall provide that the amount of investment return to be treated as accruing to the company in respect of a policy or contract in the final accounting period during which the policy or contract is in force is the amount, ascertained in accordance with regulations, by which the profit over the whole period during which the policy or contract, and the reinsurance arrangement, were in force exceeds the aggregate of the amounts treated as accruing in earlier accounting periods.

If that profit is less than the aggregate of the amounts treated as accruing in earlier accounting periods, the difference shall go to reduce the amounts treated by virtue of this section as arising in that accounting period from other policies or contracts, and if not fully so relieved may be carried forward and set against any such amounts in subsequent accounting periods.

(5) Regulations under this section—

(a) may exclude from the operation of this section such descriptions of insurance company, such descriptions of policies or contracts and such descriptions of reinsurance arrangements as may be prescribed;

(b) may make such supplementary provision as to the ascertainment of the investment return to be treated as accruing to the company as appears to the Board to be appropriate, including provision requiring payments made during an accounting period to be treated as made on such date or dates as may be prescribed; and

(c) may make different provision for different cases or descriptions of case.

(6) In this section “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations under this section.”.