Part surrenders and part assignments of life insurance policies

The LITRG’s response (endorsed by Tax Help for Older People) to the consultation on partial surrenders of life policies highlights the need for both simplicity and fairness in calculating the amount of gain to be brought into charge, with insurers making sure to inform policyholders of the new tax rules. While we believe the best option (the 100% allowance) achieves both of these we advocate caution as there could be adverse tax consequences once the allowance is exhausted. We also believe there is an opportunity for concurrent consideration of simplification and fairness of the underlying tax rules more generally.