Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988

455 Income tax consequences on death of underwriter

(1) In this section “the lower limit” means the limit which would be imposed by section 452(5) if the words “£5,000 or 35 per cent. of that profit, whichever is the less” stood in that subsection in place of the words “£7,000 or 50 per cent. of that profit, whichever is the less”.

(2) Where an underwriter dies while carrying on his business and, after giving effect to the requirements of section 453, his special reserve fund or funds include an amount which represents an excess in the payments made into the fund or funds for any underwriting year over the lower limit—

(a) he shall be deemed for all income tax purposes to have received in the year of assessment corresponding to that underwriting year a payment of that amount—

(i) which was an annual payment chargeable to income tax by way of deduction and paid out of profits or gains brought into charge to income tax, and

(ii) which was payable in the year of assessment in which it is deemed to have been paid, and

(b) the payment (to that actual amount) shall be deemed for the purposes of sections 452 to 456 and for all income tax purposes to be a net amount corresponding to a gross amount from which tax has been duly deducted.

(3) Where, to give effect to the requirements of section 453 as to the meeting of a loss, any withdrawal was made at any time from the capital of the underwriter’s special reserve fund or funds, the amount withdrawn shall be regarded for the purposes of subsection (2) above—

(a) as having been met out of payments made into the fund or funds for underwriting years before that in which the loss was incurred, and as having been met before any withdrawal to meet a loss for a later underwriting year; and

(b) as having been met out of so much of the payments made for any underwriting year as was not in excess of the lower limit, rather than out of such part of the payments made for any underwriting year as was in excess of the lower limit; and

(c) subject to that, as having been met out of payments in excess of the lower limit for a later year rather than out of payments in excess of the lower limit for an earlier year;

and, where payments have been made into the underwriter’s special reserve fund or funds for any underwriting year in excess of the lower limit, his fund or funds shall be deemed at all subsequent times to include an amount representing that excess except to the extent that any withdrawal is, under the provisions of this subsection, to be regarded as having been met out of that amount.

(4) Any tax chargeable by virtue of this section shall be assessed and charged upon the underwriter’s personal representatives and tax so charged shall be a debt due from and payable out of his estate; and, notwithstanding section 34(1) of the Management Act (which requires assessments to be made not later than six years after the end of the year to which they relate), assessments in respect of tax so chargeable may be made at any time not later than three years after the end of the year of assessment in which the underwriter died.

(5) References in this section to payments made into a special reserve fund or funds for any underwriting year are references to payments made, as described in section 452(5), by reference to the profits made for that underwriting year.