Finance Act 1988

60 Reinsurance to close. U.K.

(1) For subsection (5) of section 450 of the Taxes Act 1988 (underwriters) there shall be substituted—

“(5) Subsection (5A) below applies where—

(a) in accordance with the rules or practice of Lloyd’s and in consideration of the payment of a premium, one member agrees with another to meet liabilities arising from the latter’s business for an underwriting year so that the accounts of the business for that year may be closed; and

(b) the member by whom the premium is payable is a continuing member, that is, a member not only of the syndicate as a member of which he is liable to pay the premium (“the reinsured syndicate”) but also of the syndicate as a member of which the other member is entitled to receive it (“the reinsurer syndicate”).

(5A) In any case where this subsection applies—

(a) in computing for the purposes of income tax the profits or gains of the continuing member’s business as a member of the reinsured syndicate, the amount of the premium shall be deductible as an expense of his only to the extent that it is shown not to exceed a fair and reasonable assessment of the value of the liabilities in respect of which it is payable; and

(b) in computing for those purposes the profits or gains of his business as a member of the reinsurer syndicate, those profits or gains shall be reduced by an amount equal to any part of a premium which, by virtue of paragraph (a) above, is not deductible as an expense of his as a member of the reinsured syndicate;

and the assessment referred to above shall be taken to be fair and reasonable only if it is arrived at with a view to producing the result that a profit does not accrue to the member to whom the premium is payable but that he does not suffer a loss.”

(2) The provisions set out in subsection (1) above, but renumbered as subsections (1) and (2) and with the substitution, in the provision renumbered as subsection (1), of the words “subsection (2)” for the words “subsection (5A)”, shall also be substituted for subsections (1) to (4) of section 70 of the M1 Finance (No. 2) Act 1987 (underwriters); and in subsection (5) of that section, for the word “underwriter” there shall be substituted the word “ member ”.

(3) In this section—

(a) subsection (1) shall have effect in relation to premiums payable in connection with the closing of accounts of a member’s business for an underwriting year ending in the year 1988-89 or any subsequent year of assessment; and

(b) subsection (2) shall have effect in relation to premiums payable in connection with the closing of accounts of a member’s business for an underwriting year ending in the year 1985-86, 1986-87 or 1987-88.

Marginal Citations

M1 1987 c. 51.