Finance Act 1993

177 Reinsurance to close

(1) This section 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 underwriting 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”).

(2) In computing for the purposes of income tax the profits of the continuing member’s underwriting 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.

(3) In computing for those purposes the profits of the continuing member’s underwriting business as a member of the reinsurer syndicate, those profits shall be reduced by an amount equal to any part of a premium which, by virtue of subsection (2) above, is not deductible as an expense of his as a member of the reinsured syndicate.

(4) The assessment referred to in subsection (2) 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.