The Insurance Premium Tax Regulations 1994

Premiums treated as received on premium written date

23.—(1) Subject to paragraph (8) below, any premium in relation to which—

(a) an insurer has made an entry in his accounts showing the premium as due to him;

(b) the premium written date falls within a relevant accounting period; and

(c) the date of receipt does not fall within an accounting period which is earlier than the initial period and which is not a relevant accounting period,

shall be treated for the purposes of the Act as received by the insurer on the premium written date; and the insurer shall account for tax due in respect of the relevant accounting period concerned accordingly.

(2) Paragraph (1) above shall apply even if the premium or any part of it is never actually received by the insurer; and, where it is never actually received because the contract under which it is or would have been received is terminated or is not entered into, the premium shall nonetheless be taken for the purposes of the Act to have been received under the contract (including, where appropriate, a taxable insurance contract) under which the insurer treated it as due.

(3) Where in relation to any premium to which paragraph (1) above applies the premium written date is a date other than the date of receipt, the premium shall be treated for the purposes of the Act as not having been received by the insurer on the date of receipt; but this is subject to paragraph (4) below.

(4) Paragraph (3) above shall not apply to any excess which falls to be treated as a separate premium in accordance with regulation 24(2).

(5) An insurer to whom the scheme applies as regards an accounting period may assume that the scheme will apply as regards all subsequent accounting periods and account for tax due in respect of that period accordingly.

(6) Subject to paragraph (7) below, where in relation to a premium—

(a) the premium written date falls before 1st October 1994;

(b) the premium was actually received by the insurer on or after 1st October 1994; and

(c) the contract under which the premium was received is not a contract to which, if the premium had actually been received on the premium written date, section 67(3) of the Act would have applied,

the premium shall be treated for the purposes of the Act as received before 1st October 1994 and the insurer shall accordingly not account for any tax on that premium.

(7) Paragraph (6) above shall not apply to any premium where—

(a) the contract under which the premium was received relates to a risk the period of cover for which begins on or after 1st October 1994; and

(b) it is not the normal practice as regards the class of contract to which that contract belongs for an insurer to make an entry in his accounts showing the premium as due as at a date before the period of cover begins.

(8) Where the initial period begins on 1st October 1994, nothing in this regulation shall be taken as requiring a premium—

(a) which was actually received by the insurer before 1st October 1994;

(b) in respect of which the premium written date falls within a relevant accounting period;

(c) which is not taken by virtue of section 67 of the Act to be received on 1st October 1994; and

(d) which was received under a contract which relates to a risk the period of cover for which begins before 1st October 1994,

to be treated as received on a date other than the date of receipt.

(9) Where in relation to any premium—

(a) an insurer has made an entry in his accounts showing the premium as due to him;

(b) the entry was made on a date falling within a relevant accounting period; and

(c) the premium written date would, apart from this paragraph, fall in a relevant accounting period which is earlier than the accounting period referred to in paragraph (b) above,

the insurer shall be treated for the purposes of this regulation as if he had made the entry showing the premium as due to him as at the date on which the entry was made and that date (and no other date) shall be the premium written date accordingly.