Corporation Tax for companies with profits of £250,000 or more increased from 19% to 25% on 6 April 2023. This means that the majority of businesses in the UK will see an increase in their costs.

Our sister company, Towergate Health & Protection suggest that business owners might want to take this time to identify further allowable expenses – because a business with higher expenses will have to pay less tax.

Life cover may be the most straightforward way of doing this, because you may already be paying for life cover for your employees, which doesn’t count as an allowable expense – but relevant life cover does.

Also known as ‘life cover on expenses,’ relevant life cover is paid for by the employer. It’s seen as a highly valuable benefit for many reasons:

• Tax efficient for the employer and employee – tax deductible, no National Insurance contributions
• Does not count as retirement benefit, so won’t affect employees’ Lifetime Allowance**
• Policy is written in trust so does not form part of the family’s estate, for Inheritance tax purposes
• Could reduce corporation tax
• Could reduce tax paid by higher rate taxpayers by up to 53% when compared with a regular life insurance policy*

*Based on our understanding of HM Revenue & Customs practice as at April 2023, using an employee on a higher income rate of tax

**Further information and guidance will be issued when the lifetime allowance is completely removed from pension tax legislation, expected to be in the 2024/25 tax year

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Zanele Sibanda CII is a respected industry leader with 20 years’ experience in the insurance industry, specialising in protection and employee benefits. She is a qualified member of the Chartered Insurance Institute and a member of the Personal Finance Society and the Society of Mortgage Professionals. 

She currently works at Head of Internal Markets at Towergate Health & Protection, part of The Ardonagh Group, an international network of over 100 offices and 7,000 people which incorporates leading brands in both Lloyd’s of London and global markets.