§ Mr. McCrindleasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will seek to allow a married woman to claim tax relief on a life assurance policy taken out on her own life, and with premiums paid from her own resources.
§ Mr. Robert Sheldon, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 21st April 1978], gave the following information:
Under the law as it stands at present a married woman may claim life assurance relief in respect of premiums which she pays on a qualifying policy which she has taken out on her own life, provided that an election for separate assessment or a wife's earnings election is in force or that her income is otherwise assessed separately from that of her husband. If there is no such election or separate assessment the relief is due to the husband—who may, if his wife is in employment, agree for it to be allowed in her PAYE coding or authorise any repayment in respect of the relief to be made direct to her.
A new system for allowing life assurance relief will come into force on 6th April 1979. Under this, in most cases relief will be allowed directly to the payer of the premiums by deduction from the premiums payable.