HC Deb 28 July 1989 vol 157 cc1130-1W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his forecast of the value in the current financial year of(a) investment-linked, (b) other surrendered life policies, excluding pension refunds, (c) the profit on these policies, and (d) the liability/to tax on those profits.

Mr. Lilley

In 1986, on the basis of a sample of companies, surrenders—broadly life policies "cashed in", in whole or in part, other than on maturity or death—amounted to some £3 billion. The information necessary to update this figure is not yet available, and no discrete estimates can he made of the value of investment-linked or other policies wholly surrendered. Tax on life assurance, in respect of all policies, is paid at the level of the life office on income and gains, and policy holders, in a minority of cases, may have further liability to tax at the marginal rate: no estimate can accordingly be made of profits or tax liabilities for a particular class and generation of policies.

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