§ The Paymaster General (Dawn Primarolo)Legislation to prevent tax avoidance by individuals through the creation of deficiency relief on life insurance policies is to be included in the 2004 Finance Bill. The legislation will restrict the deficiency relief available to an individual to amounts of earlier gains which formed part of that same individual's income. The change will have effect from today. It will apply to all new policies. It will also apply to all existing policies which are assigned, or become used as security for a debt, or into which policyholders choose to pay further premiums, on or after today.
A copy of today's Inland Revenue news release giving the relevant background to this measure is being deposited in the Libraries of both Houses and is also accessible on the Inland Revenue website: http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/.