Relevant life policy solutions right now: Premium Equalisation: Shareholder Protection Premium Equalisation is an essential aspect of business trust policies. When a group of shareholders decides to take out an own life policy individually, they may need to equalize the premiums paid. This is done to prevent HMRC from considering unequal premiums as a “gift” or “wealth transfer” from those who are paying more to those who are paying less. If HMRC views this as a gift, there could be inheritance tax implications if there is ever a claim. Find even more details at business protection insurance.
Who can have Key Person Insurance: Any business looking to protect their business from, life cover, terminal illness, critical illness cover (covering illnesses such as heart attack, stroke, cancer). As will as the typical limited company businesses key person cover can benefit sole traders and partnerships. As mentioned above it is important to get the right level of cover, set up in the most tax efficient manner to give peace of mind, protect the business profits and reduce business risk from the loss of a valuable employee. It gives a much needed cash injection to give cash flow by means of a lump sum payment.
Options Available: When it comes to running a business, financial security is key. That’s why it is important to consider how best to manage funds for insurance policies, such as Business Loan Protection. One option might be to write the policy into a trust – but this may not always be necessary or advisable. A trust is a separate legal entity from your own business and can be used for various purposes such as inheritance planning, or tax mitigation strategies. In some cases however, a trust would actually complicate matters if you needed to make a claim on the policy, since the payout could be held up while in the trust. Therefore, unless there is some specific reason why you need the money to be placed in trust first (for example, if there will be tax due when paying out), it makes more sense to arrange for the payout to go straight to your lender so that they can quickly settle any outstanding debt.
Tax Implications: This form of succession planning is quite complex and you should seek financial advice, legal advice, tax advice and bespoke advice unique to your own situation so the guidelines below will just give a brief overview of what company owners need to watch out for. So it will be very likely that the spouse could not sell the shares at all or sell them at a massively discounted price. With a shareholder protection policy in place it would provide a lump sum payment to the remaining shareholders. The sum assured would be pre-agreed by the business owners. This would allow the individual shareholders to buy the spouses company shares at fair price.
Business loans can be critical for a business to function and grow, but without loan protection, borrowing money becomes a much riskier endeavor. Business loan protection insures the debt should an unforeseen event cause the illness or death of an owner or director who was personally responsible for it. By protecting their loan, business owners minimise their exposure and ensure that the lender is less likely to be left with unpaid debts in such scenarios.
The most common way for insurers to calculate key person insurance premiums and benefits is based on salary multiples; however, sometimes more complex formulae are used. In order to determine an exact amount of coverage that is necessary for a particular business situation, advice should be sought by someone who understands the value of what would be lost with the key individual gone. This may require researching factors such as how hard or easy it would be to replace them, an estimation of how long this process may take and what kind of losses might occur in the meantime regarding profit. Ultimately, with enough consideration and thought given to these issues prior to purchasing key person insurance, this process will remain simple and straightforward. Find more information on Key person insurance.
Business Loan Insurance: Many businesses borrow to grow or invest in expensive machinery or premises. On the death of a director banks often get worried and cancel overdrafts or call in loans. Business loan insurance protects your business from this issue. Executive Income Protection Insurance: In the event of a long term or permanent illness where a director cannot work anymore then paying their wages can become a burden on the business. Executive income protection give the company the required funds to ensure the director can still be remunerated.
