High rated relevant life policy solutions: Business protection aims to help a business survive if any of its directors, shareholders or key employees either die or become seriously ill. Traditional business protection policies such as shareholder protection policies and key person insurance policies are what most people think of when they think of business protection insurance. However the market has developed over the last decade and now there are other types of business protection products that can not only help the business but also help the directors provide tax efficient policies for their families. Products such as the Relevant Life Policy and Executive Income Protection have seen massive growth over the last decade. Read even more information at https://advice4directors.co.uk/relevant-life-policy/.
When it comes to choosing the right amount of cover for a business, there are multiple types of insurance that need to be considered. Depending on the particular circumstances of the business, an effective cover plan could include multiple of profits insurance, allowing businesses to protect their profits if anything unexpected was to happen. Alternatively, multiple of salary would help to cover additional costs such as recruitment and replacement in the case of an employee leaving. Loan security is another key type of insurance which can ensure that any outstanding loan payments are managed and paid off should anything go wrong.
The business itself can act as the proposer of this kind of policy if it’s set up in a Ltd format, or each individual owner can take individual policies if within partnerships and sole traders setups. It’s important for businesses to take this kind of measures into consideration when taking out large loans as it helps protect not only the people involved but also their investments should something go wrong throughout repayment period. Making sure everyone involved understands their responsibilities and is aware that there are ways to protect their finances should adverse circumstances arise will help provide peace-of-mind during stressful times.
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.
Family Benefits: If for example one of the shareholders owned 33% of a business and they were to die. To make things simple lets value the business at £3,000,000 and lets say their shares are worth £1,000,000. The spouse would normally be the one who would inherit the shares. But the remaining shareholders usually would not have spare £1 million as a cash lump sum freely available. So the chances are that they might offer the spouse a smaller sum than the shares are worth. Or another option is that the spouse could sell the shares to someone else potentially a competitor. Another option would be that the spouse could potentially keep the shares and get involves in the business. But usually the spouse would have other commitments and would not want to get involved in the business.
Business loan protection helps protect against unexpected risks and stress in critical situations. With this form of protection in place, the guarantor’s estate will not be held “personally liable” if something went wrong. This offers peace of mind knowing that their personal assets won’t be affected if something happens to them or another co-owner/director. Furthermore, creditors are also secured since they know that the debt will still be repaid even if certain events occur. Loan protection offers reassurance for everyone that involvement in a commercial transaction carries less risk when compared to unprotected scenarios.
Often called key-man insurance this type of policy is sometimes miss understood. It is important to ensure that the policy is set up in the correct manner using the right trusts or structure. There are also a lot of confusion and miss information on the tax treatment of these policies. The policy can be for life only or for life and critical illness cover . In another article we also explore key person income protection insurance. The death or illness of a key employee can have devastating consequences for a business and thus protecting a business from this should be an important part of protecting a business if the financial impact and help the business survive a difficult time. See more info on Relevant Life Policy.