IPTM7110 | Certificate for policyholder: meaning of 'appropriate policyholder': ICTA88/S552(10)

Events except part assignments

On all chargeable events other than part assignments, the ‘appropriate policyholder’ is the policyholder immediately before the happening of the chargeable event. The date on which a chargeable event occurs is covered in the later sections on types of chargeable events.

Part assignments

Where the event is an assignment of part of or a share in the rights conferred by the policy or contract, the appropriate policyholder is any person who is both a policyholder immediately before the assignment and an assignor. This is to ensure as far as possible that the chargeable event certificate is only sent to the person or persons who is chargeable to tax on the gain on the part assignment, namely the assignors, and not to the other policyholders. There are examples at IPTM7630 and IPTM7640 of calculations on part assignments and the person to whom the certificate should be sent.

In the rare case where the insurer knows that there has been a part assignment giving rise to a chargeable event but none of the policyholders is an assignor because only beneficial ownership has changed, not legal ownership, the insurer should report the gain to the policyholder.

Deceased policyholder

Where the policy has come to an end due to the death of the policyholder, the appropriate policyholder is the deceased person. In such circumstances, HMRC accepts that the insurer will be in full compliance of the reporting requirements if it addresses the certificate

• to whoever is dealing with the estate of the deceased, for instance the personal representatives or a solicitor if the insurer has that information, or

• to ‘Personal Representatives for’ the deceased policyholder at the last known address for the deceased if the insurer does not know the name and address of the person dealing with the estate