Annex 1: Minor changes in the law made by the Act: Change 99: Gains from contracts for life insurance etc: definition of “insurance company”: section 545(1)
This change introduces a definition of “insurance company” for the purposes of the chargeable event gains regime in Chapter 2 of Part 13 of ICTA.
Although Chapter 2 of Part 13 of ICTA contains several references to insurance companies, it does not define “insurance company”. This is inconsistent with more recent legislation using the term “insurance company” which does provide a definition. See, for instance, section 333B(9) of ICTA (insurance element of individual savings accounts), which was inserted by FA 1998 and amended by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Consequential Amendments) (Taxes) Order 2001 (SI 2000/3629). In practice, the definition in section 333B(9) of ICTA is the one used for the purposes of Chapter 2 of Part 13 of ICTA too.
Accordingly, that definition has been adopted in section 545(1) for the purposes of the whole of Chapter 9 of Part 4 of this Act.
This change provides a clarification of the law. But it is expected to have no practical effect as it is in line with current practice.