Commentary on Sections Structure of Chapters Overview Section 535: Top slicing relief
2102.This section, and sections 536 and 537, are based on section 550 of ICTA. They provide a relief where the gain charged under this Chapter takes an individual’s taxable income into the higher rate of tax. The relief reduces or eliminates the higher rate charge.
2103.The relief is given by reducing the amount of tax charged on the gain, or by repayment. It is given without a claim being required. See Change 98 in Annex 1.
2104.The relief is calculated by comparing the tax chargeable on the gain (or gains) with the tax that would be chargeable on a fraction of the gain, in both cases after setting off the appropriate income tax allowance under section 530. The fraction (the “annual equivalent”) is calculated by reference to the number of years the policy or contract has been in existence. The relief is the difference between the tax otherwise chargeable on the full gain and the tax that would be charged if the full gain were taxed at the rate of tax chargeable on the fraction.
2105.How to determine the fraction, and how the tax chargeable on the fraction is calculated, depends on whether the individual is taxable under this Chapter in the tax year on a gain from one chargeable event (section 536) or on gains from more than one event (section 537).
2106.Subsection (3) sets out how to calculate the tax on the gain(s) before any relief under this section has been given. The gain is treated as the “top slice” of the individual’s total income.
2107.Subsection (5) ignores certain items of income in working out an individual’s “total income” for these purposes. Section 835 of ICTA defines “total income”, in relation to any person, as “the total income of that person from all sources estimated in accordance with the provisions of the Income Tax Acts”.