Premium relevant life policy products: 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. Find even more info on Key person 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.
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.
How the policies should be set up: There are various ways in which shareholder protection can be taken out and set up. We work closely with your accountant and other professional connections to ensure the cover is setup in the correct way for your business. In order to protect individual shareholders, it is recommended that each shareholder takes out a separate “own life” policy. This policy will insure them for a sum assured equivalent to the value of their company shares. By taking out this coverage, the shareholder can rest assured knowing that if something were to happen, their investment in the company would be protected. Additionally, if they choose to write this policy into trust, they can benefit their co-shareholders in case of unforeseeable events.
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.
Why have Business Loan Insurance? For businesses, protecting their investments is paramount. Taking out a loan to either begin or expand a business venture brings with it a heightened level of risk, because the ability to repay the loan often rests on the performance and health of only a few key staff members. To help manage this risk, it is essential that any significant loans taken out by businesses are protected with insurance.
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. Find extra information on Key person insurance.