Tax Talk: changes to 'time apportionment relief' explained

For clients that hold a ‘foreign policy of life insurance’ – that is, an offshore investment bond – there is a tax reduction for time spent abroad. If the policyholder is non-UK resident for any time between the start of the bond and the date of a chargeable event, any chargeable gain will be reduced in proportion to the time spent abroad. At present, this ‘time apportionment relief’ only applies to offshore bonds although the government has plans to extend the relief to UK onshore bonds from next April. Although, of course, it will still not be possible to reclaim the tax paid in the fu...