Zurich has added several features to its business protection proposition.
The provider believes these will offer business customers more choice with new cover options.
The elements include a relevant life policy trust, draft company share option purchase agreement, business protection spousal bypass trust, and a draft option agreement for business owned by souses or couples.
The relevant life policy trust is to provide death-in-service benefits where there are too few employees to justify a group scheme or where it's desired to provide benefits above those provided by the group scheme.
Arrangements are paid for by the employer, treated as an allowable deduction and not as a benefit in kind.
This results in no liability to national insurance for the employer or employee, no employee liability to income tax with the payments and benefits of the plan outside the employee's lifetime and annual allowances.
Its draft company share purchase option agreement can be used where, on the death of a business owner, the company buys back the deceased's shares, increasing the value of the remaining shares while the beneficiary receives the cash.
A business protection spousal bypass trust can be used in conjunction with a share purchase/partnership protection arrangement that avoids inundating a spouse's estate with cash which could be liable to inheritance tax.
And the draft option agreement for business owned by spouses or couples is an option agreement to protect shareholders or partners of businesses owned by couples.
If a non-working spouse dies, instead of all of the owners receiving a proportion of their share of the business, this would be passed to their surviving working partner.
Alternatively, if the working partner died, the remaining owners would have the right to buy both the deceased working owners share and that of the surviving non working owner.
