I had a Standard Life Capital Savings Plan which I started in 1997 and paid into monthly. I surrendered this in February last year. I'm trying to confirm/determine if I have to declare and pay tax for the profit made on this.
According to the policy documents I initially received "Under current legislation, all returns from you Capital Savings Plan are entirely free of any personal liability to income tax. The investment return secured by the funds has already borne tax, payable by Standard Life at the rates applicable to life assurance companies."
I rang Standard Life and the person I spoke to there didn't think I had to pay tax as the policy was started before 2001 as she thought the tax was paid within the policy but wasn't sure.
Generally, for Life Assurance savings plans issued before 1st Jan 2001 the client has no personal tax liability as the returns earned by the fund were tax every year at the standard rate and this taxed was deducted and paid over by the insurance company.
Thanks jpd. I also found the following (Chapter 5, Section 4 of the CGT1 Guide to Capital Gains Tax)
Certain gains are not chargeable, including:
...
(b) Gains realised from life assurance policies and deferred annuity contracts, unless purchased from another person or taken out with certain foreign insurers on or after 20 May 1993.
So that looks like I'm fine and have nothing to declare.