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Tax Liability Insurance

Personal Tax

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A tax risk posing a threat to a portion of your personal wealth can be stressful or make a transaction commercially unworkable. Tax insurance can help mitigate this risk.

Our Team are primarily experienced with assisting corporate management teams and investment managers, but we also work with HNWIs (and their family offices) due to the complexity of the tax rules that they are faced with. Richard Taylor-Whiteway leads the team and is ‘Top Recommended’ in the Spear’s 500 index for insurance.

Our clients can expect a premium service, with clear communication (in simple language), proactive problem-solving, a straightforward process, and rapid response times.

We can provide a quote for insurance within 48 hours for any jurisdiction and will work with you and your advisers to meet any deadlines. We are supported internationally by a network of top-tier tax counsel who regularly advise on M&A transactions and are familiar with our process, which enables us to provide a premium service no matter the jurisdiction(s) involved.

And afterwards our Claims process is capable of dealing with complex matters as efficiently as possible and supported by robust Risk Capital provided by major insurers.

For more information about Brockwell and our appetite see About Us and Risk Appetite. If you are a private equity sponsor our Institutions / Funds section has sector-specific details.

Get a quote here.

How can tax liability insurance help me?

Tax insurance can be used to cover any financial loss stemming from a ‘tax event’. We are regularly asked for cover:

  • for how sale consideration will be treated – Income or capital?
  • the point at which a gain will become taxable – Will it be deferred or ‘roll over’?
  • carried interest or co-investment arrangements – Are these employment income or capital?
  • risks identified by family offices, often in relation to stamp duty / transfer taxes applicable to real estate transactions
  • whether the transfer of assets into a corporate will be taxable – Will it be deferred or ‘roll over’?
  • relating to the treatment of equity arrangements – Will any employment taxes arise on disposal?

FAQs

Yes. In order for us to consider terms, please provide the information set-out below. Where a ruling has been considered, it is very helpful if your adviser can provide the detail that they would have provided to the tax authority (given we are fulfilling the role of the tax authority in this instance) together with any advice in respect of the risk.

As a matter of course we will enter into confidentiality agreements; we appreciate that we are often being provided with highly commercially sensitive information.

Details about our privacy policy are here.

You should consider sell-side W&I insurance. The premium is significantly less than insurance for an identified risk and Brockwell’s team are experts in offering this type of cover.

Yes, this is a very common use for tax insurance. It is essential that conduct of claims has been retained under the indemnity because this is required by the insurers in return for committing risk capital.

Obtaining a quote costs nothing and is very quick. Please visit Quotes.

You can also get a quote for tax insurance by contacting your insurance broker (or the W&I broker on the M&A deal if relevant) and providing our contact details. We can recommend a specialist tax insurance broker if you don’t have one.

We typically provide indicative terms of insurance within 48 hours from receipt of the request for terms, but we can provide a quote within 24 hours in exceptional circumstances.

Please see Process for more information.

When seeking a quote for tax insurance the following information should be provided: (i) an outline/description of the tax risk, (ii) details and analysis of any facts relevant to the risk (both positive and negative), (iii) a calculation of the financial cover required, (iv) details of what insurance is required (e.g. who is the insured, policy period, limit of liability, etc), and (v) copies of any tax advice in relation to the risk.

No, but a note from a third party tax adviser (even by-email) will significantly improve the pricing and certainty of a quote. We will have a better understanding and so can price the risk more accurately and will need to assume less about the factual background. An external note also ensures that anything potentially problematic is highlighted (e.g. an ongoing audit or unhelpful factual aspect). If we make a material finding during underwriting then we may need to change our terms.

Once appointed to underwrite, we can issue a finalised policy within five business days although on average it takes two weeks. In exceptional circumstances and depending on the nature of the risk it may be possible to truncate this process.

Please see Process for more information.

The cost of tax insurance will typically comprise the premium, applicable premium taxes, an underwriting fee, and broker commission.

A single, up-front premium is payable. Our minimum premium is typically £85,000 (or equivalent) and we typically charge between 2% and 8% of the limit of liability sought. The applicable insurance premium tax will depend on the location of the policyholder. However, we consider each transaction on its own merits and exceptionally we can offer a lower premium.

Our external expenses vary according to the complexity/size of the risk and the scope of work required. Typically, our external expenses are £10,000 – £30,000 (or equivalent).

The structure of your insurance broker’s commission will depend on the agreement they have with you. Typically, brokerage is a percentage of the premium (and we will provide a gross premium quote, i.e. inclusive of brokerage), but some brokers work to a fixed fee with their clients.

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