The taxation of life settlements explained

The Assured Fund's Andrew Walters unravels the complex tax rules surrounding life settlements.

The promise of consistent returns, which are not correlated to traditional markets, has propelled life settlements in to being a mainstream investment class. The seemingly straightforward investment strategy of buying an insurance policy on the second hand market at a discount, keeping it in force until the demise of the insured and collecting on the face value, is attractive and investors and their financial advisers rarely delve deeper into the many complexities. If they did, they would quickly come across the spectre of US withholding tax and the various contortions that funds have...