Relevant life cover — life insurance paid by the company
The most tax-efficient way for limited company directors and employees to hold life cover. The company pays the premiums (corporation tax relief), there’s no benefit-in-kind on the director, and the payout goes straight to the family via a trust — outside of the estate.
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We compare the whole relevant life market
Including the insurers most high-street advisers never even quote — so you get the lowest premium for the cover your family actually needs.
How directors set up relevant life cover
Directors, employees, high-earners with LTA issues. We build tax-efficient life cover in three simple steps — maximum sum assured, minimum cost, trust done properly. Rated 5.0 on Google.
Work out the maximum sum assured
HMRC lets you insure a multiple of total remuneration — salary plus dividends, bonuses and pension contributions. Typical caps: up to 25× for under 40s, 20× for 40–49, 15× for 50+. Most directors are massively under-covered — we size it properly.
Structure it as relevant life, not personal
Company owns the policy, company pays the premium, employee’s life is the life assured. That unlocks corporation tax relief on the premium, no benefit-in-kind on the director, and premiums outside the pension lifetime allowance. Same cover — materially cheaper.
Policy in trust for the family
HMRC requires relevant life to be written into a discretionary trust for the family — we draft it for you as part of the arrangement. That means the payout goes straight to your spouse, partner or children, outside the estate, without probate delay.
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Why relevant life beats personal cover
If you’re a limited company director paying for life cover out of your own pocket, you’re paying twice. Every £1 of premium comes from your post-tax, post-NI, post-corporation-tax income — which means a £60 personal premium is actually costing the business around £100+ in gross profit to fund. You’re paying tax on the money just to give it back to the insurer.
Relevant life flips the equation. The company pays the premium directly as an allowable business expense. Corporation tax relief on the way in, no benefit-in-kind, no income tax, no NI. The result is the same life cover for your family — typically 40–50% cheaper in real terms. And because the policy sits in a discretionary trust, the payout skips probate and the estate entirely.
Book a relevant life review →Who relevant life cover is built for
It’s one product — but it fits a lot of different people. Limited company directors. Salaried employees. High-earners hitting the pension allowance. Older directors. Anyone paying for life cover personally when the business could be paying instead.
Limited company director
The classic relevant life caseSole or co-director of a limited company? You’re almost certainly paying for personal life cover when the company could be paying instead. Relevant life gives you the same protection for your family, typically 40–50% cheaper in real terms.
Employee life cover
Single-life cover funded by the employerRelevant life isn’t just for directors. Any employee can be covered on a relevant life policy paid for by the business — a genuinely valuable benefit with no benefit-in-kind implications, and a retention tool that costs a fraction of group life.
Lifetime allowance relief
Life cover outside the pension frameworkIf you’re already bumping against the pension annual allowance or lifetime allowance, having life cover inside a pension wrapper makes the problem worse. Relevant life sits completely outside the pension framework — cover, no tax drag.
Directors 50+
Term up to age 75 · cover where you need it mostPersonal life cover gets expensive in your 50s — but paying it through the business via relevant life softens the blow. Cover available up to age 75, which takes most directors comfortably through to retirement.
Switch personal → relevant life
Move existing cover into the businessAlready have personal life cover? We can often replace it with a relevant life policy through the business for materially less cost to you — same (or higher) sum assured, same trust structure, but the company pays the premium.
Multiple directors, one arrangement
Separate policies, joined-up adviceEach director needs their own single-life policy — relevant life can’t be joint. But we can set them up together, reviewed together, so it stays one conversation with one adviser and one annual review.
Trust drafted for the family
Discretionary trust included as standardHMRC requires relevant life to sit in a discretionary trust. We draft it for you as part of the arrangement — spouse, partner, kids nominated, outside the estate for IHT, skipping probate so money reaches the family in days, not months.
Adding critical illness
Relevant life can’t include CI — but you can add it alongsideHMRC legislation excludes critical illness from relevant life. If you want CI too, we arrange a separate policy sitting alongside — still structured efficiently, so the family’s covered for death and serious illness.
The Montgomery relevant life promise
Whole-of-market insurers
Aviva, L&G, Royal London, Vitality, AIG, Scottish Widows and more — we compare every relevant-life-friendly insurer, not just one panel.
Sum assured sized properly
Up to 25× remuneration under 40, 20× between 40–49, 15× at 50+ — we size the cover to sit comfortably inside HMRC’s caps so the tax relief sticks.
Tax-efficient by design
Premiums claimable as a business expense, no benefit-in-kind for the director, no National Insurance hit, and the payout sits outside the LTA pension framework entirely.
Discretionary trust drafted
HMRC requires relevant life to sit in a discretionary trust — we draft it as part of the arrangement, nominate the family, keep it outside the estate, and skip probate.
One dedicated adviser
Charles looks after it end-to-end. Accountant loop-in when needed, trust paperwork sorted, policy live — one number, one inbox, no hand-offs.
Annual reviews built in
Salary changes, dividend changes, new director, company restructure — we review every year so the cover keeps pace with the business and stays inside the HMRC caps.
What our clients say on Google
Real reviews from real business owners we’ve structured relevant life cover for.
Relevant life cover questions, answered
The things directors and business owners ask us most often before setting it up.
What exactly is relevant life cover?+
Relevant life is a single-life, death-in-service-style life insurance policy paid for by your limited company on behalf of a director or employee. The premiums are a legitimate business expense, there’s no benefit-in-kind on the individual, no National Insurance charge, and the payout goes into a discretionary trust for the family — outside the estate for inheritance tax and outside the pension lifetime allowance framework.
Who qualifies — can employees have it too?+
Yes. Anyone who is genuinely employed by the company — directors on a PAYE salary, salaried employees, even a spouse who works in the business — can have relevant life. The one catch is pure shareholders with no employment role: HMRC wants a real employment relationship, not a shareholding dressed up as one. We check this before we structure it.
How much cheaper is it than personal life cover?+
Typically around 40–50% cheaper in true cost terms. Personal life cover is paid from post-tax income, so a £60/month premium costs a higher-rate director closer to £100–£120 gross once income tax and NI are factored in. Relevant life is paid pre-tax by the company, gets corporation tax relief, and doesn’t touch the director’s personal tax bill — so the same cover ends up costing the household far less.
What’s the maximum sum assured?+
HMRC caps it by age and total remuneration (salary + dividends + benefits + pension contributions). Under 40 you can insure up to 25× remuneration. Age 40–49, 20×. Age 50+, 15×. So a 38-year-old director on £80k total remuneration could take up to £2m of relevant life cover — we’ll size it properly and keep it inside the cap at each annual review.
Why does it need to sit in a trust?+
The trust is what keeps relevant life tax-efficient. Without it the payout could land back with the company or fall inside the estate for IHT — both of which would undo the tax treatment. A discretionary trust means the payout goes straight to the family (spouse, partner, children, whoever you nominate), outside the estate, skipping probate. We draft the trust for you as part of setting it up.
Can I add critical illness cover too?+
Not inside the same policy — HMRC legislation specifically excludes critical illness from relevant life. But if you want CI alongside, we arrange it as a separate policy, typically held personally but structured alongside so the family is covered for serious illness as well as death. We’ll talk you through the trade-offs at the review.
Let’s get the business paying for your life cover
Free 20-minute call. We’ll size the sum assured inside the HMRC caps, compare the whole relevant-life market, and draft the trust so the family’s protected — tax-efficiently.