THERE WILL be no General Consumption Tax (GCT) imposed on the premiums of life insurance, a reverse of the proposal that was put forward in the budget debates earlier this year, by Dr. Omar Davies, Minister of Finance.
This was announced by Earl Moore, President of the Life Insurance Companies Association of Jamaica (LICA), at the Association's annual brunch to launch a week activities in observance of Insurance Week, July 6-12, at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on Sunday.
According to Moore, "the Government's recent fiscal and monetary policies will also impact on our industry, both directly and indirectly. We have been in discussions with Government on the recent tax measures as they relate to the life sector, and although some changes have proposed, we still have some concerns.
Notwithstanding, we were able to provide strong lobby and as a result, GCT will not be charged on life insurance premiums."
As a sector, strong lobby was made on the basis that life insurance policies are long-term investments while GCT is a tax on consumption, and therefore should not be applicable to investment instruments.
WEEK OF ACTIVITIES
The LICA week of activities are being observed under the theme 'Providing for Today... Creating Lasting Legacies.' This is the first year that the Association has joined with the Jamaica Association of General Insurance Companies (JAGIC) to host the series of events.
Referring to the joint effort, the President said "this move is one of the steps towards ultimate merger of the two associations, an initiative that we have been pursuing within the last year to strengthen our voice as a lobby group and to reduce operational costs."
