Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 section 606

Meaning of "retirement annuity contract"

Section 606 defines what counts as a "retirement annuity contract" for tax purposes, covering both original contracts and substituted contracts.

• A retirement annuity contract is a contract or trust scheme whose main purpose is to pay a retirement annuity to an individual, or to members of an occupational group.
• Contracts paying annuities to the spouse or dependant of the individual also fall within the definition.
• The definition also includes substituted contracts, where the benefits from a maturing contract have been applied to take out a replacement contract.
• Although it is no longer possible to create new retirement annuity contracts through the substitution route, annuities are still being paid under existing substituted contracts, so these remain within scope.