# 1% levy on investments as of this month?



## billy-bob (24 Nov 2011)

I received a letter from Quinn Life this week stating that my premium was going up in line with 5% annual indexation.  That's fine, I'm happy with that, however, the sums didn't add up, and after calling them, I was told that they were also adding a 1% "government levy".  I can see nothing about this online (granted, I'm not sure what to look for).  There seems to have been a levy attached to pensions and investments in 2009, and QL have a press release from 2010 stating they'll cover it to celebrate 10 years in business.  I have no illusions that this covering is permanent, but why now, why not 11 months ago when 2010 ended?  ()

So, can anyone enlighten me more as to what this is, and is it applied across the board on all investments?

(Note, I checked the fund history, and my entire premium up to this point has been going into the fund, so this 1% levy is entirely new)


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## ClubMan (24 Nov 2011)

Any use? In since _Budget 2010_?

http://prsas.blogspot.com/2010/02/1-levy-on-unit-linked-savings-and.html


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## billy-bob (24 Nov 2011)

Tks for the link, clubman.  That looks like the beast alright.  Bit odd that Quinn has not been charging me it until now, but I can only assume that they're just nice guys who are looking out for me 

I always assumed QL were a fairly popular investment fund on aam, so I'm sorta surprised nobody else is shouting about this.


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## ClubMan (24 Nov 2011)

billy-bob said:


> I always assumed QL were a fairly popular investment fund on aam, so I'm sorta surprised nobody else is shouting about this.


Why? It's a tax that has hit all such investments so it's not specific to _QL_. I doubt that they waived it for you in the past - either it was not due or you were charged it and didn't notice or something.


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## billy-bob (24 Nov 2011)

What I mean is that either QL only started charging this levy this month (as intimated by customer services) or they started charging it in line with my premium increase.  Either way, I would've expected some discussion on it as it appears to be disconnected from the original levy introduction


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## ClubMan (24 Nov 2011)

Looks like they (and other fund managers) were absorbing the cost of the 1% levy in the past:



Maybe they stopped doing that since?


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## DerKaiser (24 Nov 2011)

ClubMan said:


> Looks like they (and other fund managers) were absorbing the cost of the 1% levy in the past:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe they stopped doing that since?


 
Most providers absorbed it for a while on regular premium non-pension business, but I'd imagine all of them are passing it on by now.

Quinn Life wasn't ever a sizeable player in the market, might explain the lack of discussion.


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## billy-bob (24 Nov 2011)

Cheers folks, I guess I can't avoid this levy if I can go somewhere else (although the larger players might absorb it, probably not on the pittance I'm investing with them), so just have to suck it.


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## GSheehy (1 Dec 2011)

Zurich Life have agreed to do the following for me on this product



> With immediate effect, there will be no 1% Levy on contributions to the InvestAndSave product provided that the minimum Single and Regular payments are made. This applies to business transacted from 24th November 2011, or business that is currently in the pipeline but has not yet been issued.


 
My blog post here


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