How much of the return you keep, and where the rest goes
Enter the portfolio once. The profile runs it through the same engine as the six instruments, on your UK tax position, and shows the path from gross wealth to wealth kept. Each cost opens the instrument that owns it, with your figures already loaded.
By Eldar Edmond Grady, CEO, PPLI.com · Research checked 23 September 2026
One set of facts, six lenses
The profile holds the amount, horizon, allocation, UK tax position, alternatives terms, any liquidity event and any policy. Every figure it shows is an engine output or an arithmetic identity between outputs.
With a policy modelled on part of the portfolio, the profile shows its charges and its exit tax next to the tax it defers, and reports the result whichever way it goes. If no policy is modelled, it ranks the sources of drag on the portfolio held directly, largest first.
The full and executive reports turn the same figures into a printable analysis. Nothing is sent to PPLI.com to produce them.
The identity every result must satisfy
The profile reconciles to the pound. For any profile:
Wealth kept + fees + tax + policy charges + liquidity friction
+ withdrawals + compounding forgone = gross reference
Gross reference = starting capital x (1 + weighted gross return)^yearsCompounding forgone is defined as the remainder, so the identity closes by construction. What it guarantees is that no cost is counted twice and none is left out: the bars in the chart divide the gap exactly.
What the profile computes, and what it does not
Computed
Projection by asset class; savings, dividend and capital gains tax each year; fees; a policy on part of the portfolio with its charges, exit tax on encashment or death and the 15% deemed gain if flagged; a liquidity event and the cost of waiting before investing; inheritance tax on death applied to both sides.
Set by you
The average rate on a policy gain after top-slicing, the rate abroad if you leave the UK, the share of foreign days for a new arrival, and every charge.
Not computed
Individual income tax liabilities, the personal allowance taper, the personal savings allowance, trust rates and trust planning, and any rule specific to a particular insurer or jurisdiction.
Questions about the profile
What does the profile measure?
How much of the gross economic result on your portfolio reaches you after fees, UK tax, any policy charges, any delay in investing and the compounding each of them forgoes, over the horizon you choose.
Which tax rates does it use?
The 2026/27 rates for the position you choose: savings income at 20, 40 or 45%, dividends at 10.75, 35.75 or 39.35%, and capital gains at 18 or 24%. Savings rates of 22, 42 and 47% from 6 April 2027 are an option, never the default.
How is a policy taxed in the profile?
Nothing is taxed inside it each year. On encashment or death the gain is taxed as savings income at the average rate after top-slicing that you set, with no basic-rate credit. A policy flagged as a personal portfolio bond is taxed on a 15% deemed gain every year.
Is my data sent anywhere?
It stays in your browser. The profile and its scenarios are stored there under one key and can be cleared from the page.
Is this advice?
No. It is an analytical model of UK tax and costs on the assumptions you enter. PPLI.com is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority and does not give personal advice.
Instruments and related reading
Wealth IntelligenceThe full programme: portfolio, tax, alternatives and structureOpen →Tax drag calculatorThe annual tax cost, asset class by asset classOpen →Wealth simulatorThe whole horizon, with withdrawals, fees and taxOpen →Offshore bond break-evenThe year a policy pays for its charges, if it doesOpen →Liquidity event plannerFrom gross proceeds to capital that compoundsOpen →Hedge Fund X-RayFrom gross return to what you keep after fees and UK taxOpen →PPLI.com is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority and does not give personal advice. This is general information about UK law, not an invitation or inducement to enter into any insurance or investment contract. Policies issued by insurers outside the UK are not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (unless written through a UK branch).
The authorities this page relies on
ITTOIA 2005 Part 4 Chapter 9, chargeable events
Gains on life policies are taxed only when a chargeable event happens: surrender, part surrender above the 5% allowance, assignment for value, maturity or the death that ends the policy (s.484). The individual who owns the policy and is UK resident in the year of the gain is liable (s.465). legislation.gov.uk, s.484
ITA 2007 s.18(4)
Chargeable event gains are savings income for an individual, so they sit in the savings bands and are taxed at 20, 40 or 45% in 2026/27. legislation.gov.uk, ITA s.18
HMRC helpsheet HS321
Gains on foreign life insurance policies do not carry the non-repayable basic-rate credit that UK policies carry, so the whole gain is taxed at the holder's rate. gov.uk, HS321
Top-slicing relief, ss.535 to 537 and IPTM3820
The gain is divided by N, the number of complete years, to find a slice, and relief is worked out from the tax on that slice as the top of income, so a large one-off gain need not be taxed as if it all fell in the highest band. It is available only to individuals, not to trustees, personal representatives or companies. gov.uk, IPTM3820
Personal portfolio bonds, ITTOIA ss.516, 520 and 522
A policy is a personal portfolio bond if the holder, a connected person or someone acting for them can select the assets outside the permitted categories in s.520. At the end of each insurance year except the last, a deemed gain of 15% of premiums plus earlier deemed gains is taxed, with no top-slicing relief. legislation.gov.uk, s.522
Income tax, savings and dividend rates
Savings rates 20, 40 and 45% in 2026/27. Dividend rates 10.75, 35.75 and 39.35% from 6 April 2026. Savings rates of 22, 42 and 47% from 6 April 2027 (FA 2026 s.5), shown here only as a labelled option. gov.uk, rate changes
Capital gains tax rates
18 and 24% for disposals on or after 30 October 2024. Business Asset Disposal Relief at 18% from 6 April 2026. Annual exempt amount £3,000. gov.uk, CGT rates
HMRC helpsheet HS282
There is no capital gains tax charge when someone dies. The personal representatives take the assets at their market value on the date of death. gov.uk, HS282
Inheritance tax, IHTA 1984
Nil-rate band £325,000, frozen to 5 April 2031. Rate 40%, or 36% where 10% or more of the net estate goes to charity (s.7 and Sch 1A). A policy held personally is in the estate like the portfolio would be. gov.uk, inheritance tax
Talk the numbers through with a specialist
A specialist reads every enquiry and replies in writing, usually within one working day.
Ask about PPLI
Editorial standards