The question sounds simple. The answer is not. Life insurance death benefits are widely – and correctly – described as tax-free. But that description applies to only two of the three taxes that could theoretically touch a payout. The third, Inheritance Tax, is where the planning gap opens. And for high-net-worth policyholders with estates above the nil-rate band threshold, closing that gap is not optional. This is the first in a three-part series examining how UK tax law interacts with life insurance – including how trust structures, and specifically the trust arrangements offered by offshore PPLI carriers, determine whether a death benefit reaches its intended beneficiaries intact. For a broader overview of how PPLI structures serve estate planning and tax