When we were asked to present a paper to the Students' Society we were asked to bear in mind the need of the actuarial student for a simple up-to-date paper on this subject. The impossibility of this task hit us immediately—the subject is not itself simple and the currency of the paper is dependent on the whims of Government. However, we write of the current situation as we see it and we shall try to bring out the basic facts of life office taxation whilst at the same time giving, for the benefit of those without first-hand experience, some feeling for the practical as well as the theoretical aspects of the subject.

We shall in sections 1–11 of the paper take the reader through the main points concerning the computations of tax for a proprietary life office, then in sections 12–18 give brief notes about some of the complications and finally in an Appendix give a simplified computation.