Beneficiary of a US life insurance policy

I ran a few searches on this topic and nothing came up, but I apologise if I've missed something really obvious!

I'm a US citizen resident in the UK (currently on a spouse visa, waiting on approval for my ILR).  I'm staying here for the foreseeable future.

My mother -- US citizen resident in the US -- currently has me listed as the beneficiary on her life insurance plan.  As she (and I) understand it, that isn't taxable in the US.  Would it be subject to taxation in the UK?  The money needs to go to raise my six minor siblings, so if it is taxable, I'll have her replace me as the beneficiary.

I tried to research this on gov't websites, but I can't follow tax code and I wouldn't trust my interpretation even if I could.  I'm definitely not smart enough to be an accountant. 

Thanks in advance!

If you receive monies in the US, they are not brought over to the UK, so I don't see why they would be taxable by the UK (assuming you file as a non-domicile - which is the only obvious way to do it).

More about domicile rules: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/hmrc6.pdf

Life insurance is not within the remittance basis so domicile is not relevant.  I'd have to go and reseach this answer though...

Do you get the payout when you mother passes away? or in some other circumstances. If it's the former wouldn't you mother's estate deal with the taxes andit would be more of an inheritance tax issue.

Life insurance is not within the remittance basis so domicile is not relevant.  I'd have to go and reseach this answer though...

Ahh, then it's even simpler - life insurance payouts are not taxable (if you believe ehow.co.uk): http://www.ehow.co.uk/facts_5007934_life-insurance-money-taxable.html

Even if it were - seems to be that any gains "received" overseas and not brought to the UK are not subject to tax. Since OP indicated that money would be spent on siblings, sounds that way to me.

I have an addendum to this Q, but the other way around.

I have a US life insurance policy, which I continue to pay into (from my US bank account).

Currently, the beneficiary is my sibling in the US (thats what I put on the form many years ago, and havent changed it).

I was thinking, maybe I should change this to my UK-citizen husband. Or if that's not worth it, based on tax issues.

So far, we are intending to stay here in the UK. And if I die, I dont know any ramifications of whether him being a UK citizen in the UK, being the beneficiary of a US life insurance policy, would result in him having to pay massive taxes. Or if I should just leave it as is for now.

My former work's pension fund made me reassign my benefits to my UK-citizen husband (should I die), though. I know that's not the same as life insurance, and I also dont know what taxes he'd be liable for.

If anyone has any informational websites or resources to suggest, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

OK - if you die with a US life policy there is a good chance that the payout would form part of your estate for UK IHT purposes.  But if you are not deemed domiciled or relying on the spousal exemption this should be moot.

If you leave the proceeds to your NRA spouse there may be US estate tax unless you have a QDOT in your will, which shifts the estate tax until the trust ceases after the second death. The QDOT may however be a UK resident trust.

If your NRA spouse dies and leaves you money you simply report this on Forms 3520, TD F 90-22.1 and 8938.