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Sommet Protection · Business

Your business depends on you. Protect both.

Key person, share buyout, self-employed income, fixed costs, critical illness: structured solutions so the business gets through the unexpected — and your family does not pay the price.

  • Corporate or personal ownership
  • Coordination with your accountant
  • Partner advisors specialized in SMEs
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Sommet Protection · Business

Insurance as a management tool

In an SME, the most underestimated risk is neither the market nor competition: it is losing the owner or a partner. Death, disability, critical illness — each scenario has a measurable cost and a precise insurance solution, often owned by the company with favourable tax treatment.

Partner advisors specialized in the business market quantify these scenarios with you and your accountant, then compare insurers. You decide with full knowledge.

Executive in a suit buttoning his jacket

It's time to look into it if…

These situations come up in almost every file partner advisors see. If you recognize yourself, a 20-minute analysis clarifies what's urgent and what can wait.

Get my analysis
  • You have one or more partners and your shareholders' agreement doesn't say how shares will be bought back — or with what money.
  • Revenue depends mostly on you or on a key person (salesperson, technical partner, executive).
  • You're self-employed or incorporated and have no disability insurance — or only a credit card.
  • Your rent, payroll and equipment payments continue even if you can't work.
  • You signed a personal guarantee on a loan or a business line of credit.
  • You pay medical and dental expenses out of pocket while your company could deduct them.
  • You plan to sell or transfer the business within the next ten years.

The solutions

Nine protections that keep the business standing, each with a costed typical case, a comparison and the mistakes to avoid.

Pay personally or through the company?

The same protection rarely costs the same depending on who pays. Here are the differences that matter, in plain terms.

Dollars used
Policy paid by you, personallyAfter personal tax income (marginal rate up to 53%).
Policy owned and paid by the companyAfter corporate tax income (often 12 to 27%) — the premium costs fewer "gross" dollars.
Premium deductibility
Policy paid by you, personallyGenerally not deductible.
Policy owned and paid by the companyGenerally not deductible either, with exceptions (e.g. a business loan requiring insurance) — but paid with lower-taxed dollars.
Death benefit
Policy paid by you, personallyTax-free, paid to the beneficiaries you name.
Policy owned and paid by the companyTax-free to the company; the excess over the cost basis is credited to the capital dividend account and can flow out tax-free to shareholders.
Disability benefit
Policy paid by you, personallyTax-free if you paid the premiums yourself.
Policy owned and paid by the companyTaxable if the company deducts the premiums; structured according to the goal (personal income or overhead).
Control and creditors
Policy paid by you, personallyYou control it; creditor protection depends on beneficiary designation.
Policy owned and paid by the companyThe company controls it; cash value is a corporate asset, exposed to its creditors.
Sale or wind-up
Policy paid by you, personallyFollows you anywhere.
Policy owned and paid by the companyTransfer to the shareholder may trigger tax; plan for it before the sale.

There's no universal right answer: ownership depends on the policy's purpose and your corporate structure. The advisor determines it with you and your accountant.

Common beliefs among entrepreneurs

  • Common belief

    "My line of credit is my disability insurance."

    What's true

    A line of credit is repaid with income — the income that has just stopped. And the bank can reduce it as soon as it learns you're no longer working.

  • Common belief

    "My partner will buy my shares, we agreed."

    What's true

    The agreement is worth his ability to pay $600,000 the month you're gone. Without funding, the promise becomes a dispute with your family.

  • Common belief

    "CNESST covers me."

    What's true

    Only for a work accident or an occupational disease, and only if you bought personal coverage as a self-employed worker. Most disabilities are illnesses, outside of work.

  • Common belief

    "Business insurance is for big companies."

    What's true

    It's the opposite: the smaller the business, the more it depends on one or two people, and the more concentrated the risk.

  • Common belief

    "I'll deal with it when I have time."

    What's true

    Insurability is lost without notice: one diagnosis and the door closes or the price doubles. The best time was last year; the second best is now.

The partner advisor's approach

  1. 1

    Risk diagnosis

    Who is indispensable? Which debts are personally guaranteed? What does the shareholders' agreement say? The advisor starts there.

  2. 2

    Tax structure

    Personal or corporate ownership, deductibility, capital dividend account: each choice validated with your accountant.

  3. 3

    Brokerage

    Several insurers compared on definitions, not only on premium.

  4. 4

    Speed

    An advisor calls you back the same day; a business file closes in a few weeks.

The numbers that matter

90 days +
a disability lasting more than 90 days before 65 is far more common than people think, according to insurers
Up to ~2/3
of net income replaceable by individual disability insurance, depending on the contract
$0
tax on the death benefit received by the company

How it works

Designed for executives with no time to waste: few meetings, written deliverables.

  1. 1Step 1 · Week 1

    Scoping call

    20 minutes with an advisor who practises in business insurance: structure, partners, debts, key people, what's already covered.

  2. 2Step 2 · Week 2

    Risk map

    A one-page document: the five risks that truly threaten your business, ranked by impact, with the approximate cost of each protection.

  3. 3Step 3 · Weeks 2-4

    Structure and coordination

    Owner, beneficiary, alignment with the shareholders' agreement and your loans. The advisor talks to your accountant and lawyer if you wish.

  4. 4Step 4 · 1 to 2 months, then yearly

    Implementation and annual review

    Application with compared insurers, then review at every event: new partner, new loan, growth, preparing for a sale.

The partner advisor's commitments

  • An independent advisor who compares several insurers on every file.
  • A written, prioritized map of your risks — you decide what to cover first.
  • Definitions explained line by line ("any occupation" vs "own occupation" disability, waiting periods, exclusions).
  • Real coordination with your accountant and lawyer.

What the partner advisor won't do

  • Propose coverage without reading your shareholders' agreement (or noting there isn't one).
  • Give tax or legal opinions: ownership and deductibility are validated with your professionals.
  • Rush you: most files are settled in two meetings, at your pace.

A perspective across insurers

Partner advisors work as brokers: they are not limited to a single insurer. They compare products, prices and eligibility criteria to recommend the coverage that fits you.

  • Assomption Vie
  • Beneva
  • BMO Assurance
  • Canada Vie
  • Croix Bleue du Québec
  • Empire Vie
  • Équitable
  • Foresters Financial
  • Humania Assurance
  • iA Groupe financier
  • ivari
  • Manuvie
  • RBC Assurances
  • Sun Life
  • UV Assurance

Trademarks of their respective owners. Sommet Protection is not affiliated with any insurer and does not distribute any product. Insurers distributed by partner advisors, according to their firm's contracts. How it works

Guide · 11-minute read

Protecting the business you built: the insurance guide for owners and the self-employed

The five risks that close profitable SMEs, and how to fund them for a fraction of their cost.

Read the guide
  1. 8 chapters
  2. 1. You are the most important asset — and the least insured
  3. 2. A partner's death: the scenario that divides families
  4. 3. Disability: three protections, three different roles
  5. 4. The key person worth 30% of revenue
  6. 5. Debts, guarantees and lenders
  7. 6. Tax at death on shares: the founders' file
  8. 7. A health plan for your incorporated company
  9. 8. Where to start

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost?

The analysis and risk map are free. The advisor is compensated by the insurer if a policy is issued. No fees are charged to you.

I'm self-employed and not incorporated — is this for me?

Yes. Disability insurance is actually the top priority for self-employed workers: you are your only income. Overhead and critical illness coverage are added depending on your commitments.

What's the difference between "key person" and "buy-sell" insurance?

Key person compensates the business for the loss of an essential person (replacement, lost revenue). Buy-sell funds the purchase of the deceased or disabled partner's shares by the surviving partners, per the shareholders' agreement. Both can coexist.

How is the amount to insure determined?

For buy-sell: the business value (valuation or the agreement's formula). For key person: a multiple of the profit attributable to the person plus replacement cost. For disability: your net income and fixed expenses.

Is disability insurance taxable?

If you pay premiums personally, the benefit is tax-free. If the company deducts premiums, the benefit is taxable. The advisor structures the policy according to the goal, in coordination with your accountant.

I don't have a shareholders' agreement — where do we start?

With the lawyer, for the agreement — but the advisor can quantify the funding it will need right now, so both are ready at the same time.

How long until I'm covered?

Two to eight weeks depending on amounts and required medical exams. Some protections (disability, critical illness) can be put in place faster than others.

Let's talk about your business

A partner SME specialist advisor calls you back for a no-fee diagnosis. Bring your shareholders' agreement and financial statements: the advisor quantifies with you.

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Privacy policy

The solutions presented are for information only and rely on current Canadian and Quebec tax legislation, which may change. Sommet Protection gives no financial, tax or legal advice: the analysis is done by a partner financial security advisor, together with your accountant and legal advisors.