Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax: Implications For Corporate-owned Life Insurance

Definition of "Corporate alternative minimum tax: implications for corporate-owned life insurance"

INSURANCE tax that exhibits direct impact on the book income preference. Beginning with the year 1990, the book income preference became equal to 75% of the excess of current adjusted earnings of the alternative minimum taxable income (AMTI). Book income preferences are affected by corporate-owned life insurance in the following situations:

  1. If the insured dies, the excess of the life insurance policy's DEATH BENEFIT over the CASH SURRENDER VALUE becomes book income to the corporation.
  2. If the insurance policy's annual premium exceeds the increase in the cash surrender value for a particular year, the result is a decline in the book income and thus a decline in the corporation's exposure to the alternative minimum tax (AMT).
  3. Conversely, if the insurance policy's cash surrender value exceeds the increase in the annual premium for a particular year, the result is an increase in the book income and thus an increase in the corporation's exposure to the alternative minimum tax.

Generally, if the corporation in any given year has taxable income, corporate-owned life insurance results in an alternative minimum tax liability if a significant death benefit is paid to the corporation upon the death of the insured. The result is that the alternative minimum tax will cause a reduction in the net death benefit from the life insurance policy paid to the corporation.

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Insurance Terms

Coverage for small mercantile establishments on a package basis. Combines six layers of protection: burglary of a safe; damage caused by robbery and burglary, whether actual or attempted; ...

Type of guaranteed investments contract in which the interest credited is adjusted on a periodic basis to reflect the investment earnings of the underlying assets of the contract. ...

Same as term Compulsory Insurance: coverage required by the laws of a particular state. For example, many states stipulate minimum amounts of automobile liability insurance that must be ...

Period, set by law, after which a damage claim cannot be made. Limits are set by individual states and usually range from one to seven years. ...

Inland marine policy addition that provides coverage to owners of sheep, and to warehouseowners who store wool as well as wool in transit. ...

Measure of the rate at which policies are cancelled or allowed to lapse. The termination rate is a factor in setting premiums for group life and health policies. ...

Method of funding a pension plan after a worker retires. An employer purchases an annuity or sets aside a sum when an employee retires that will pay monthly lifetime benefits. ...

Coverage that will indemnify the insured for the expenses, up to the limits of the policy, if a building is damaged by a peril such as fire, and zoning requirements and/or building codes ...

Type of derivative traded on the Chicago Board of Trade that takes the form of an option on a catastrophe futures contract using a call-option spread as the basis for the contract. The ...

Popular Insurance Questions