Tax Equity And Financial Responsibility Acts Of 1982 And 1983 (TEFRA)
Legislation that redefined life insurance and raised taxes on life insurance companies. Among the provisions were new rules for some life insurance products, including a definition of flexible premium life insurance, and an increase in life insurance company taxes. Congress was concerned that a policyholder could take a substantial amount, say $1 million, and, after putting a few dollars toward a life insurance premium, put the remainder into a tax-free investment vehicle. One of two tests had to be satisfied for a policy to qualify as life insurance: the cash surrender value policy could not exceed a net single premium, and the death benefit had to represent a certain percentage of the cash value, which declined as the policy-holder got older. For example, at age 40, the death benefit must be 140% of cash value. The second rule closed a loophole on tax-free withdrawals from annuities. Prior to 1982 annuity holders could withdraw their initial premium tax free at any time. The 1982 code decreed that any money withdrawn from an annuity would be considered income first and would therefore be taxable. The older 1959 tax code devised a shorthand formula for determining taxes paid by insurers. The formula worked when interest rates were low, but as they soared, insurers found ways to reduce the increased tax bite. The 1982 code introduced a stopgap measure designed to raise taxes on life insurers by $3 billion.
Popular Insurance Terms
Person, business, or organization specified as the insured (s) in a property or liability insurance policy. In some instances, the policy provides broader coverage to persons other than ...
No limitation under a contributory pension plan of an employee's right to receive vested benefits, regardless of whether or not the employer withdraws contributions. ...
Endorsement to a fidelity bond or surety bond to cover losses that occurred after lapse of the discovery period of the previous bond. Coverage is limited to the amount provided by the ...
Death caused by a person without legal justification. Wrongful death may be the result of negligence, such as when a drunken driver hits and kills someone; or it may be intentional, as when ...
Same as term Calendar Year Experience: paid loss experience for the period of time from January 1 to December 31 of a specified year (not necessarily the current year). ...
Arrangement by which an employee can retire and receive full benefits without reduction, or reduced benefits subject to a penalty. These ages can be classified in the following manner: ...
Trust established under the Internal Revenue Service code that is used to provide accident and sickness benefits to member employees. ...
Additions made by Congress in 1978 to the Internal Revenue Code that provide an employee benefit plan under which the employee makes an irrevocable decision to forego a portion of future ...
Insurance company that has no outstanding shares of stock, such as a mutual insurance company. ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.