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 The 1982 code decreed that any money withdrawn from an annuity would be considered income first and would therefore be taxable.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
Confirmation by an insurance company of the acts of its agent, regardless of whether or not these acts were committed within the limit of authority granted the agent by the company. By so ...
Feature in a life insurance policy allowing a policyowner to freely assign (give, sell) a policy to another or institution. For example, in order to secure a loan, a bank asks to be ...
Form of inland marine insurance under which an insured is indemnified for damage or destruction of his or her on-premises property if it is due to radioactive material stored or used within ...
Effort of a poor risk to seek insurance coverage. The onset of a health problem such as heart disease, for example, may prompt a person to apply for life insurance before seeking medical ...
Organization that seeks to educate the public on the benefits of private health insurance coverage. Its membership consists of private companies that sell health insurance. The HIAA ...
Exceptions to coverage. There is no obligation for an insurance company to pay a claim if: the loss is not covered by a policy, or a particular person is not included in the definition of ...
Chart showing rate of death at each age in terms of number of deaths per thousand. ...
Fund that comes into existence because premiums for ordinary life insurance policies in their early years are higher than necessary for the pure cost of protection. These excess premiums, ...
New pension-accounting rule created by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. The objective of this rule is to clarify pension accounting so that investors, employers, and employees will ...
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