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 The 1982 code decreed that any money withdrawn from an annuity would be considered income first and would therefore be taxable.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
Provision in corporate life insurance policies that allows coverage to be transferred to a new individual with proof of insurability, for a premium appropriate to the age of the new ...
Coverage on an all risks basis through an endorsement to a business property insurance policy in which each sign is specifically scheduled, subject to the exclusions of wear and tear, and ...
Personal view regarding how losses occur and the validity of loss prevention and reduction; also, whether an individual is a risk taker or a risk avoider. For example, if a driver takes the ...
Coverage under which the face value, premiums, and plan of insurance can be changed at the discretion of the policy owner in the following manner, without additional policies being issued: ...
Important means of preventing accidents and injuries. Insurers take corporate safety programs into account when rating workers compensation and other business insurance policies. ...
Insurance company's net gain from operations divided by its adjusted surplus. This is the accounting rate of return on stockholder's equity since the ratio shows the rate of return the ...
Property or liability coverage that provides benefits (usually after a deductible has been paid by an insured) up to the limits of a policy, regardless of other insurance polices in effect. ...
The open perils policy is the counterpart to the named perils policy. In it, any peril NOT mentioned is covered by the policy. Here's an example: let's say you got an open perils policy ...
Scheme to recapture excess pension assets by splitting a qualified plan in two, and terminating one of them. In the mid-1980s, many pension plans became "overfunded" because their ...
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