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 The 1982 code decreed that any money withdrawn from an annuity would be considered income first and would therefore be taxable.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
Assets that are not readily convertible into cash 'without a significant loss of principle, such as an automobile, a house, television set, a radio, etc. ...
number of people born as a percentage of the total population in any given period of time. ...
Insurance company's total investments in financial securities. ...
a contract in life insurance that includes elements of whole life and term insurance. in pensions, a combined life insurance policy and a side (auxiliary) fund to enhance the amount of a ...
Retirement plan under which benefits are fixed in advance by formula, and contributions vary. The defined benefit plan can be expressed in either of two ways: Fixed Dollars: Unit benefit ...
Same as term Annual Policy: contract remaining in force for up to 12 months unless canceled earlier. After 12 months the policy can either be renewed or not renewed by the insurance company ...
Commercial life insurers that operate on the legal reserve system as opposed to fraternal life insurance companies, many of which now operate on a legal reserve basis. ...
Chart showing rate of death at each age in terms of number of deaths per thousand. ...
Insurance arrangement in which all employees of a given business firm are accepted into a plan regardless of their physical condition. The employee cannot be required to take a physical ...
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