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 The 1982 code decreed that any money withdrawn from an annuity would be considered income first and would therefore be taxable.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
Insurer's total payments resulting from a claim, including all related expenses, less any recoveries from salvage, reinsurance, and the exercise of subrogation rights or other rights ...
Statements by an insurance applicant concerning personal health history, family health history, occupation, and hobbies. These statements are required to be substantially correct; that is, ...
Policy purchased by an insured from an insurer in another state. This insurer is not licensed in the state where the insured's risk is located. ...
Loss of income resulting from the damage or destruction of a person's property or a business's property. For example, if a store is damaged by fire and is unable to sell its inventory to ...
Coverage for an insured firm if its business debtors fail to pay their obligations. The insured firm can be a manufacturer or a service organization but it cannot sell its products or ...
Federal legislation requiring employers with traditional health plans to also provide an HMO to its employees. The act also makes it mandatory for employers to contribute as much to the HMO ...
Addition to a personal automobile policy (pap) that covers an insured who is involved in a collision with a driver who does not have sufficient liability insurance to pay for the damages. ...
Coverage purchased by employers in order to limit their exposure under self insurance medical plans. This coverage is available in two types: Specific stop loss Coverage is initiated when a ...
Measure showing how much life insurance an agent has lost through replacement. It is expressed as a percentage of number of policies, face amount, or premium volume. ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.