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 The 1982 code decreed that any money withdrawn from an annuity would be considered income first and would therefore be taxable.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
Same as term Dynamic: changing state of the economy associated with changes in human wants and desires such that losses or gains occur. Dynamic changes are not insurable. ...
Funding of an employee's benefits in a pension plan for his or her beginning past service of employment. This is a significant cost factor in pension planning and financing of future ...
Type of guaranteed investment contract in which the interest rate credited is tied to an external index such as the United States Treasury Bond Index. ...
Policy used to provide the funds for buy and sell agreements under which an income payment or a series of income payments is paid to the buyer of the disabled partner's interest contained ...
State law that limits the admitted value of an insurance company's EDP equipment to 3% of the company's ADJUSTED SURPLUS. ...
Unfunded trust that acts as the owner of a life insurance policy. The trust receives a donor's cash payments on a periodic basis, from which the beneficiary of the trust has a specified ...
Specified amount received by an insured at the end of an endowment period (usually the face amount of the endowment policy), or by the owner of an ordinary life policy (usually the ...
Explicit liability reserve, required by the national association of insurance commissioners (naic), established for all invested asset classes. Specific reserves are established for real ...
Bonds that are less than investment grade plus the bonds that are in or approaching default, which comprise part of the insurance company's investment bond portfolio. ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.