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 The 1982 code decreed that any money withdrawn from an annuity would be considered income first and would therefore be taxable.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
Enacted on April 1, 1997; provides protection against creditors for irrevocable trusts provided that the trust has a grantor who is a discretionary beneficiary. In order for the statute of ...
Contract providing whole life insurance on the father and term insurance on the mother and all children, including newborns after reaching a stated age, usually 15 days. Children, upon ...
Mutual insurance association that issues insurance to its members on a nonprofit basis. Examples of such associations include fraternal societies, unions, and employee membership groups. ...
Procedure used to compare the costs of life insurance policies by having equal death benefits of the policies held constant and accumulating the differences in the premiums paid among the ...
Individual or organization that is a potential purchaser of an insurance product. ...
Authority of the pension benefit guaranty corporation (pbgc) to stop the termination of a pension plan and restore it to its previous status by returning a portion or all of the plan's ...
To sell a specific amount of insurance. ...
Same as term Contract Holder: in insurance, individual with rightful possession of an insurance policy, usually the policyowner. ...
New rule entitled "Accounting and Reporting for Reinsurance of Short-duration and Long-duration Contracts," which requires the insurance company to report all assets and liabilities ...
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