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 The 1982 code decreed that any money withdrawn from an annuity would be considered income first and would therefore be taxable.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 CEDE: to transfer a risk from an insurance company to a reinsurance company. ...
Single contract coverage on a group basis issued to an employer. Group members receive certificates as evidence of membership summarizing benefits provided. ...
Actuarial evaluation of the assets of a pension plan according to the fair market value of the assets. ...
Amount of insurance remaining on a ceding company's books, net of the amount reinsured. ...
Same as term: Total Loss: condition of real or personal property when it is damaged or destroyed to such an extent that it cannot be rebuilt or repaired to equal its condition prior to the ...
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Excess coverage over the first layer of medical insurance to provide for catastrophic medical payments. The first layer may be either group or individual medical insurance, or an individual ...
Trust that qualifies assets under the marital deduction provision in the Federal Tax Code for favorable treatment of an estate. The surviving spouse has the full power to use the assets of ...
Total premiums received by a property and liability insurance company without any adjustments for the ceding of any portion of these premiums to the reinsurer. ...
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