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 The 1982 code decreed that any money withdrawn from an annuity would be considered income first and would therefore be taxable.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
Method of determining reimbursement from medical insurance according to diagnosis on a prospective basis. It originated with the medicare program. ...
Maximum sum of money that the insurance company will pay, during the time interval that the product liability insurance coverage is in effect, for all product liability-related claims ...
Modest life insurance coverage to pay burial expenses upon the death of an insured. ...
Same as term Adjuster: individual employed by a property and casualty insurance company to settle on its behalf claims brought by insureds. The adjuster evaluates the merits of each claim ...
Type of individual retirement account (IRA) allowed by the employees retirement income security act of 1974 (erisa) in which contributions are paid into a custodial account sponsored by a ...
Single policy on the insured's property for: two or more different kinds of property in the same location; same kind of property in two or more locations; two or more different kinds of ...
Guarantee by a reinsurance company that payment for losses incurred by a third party will be made even though that third party has no contractual arrangement with the reinsurance company. ...
Law that requires that all surplus lines insurance companies maintain a minimum specified amount of capital and surplus; also requires that alien insurers maintain a trust fund on location ...
Worst case scenario under which an estimate is made of the maximum dollar amount that can be lost if a catastrophe occurs such as a hurricane or firestorm. ...
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