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 The 1982 code decreed that any money withdrawn from an annuity would be considered income first and would therefore be taxable.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
Means of supplementing an executive's retirement benefits by deferring a portion of his or her current earnings. Deferring income in this manner encourages the loyalty of executives. To ...
Process in which the policy-holder surrenders the policy when: cash proceeds can be invested elsewhere at a higher return than that being earned on the cash value within the policy; ...
Found under the "Exceptions and Exclusions Section for All Medical Benefits" in many health insurance policies that exclude: complications arising from elective, nontherapeutic voluntary ...
Percentage of life insurance or other insurance policies remaining in force; percentage of policies that have not lapsed. The higher the percentage, the greater the persistency. Since it is ...
Payments from an employee's employee benefit insurance plan that can be rolled over to an individual retirement account (IRA) or to another plan maintained by the employer that accepts ...
Total amount of commissions and expense allowances paid by the reinsurer to its ceding company minus the total amount of reinsurance commissions and expense allowances that, in turn, its ...
Provision of a reinsurance contract that states that the reinsurance company remains liable for its predetermined share of a claim submitted by an insured, even though the primary insurance ...
Life or health insurance policy written on an applicant who has passed a medical examination and signed the application but has not paid the premium due. ...
Account that is similar in form to the health plan flexible spending account (FSA) with contributions to this account used to reimburse employees who are parents for expenses at a ...
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