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 The 1982 code decreed that any money withdrawn from an annuity would be considered income first and would therefore be taxable.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
Damage through an insured's negligent acts and/or omissions resulting in bodily injury and/or property damage to a third party; damage to an insured's property; or amount an insurance ...
Still with life. This is a life insurance term used to describe the living benefits available under a life insurance policy such as a monthly retirement payment to an insured. ...
Coverage for items of property being delivered to a customer. The means of transportation covered include such common carriers as aircraft, railroads, trucks, express carrier, and other ...
Organization that underwrites insurance policies. There are two principal types of insurance companies: mutual and stock. A mutual company is owned by its policy owners, who elect a board ...
Annuity that can be paid either with a single premium or a series of installments. For example, an annuitant pays a single premium of $100,000 on June 1 of the current year and is scheduled ...
Coverage for automobile or aircraft operators if they are sued for negligently killing or injuring a passenger. The PERSONAL AUTOMOBILE POLICY (PAP) provides MEDICAL PAYMENTS INSURANCE for ...
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 ...
Mechanism for contractually shifting burdens of a number of pure risks by pooling them. ...
Low-cost life insurance providing coverage only for a limited time, such as one year, five years, or to age 65. Term insurance costs less at younger ages than a comparable amount of CASH ...
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