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 The 1982 code decreed that any money withdrawn from an annuity would be considered income first and would therefore be taxable.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
Form that provides insurance coverage for the insured in the event the damage or destruction of non-owned property reduces or terminates the insured's earnings. For example, if the insured ...
Immediate taking-into-account of present interest rates, mortality experience, and expenses in premiums currently charged. This is critical to the formulation of current assumption whole ...
Coverage for an insured in the event that he writes and publishes libelous statements and the injured party brings suit against the insured. ...
Exposures usually excluded from life and health insurance, or subject to a maximum limit if covered. ...
Representative of an insurance company in soliciting and servicing policyholders. An agent's knowledge concerning an insurance transaction is said to be the knowledge of the insurance ...
Method of setting a dollar value on loss suffered by an insured. In some cases, a loss is straightforward, such as the cost of gallbladder surgery. But with burglary of a home or a traffic ...
Insured whose rights against a third party are transferred to an insurance company (the subrosee) according to the process required by the subrogation clause in the policy. ...
Special endorsement to personal automobile policy (pap) covering loss of records, tapes, and other sound equipment caused by an insured peril in an insured automobile. ...
Same as term Excess of Loss reinsurance: method whereby an insurer pays the amount of each claim for each risk up to a limit determined in advance and the reinsurer pays the amount of the ...
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