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 The 1982 code decreed that any money withdrawn from an annuity would be considered income first and would therefore be taxable.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
Individual to whom rights to a benefit are assigned. A life insurance policy is assigned by the collateral borrower (assignor) to the collateral creditor (assignee) as security for a loan. ...
Facilities for senior adults who pay an entrance fee to move into the facility as well as a monthly fee. The adults receive, in return, a place to live and long-term care usually for the ...
Liability insurance that extends beyond the end of the policy period of a liability insurance policy written on a claims-made basis. Liability claims are often made long after the accident ...
Percentage of total assets set aside by an insurance company to provide for unexpected losses. In general, a minimum of a 5% surplus ratio (5 cents in reserve for each $1 of assets) is ...
Right of a certificate holder to convert group life or group health insurance to an individual policy without a physical examination to furnish evidence of insurability. Usually this must ...
Statement regarding an insured's retention of low-severity risks because they are not catastrophic, and can be absorbed without having a dramatic effect on the financial structure of a ...
Several basic property and/or liability policies combined to form a single policy. For example, the homeowners insurance policy is composed of such basic coverages as broad form personal ...
Same as term Binder: temporary insurance contract providing coverage until a permanent policy is issued. In property and casualty insurance, some agents have authority to bind the insurance ...
Presentation of data that excludes the first 5 to 10 years of experience of those who purchase life insurance. A mortality table shows the number of deaths per 1000 of a group of people. ...
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