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 The 1982 code decreed that any money withdrawn from an annuity would be considered income first and would therefore be taxable.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
Premium paid at the time a policy goes into effect. With some policies, such as group health insurance, premiums are subject to adjustment at the end of the policy period to reflect loss ...
Provision in health insurance under which an insured disabled person is required to undertake (and is reimbursed for) expenses associated with vocational rehabilitation for retraining to ...
Contribution whose purpose is to increase funding of underfunded pension plans. It is part of the calculation that is made to arrive at the plan's minimum funding requirement. Usually a ...
disposition of a claim or policy benefit. Policies may specify time limits for payment of claims or benefits and designate various methods of settlement at the option of the insurer or the ...
in life insurance, receipt by a company of an insurance application accompanied by the first premium. in property and casualty insurance, a company's receipt of an application. ...
Deliberate act or omission. These torts include trespass an individual enters property owned or in the possession of another without permission; conversion an individual exerts control and ...
Arrangement between the seller and the buyer in which the buyer has the right to buy (call option) or sell (put option) a security at some time in the future at a price stipulated at ...
Additional coverage available on most property insurance policies through the extended coverage endorsement. Windstorms, including hurricanes, cyclones, and high winds, are not among the ...
Sum it takes to replace an insured's damaged or destroyed property with one of like kind and quality, equivalent to the actual cash value, minus physical depreciation (fair wear and tear) ...
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