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 The 1982 code decreed that any money withdrawn from an annuity would be considered income first and would therefore be taxable.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
Interest earned but not yet paid for a period of time that has elapsed since the last interest payment. ...
Assumption of liability through contractual agreement by one party, thereby eliminating liability on the part of another party. An example is a railroad sidetrack agreement with a ...
difference between the face value of a permanent life insurance policy and its accrued cash value. The pure cost of protection is based on this difference. For example, if the face value ...
Plan under the employee retirement income security act of 1974 (ERISA) for employees who are less than 50% vested. An employee must be permitted to buy back retirement benefits lost because ...
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Investment risk associated with the possibility that there is a rise in the interest rates after a fixed income security has been purchased resulting in a decline in that security's price. ...
Legislation by a state that taxes out-of-state insurance companies operating in its jurisdiction in the same way that the state's own insurance companies are taxed in the second state. For ...
Right of an insured to make additional purchases of life insurance without having to take a physical examination or show other evidence of insurability. Additions can be bought at stated ...
Plan to control employer's health care cost through the introduction of practice guidelines or protocols for health care providers, and to improve the methods used by employers and ...
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