Definition of "Tax reform act of 1984"
Legislation that raised taxes on life insurers and further defined life insurance. Because the tax equity and financial responsibility act of 1982 and 1983 (TEFRA) failed to raise the amount of revenue the U.S. Treasury wanted, the 1984 Act again raised the corporate tax on life insurance companies. It also expanded the definition of life insurance to all life insurance contracts, rather than just those with flexible premiums that had been addressed in the Tax Reform Act of 1982. For flexible premium contracts, the 1982 Act established the death benefits had to represent a certain percentage of the cash value, which declined as the policyholder got older. The 1984 Act raised that ratio. For example, at age 40, the death benefit must be at least 250% of cash value for the product to qualify as life insurance. This act also attempted to redistribute the tax burden between mutual and stock life insurance companies. It also replaced a three-tier structure for taxing life insurance companies with a single-phase structure.
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