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 The 1982 code decreed that any money withdrawn from an annuity would be considered income first and would therefore be taxable.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
Amount designated as a future liability for life or health insurance to meet the difference between future benefits and future premiums, net level premium is determined so that this basic ...
Concealment of the actual fact. For example, an insurance agent tells a prospective insured that a policy provides a particular benefit when in actual fact this benefit is not in the ...
Coverage on an all risks basis for goods in transit, bailment, and while on the premises of others. ...
Law, in several states, establishing a fund to guarantee benefits under policies issued by insurance companies that become insolvent. ...
Same as term Arbitration Clause: rovision in a property insurance policy to the effect that in the event the insured and insurer cannot agree on the amount of a claim settlement, each ...
Coverage in excess of that provided by a basic hospital medical insurance plan. After the limits of coverage have been exhausted under a basic plan, major medical then covers medical ...
Worst case scenario under which an estimate is made of the maximum dollar amount that can be lost if a catastrophe occurs such as a hurricane or firestorm. ...
Supplementary life insurance reserve required by state regulators when the gross premium is lower than the valuation premium. Some life insurers are able to charge policyholders a premium ...
Method of comparing the costs of a set of cash value life insurance policies that takes into account the time value of money. The true costs of alternative cash value policies with the same ...
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