Description: This article announces the availability of The Valuation Actuary Handbook. The purpose of this handbook is to provide assistance to all actuaries who need to use cash-flow testing to validate the appropriateness of reserves. It is a “how to” manual that contains the most up-to-date considerations and techniques for the valuation process.

Description: This article from the Digest of Informal Discussion, Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1955 Volume 7, Number 17, identifies the participants and summarizes their comments. Discussion topics include: whether changes in ordinary insurance mortality are significant enough to consider preparing a more up-to-date mortality table for reserve purposes problems involved in constructing and securing statutory approval of annuity reserve tables with built in mortality improvement factors extent to which differences between current premium rate mortality assumptions and CSO mortality contribute to problems with deficiency reserves and arguments for and against the adoption of a different actuarial basis for deficiency reserves.

Description: Results of an industry survey on life insurance companies' efforts to implement the recently adopted Life Risk-Based Capital Phase II Instructions, which include new requirements for variable annuity contracts. Adopted by the NAIC on October 14, 2005, the new requirements are effective for year-end 2005. Also discusses a summary of the requirements set forth in the instructions.

Description: This article discusses tax and accounting issues that arise under a recently-issued Chief Counsel Advice in which the IRS applied a life insurance company tax rule to a nonlife company that issues life insurance products

Description: This article highlights features of the SOA's Regulatory Web Resource. The intent is to encourage greater use of the Resource among section members.

Description: This article discusses the reservations small companies may have about the Principles Based Valuation proposal. Instead of prescribed methods, assumptions, and tables for statutory reserves, they would be computed based on actuarial judgment in accordance with standards of practice. of practice.

Description: The Revenue Act of 1987 amended section 807d2B of the Internal Revenue Code. It established the interest rate used in the calculation of tax reserves to be the greater of the applicable federal interest rate or the prevailing maximum statutory valuation rate for the contract’s calendar year of issue. The amendment is effective for contracts issued in tax years beginning after December 31, 1987. This document shows all the applicable federal interest rates from 1998 - 2009.

Description: Reflections of a Regulatory Actuary by Larry Gorski

Description: Dialogue between Peter Winslow, a tax attorney, and Edward Robbins and Christian DesRochers, tax actuaries, on selected tax issues related to proposals to change statutory reserving from a formula-based methodology to a principles-based approach.

Description: Presented at September 1995 Valuation Actuary Symposium. This session is about life and annuity valuation issues, particularly Standard Nonforfeiture Law, XXX, the Annuity Valuation Task Force activities, and separate accounts.