Description: The different broad purposes served by the material change concept under federal tax law are outlined. More specific material change and similar issues that are pertinent to particular Code provisions and guidance from the IRS that has addressed those issues are also addressed. In the final part of this article, authors comment on whether any overarching principles can be gleaned that can assist insurers and policy owners in making decisions about whether particular changes can safely be made, and thoughts are offered with respect to future potential IRS guidance that would be helpful as taxpayers navigate these often uncertain waters.

Description: A continuation of the conversation about principle-based reserves (PBR). Actuaries and an attorney discuss revisit federal-income tax-related issues as they relate to PBR.

Description: This article discusses the complexities of such a simple statement as well as highlight certain differences between tax and book treatment of that capitalization.

Description: This article discusses the implications of a principle-based reserve PBR system with respect to federal income taxation of life insurance companies, particularly with respect to tax reserves and their deductibility for tax purposes. The article discusses potential problems with existing tax rules for reserve deduction, what courses of action the IRS could take, and suggestions for design features of a PBR approach that would make it more consistent with current tax rules. Life insurance product tax implications are also discussed.

Description: A discussion of, first, the three-year transition period for adopting principle-based reserves and how it might not apply to tax reserves, and second, the tax impact of adding investment options to in-force contracts.

Description: We frequently are asked what to do when a company has reported aggregate estimates of tax reserves on the tax return, instead of tax reserves computed precisely according to the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code, and the IRS has challenged the reserve deduction. Other sections of this article also cover IRS rulings on the treatment and valuation of an insurance company stock purchased as an asset acquisition and COLI life insurance.

Description: Editor highlights three of the issue's articles and gives thanks to the departing assistant editor.

Description: This article examines a recent Technical Advice Memorandum (TAM 201149021) in which the IRS concluded that residual value insurance was not insurance for tax purposes. The article questions the TAM's analysis and argues that the accounting regime applied produced a distortion in the insurer's income.

Description: The Internal Revenue Code Requires Companies to Use Statutory Reserve Assumptions for Tax Reserves (Except Where It Doesn’t)

Description: Tax code tidbits