Description: Update on SOA research projects of interest to members of the Financial Reporting Section.

Description: This article summarizes recent proposed changes to the Valuation Manual that might take effect for 2019 valuations for PBR business.

Description: An overall analysis and attribution analysis of the impacts of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act for certain life insurance contracts.

Description: Discusses the severe adverse effects on U.S. capital markets that will occur due to the passage of FAS 115, which requires marking certain assets to market without a corresponding adjustment to liabilities.

Description: Discussion of the March 1, 2013 Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) release of PLR 201309011, which addresses the application of the section 817(h) diversification requirements to variable contracts that have invested in illiquid investment vehicles (the “Funds”).

Description: This article discusses the ruling on the new BOLI arrangement and addresses three aspects of the tax treatment of the arrangement: (1) the LLC’s taxation as a partnership as opposed to an investment company, (2) the deductibility of interest expenses by the LLC and its members, and (3) the excludability of death benefits under the Policies, which began life as employer-owned life insurance contracts.

Description: A discussion of the ramifications, facts and rules associated with loss reserves and underwriting reserves that are held by foreign subsidiaries for life insurance and annuity contracts.

Description: In TAM 201149021, the Internal Revenue Service (the “Service”) National Office has ruled that an insurance contract that insures against a decline in market value of assets leased to third parties is not an insurance contract for federal income tax purposes.

Description: This article is a companion to “They Go Bump in the Night: Life Insurance Policies and the Law of Material Change,” an article written by John T. Adney and Craig R. Springfield (May 2012 Taxing Times Supplement) that describes the various material change rules found in the Code, highlighting the complexities insurers face in navigating through these rules when a life insurance contract is materially changed. The Adney and Springfield article also addresses the difficulties in interpreting the tax law requirements under the various effective date rules contained in the Code sections affecting life insurance contracts.

Description: Pension accounting standards continue to evolve across the globe with objectives, methods and assumptions varying, sometimes substantially, from one jurisdiction to the next. The presenters will compare the primary global pension accounting standards (US GAAP and IFRS), review recent developments and address whether or not the current standards adequately serve stakeholders such as plan participants, investors, management and regulators.