Description: On June 30, 2015, the U.S. Tax Court reaffirmed the viability of the Investor Control Doctrine in Webber v. Commissioner. The case serves as a valuable example of what not to do with regard to the investment of assets supporting a variable life insurance contract purchased through a private placement transaction. In the end, however, the Webber court leaves a lot of questions unanswered—most significantly, the elusive answer to how to define investor control. This article examines the Investor Control Doctrine, as explained and applied by the U.S. Tax Court in Webber, and considers some of the open questions that remain after June 30, 2015.

Description: This article provides a short history of the correction procedures previously developed to address compliance failures and the shortcomings of those procedures under sections 101f and 7702, laying the foundation for a sea change in the correction process.

Description: Current tax issues affecting the insurance industry, including the Inflation Reduction Act (Budget Reconciliation Bill)'s tax provisions, including the corporate minimum book income tax and share repurchase (or stock buyback) excise tax; the tax treatment of non coordinated benefits (also known as fixed indemnity benefits); and an update on the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project

Description: Provides information on Section 7702 mortality requirements, the implications of the adoption of the 2017 CSO tables and the need for IRS guidance.

Description: This article is a discussion of the proposal to tax the inside build-up in life insurance policies and the consequences if it were to be adopted.

Description: A discussion of the proposed safe harbor with respect to calculations for contracts where the insured reaches age 100.

Description: Updates on partial annuitization and exhanges, prevailing CSO valuation mortality tables, disclosure of offshore accounts through FATCA.

Description: The Internal Revenue Service issued its seminal ruling interpreting Internal Revenal Code section 7702A[c][3][B][i], commonly referred to as the Necessary Premium Test [NPT]. The purpose of the NPT is to shelter certain death benefit increases from material change status, avoiding the 7 pay test's reapplication on their account.

Description: Articles on IRS private letter rulings on combination products, IRS treatment of reinsurance under section 845, and IRS waivers for failed contracts under section 7702.

Description: The article summarizes the provisions of H.R. 1 that impact the tax qualification of life insurance contracts and the tax reporting of life settlements