Description: Contained in Appendix 4 of the 1987 Valuation Actuary Handbook, this set of articles sets forth the positions of various industry groups with regard to the valuation actuary concept as of January 1987. It consists of four sections: 4.1 – Excerpts from the Report of the Task Force on the Valuation Actuary to the ACLI Board of Directors, August 1986 4.2 – Final Report of the Joint Committee on the Role of the Valuation Actuary in the United States 4.3 – Preliminary Report to NAIC Life & Health Actuarial Task Force from Surplus & Solvency Subcommittee of NAIC Standing Technical Advisory Committee, October 9-10, 1986 and 4.4 – Draft Recommendation 7 – American Academy of Actuaries paper. Views of the American Council of Life Insurance, ‘ACLI,’ the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, ‘NAIC,’ the American Academy of Actuaries, and the Society of Actuaries are all represented. Note that the final report in 4.2 above was adopted in 1984 by the boards of both the Academy and Society, the two organizations represented on the Joint Committee.

Description: Guidance and interpretation regarding reasonable mortality charge requirement of Section 7702, based from IRS Notice 2004-61, 2004-41 I.R.B. 596 of October 12, 2004.

Description: Discussion of private letter tax rulings on the definition of Cash Surrender Value for purposes of interpreting the definition of life insurance for the policyholder's taxation of the contracts.

Description: This article discusses future benchmarks of Medicare and Medicare's rising costs and its relativity to the actuarial profession.

Description: Last March, Congress passed and the President signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act followed by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, which amended the former collectively, the “Act”. The article provides a brief background on the passage of the Act generally and the creation of the new Investment Income Tax in particular compares the existing provisions of the HI tax with the newly enacted provisions, and it then analyzes the import of the Investment Income Tax for annuities and, possibly, life insurance contracts. The article concludes with thoughts on the potential effect of the new tax on the annuity marketplace.

Description: On May 24, 2005, the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service published a notice of proposed rulemaking the “Notice” proposing regulations under Internal Revenue Code §7702, the federal tax definition of a “life insurance contract.” Discussion of determining 'attained age' for joint or multiple life policies.

Description: This article reviews the definition of “cash surrender value” in section 7702f2A and in the regulations proposed under that provision but never finalized. The discussion then recaps the 2005 Rulings and describes the recently issued letter rulings.

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

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: Small Talk Newsletter, June 2005, Issue No. 24. Last fall, the Internal Revenue Service IRS released Notice 2004-61, 2004-41 I.R.B. 596 October 12, 2004, interpreting the reasonable mortality charge requirement applicable to life insurance contracts under Section 7702 of the Internal Revenue Code.