Description: Tax considerations in structuring and pricing long-term care transactions. Includes consideration around the form of reinsurance and the unified loss rules applicable to stock transactions where they is a bargain purchase (also known as a tax basis step-down)

Description: This article, another in the popular series devoted to tax basics, provides an overview of how the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), the law governing employment-based retirement and health plans, impacts the use of annuities in pension and 401(k) plans. The article explains which types of plans are subject to ERISA, and which are not; why the concept of "plan assets" is critical; what duties an insurance company or distributor might take on when an annuity is placed with a retirement plan; and finally what disclosures may be required. The article also includes a brief introduction to terminal funding annuities. This article is intended for those with no prior experience in ERISA. Because the vast majority of retirement assets are saved originally in employment based plans like pension and 401(k) plans, understanding the basics of ERISA is important for anyone who will have a career in annuities and life insurance.

Description: Tax code tidbits

Description: Taxing Times -- Volume 11, Issue 2, June 2015

Description: Overview of upcoming second edition of book.

Description: A discussion of the effective dates and statutory reserves cap for variable annuities under Actuarial Guideline 43.

Description: The article provides an introduction to some of the key limitations that the Internal Revenue Code imposes on business uses of life insurance, focusing on the limitations under Section 264(a) on business deductions for premiums and interest expenses related to life insurance, the similar limitations under Section 264(f) for unrelated interest expenses of businesses that own life insurance, the limitations under Section 101(j) on the excludability of death benefits under employer-owned life insurance contracts, and the recently-enacted rules for life settlement transactions.

Description: This article focuses on the TCJA’s changes to the provisions for net operating losses (“NOLs”) and highlights some of the challenges surrounding the NOL provisions that insurance companies may face when making business decisions around reinsurance agreements.

Description: February 2010 Supplement to the Taxation Section newsletter, Taxing Times. Extensive discussion of the issues in computing statutory and tax reserves for annuities under VA CARVM.

Description: A comprehensive look at Actuarial Guideline 43 VA CARVM. This article examines the statutory and tax implications of AG 43 for the determination of reserves for annuity writers.