Description: A brief overview of the rules for corporate owned life insurance in section 101j and then summarizes the guidance contained in the IRS notice.

Description: The Internal Revenue Service “the Service” or “IRS” recently released Technical Advice Memorandum 200939019 “the TAM”. The TAM initially caused a stir among some in the insurance tax industry because it disallows a tax deduction that was permitted on the NAIC Annual Statement hereinafter “NAIC statement”. Specifically, the TAM states that unpaid loss adjustment expenses “LAE” for retiree medical benefits may only be deducted in the tax year in which the benefits are included in income by the employee who earned the benefits, despite the fact the amounts were properly included on the NAIC statement and regardless of deductibility of the unpaid LAE under the Internal Revenue Code “the Code”. This article discusses the memorandum.

Description: A discussion of the Treasury’s Priority Guidance Plan for the year July 2010 through June 2011.

Description: A discussion of substantially equal periodic payments, SEPPs, and the penalty tax that is associated with SEPPs, the Recapture Rule. Computation methods are also discussed.

Description: The Taxing Times editor discusses what is in the current issue as well as Obama adminstration tax proposals affecting the insurance industry such as notification requirements and COLI. Also mentioned are IRS expected guidance on deficiency reservs and 7702 defining cash surrender value.

Description: Update on Life Insurer Legislative and Regulatory issues

Description: This article summarizes the treatment of changes in the basis for determining life insurance tax reserves under prior law and describes the changes enacted by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. It further explains the procedures for changing the basis of computing reserves under the new rules as outlined in Revenue Procedure 2019-10, the IRS’s December 2018 guidance on the subject, and discusses the uncertainties that remain.

Description: Almost 65 years ago, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Helvering v. Le Gierse, addressing when an arrangement should be recognized as involving “insurance” for federal income tax purposes. According to the Court, an “insurance risk” must be present, and for an insurance risk to exist, there must be “risk-shifting and risk distribution.”

Description: Illustrates the lack of clarity about how the various grandfather clauses applicable to life insurance contracts should be applied in practice.

Description: The recent Tax Technical Corrections Act of 2007, Pub. L. 110-172, signed into law on Dec. 29, 2007, includes a provision that permits a taxpayer to select positions in a straddle and thereby avoid surprise applications of the straddle rules by the IRS on audit.