Description: I.R.C. § 4371 imposes an excise tax on policies issued by foreign insurers or reinsurers covering U.S. risks. The application of the tax to funds withheld reinsurance can raise difficult questions. The IRS’s position is that an accrual concept applies, although that position is questionable. Taxpayers that instead determine the excise tax by looking only to actual payments made by the ceding company to the reinsurer or to the net amount of the ceded premiums after adjusting for the allowance paid by the reinsurer have a variety of arguments to support their position. The language of the premium excise tax, the regulations thereunder, the legislative history of the provision, and the very nature of an excise tax all support the position that the tax applies only when there is an actual payment. Other Code provisions that use similar language as well as the Supreme Court also support this view.

Description: A discussion of topics in a series of roundtable education sessions on life insurance products and companies at the collaborative meeting of the ACLI and member companies.

Description: Update on a broad range of insurance and investment tax matters upon which ACLI is working, including: deficiency reserve guidance, IRS guidance on PBR/AG 43, Camp Financial Product Discussion Draft, FATCA and changes to non-forfeiture laws due to low interest rates

Description: Chairperson's article highlighting the value of volunteers to the Taxation Section.

Description: Article describes the current and possible future implications of the recent extension of several tax provisions applicable to insurance controlled foreign corporations

Description: The article suggests that the case of State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co. v. Commissioner, 698 F.3d 357 (7th Cir. 2012), and INT 03-17 may support the argument that estimated extra-contractual obligations are deductible by life insurance companies

Description: Taxing Times, the newsletter of the Taxation Section. October 2013, entire issue

Description: The article discusses the practical impact of recently Rev. Rul. 2014-7, which modified and supercedes Rev. Rul. 2007-54 by republishing the position of what variable annuity contract reserves are taken into for tax purposes without addressing the issue of how to calculate required interest for separate accounts; Rev. Rul. 2014-7 also obsoleted Rev. Rul. 2007-61, which had suspended Rev. Rul. 2007-54.

Description: This article discusses key tax issues that exist under current law with respect to asset rebalancing and hedging transactions that an insurance company might undertake.

Description: This article describes the allocation of FATCA withholding risk in cross-border reinsurance arrangements and discusses practical considerations in regards to the drafting of those agreements.