Captive Insurance and Other Tax Reduction Strategies
By Lance Wallach
May 14
Every accountant knows that increased cash flow and cost savings are critical for businesses in 2008. What is uncertain is the best path to recommend to garner these benefits.
Over the past decade business owners have been overwhelmed by a plethora of choices designed to reduce the cost of providing employee benefits while increasing their own retirement savings. The solutions ranged from traditional pension and profit sharing plans to more advanced strategies.
Some strategies, such as IRS section 419 and 412(i) plans, used life insurance as vehicles to bring about benefits. Unfortunately, the high life insurance commissions (often 90% of the contribution, or more) fostered an environment that led to aggressive and noncompliant plans.
The result has been thousands of audits and an IRS task force seeking out tax shelter promotion. For unknowing clients, the tax consequences are enormous. For their accountant advisors, the liability may be equally extreme.
Recently, there has been an explosion in the marketing of a financial product called Captive Insurance. These so called “Captives” are typically small insurance companies designed to insure the risks of an individual business under IRS code section 831(b). When properly designed, a business can make tax-deductible premium payments to a related-party insurance company. Depending on circumstances, underwriting profits, if any, can be paid out to the owners as dividends, and profits from liquidation of the company may be taxed as capital gains.
While captives can be a great cost saving tool, they also are expensive to build and manage. Also, captives are allowed to garner tax benefits because they operate as real insurance companies. Advisors and business owners who misuse captives or market them as estate planning tools, asset protection vehicles, tax deferral or other benefits not related to the true business purpose of an insurance company face grave regulatory and tax consequences.
A recent concern is the integration of small captives with life insurance policies. Small captives under section 831(b) have no statutory authority to deduct life premiums. Also, if a small captive uses life insurance as an investment, the cash value of the life policy can be taxable at corporate rates, and then will be taxable again when distributed. The consequence of this double taxation is to devastate the efficacy of the life insurance, and it extends serious liability to any accountant who recommends the plan or even signs the tax return of the business that pays premiums to the captive.
The IRS is aware that several large insurance companies are promoting their life insurance policies as investments with small captives. The outcome looks eerily like that of the 419 and 412(i) plans mentioned above.
Remember, if something looks too good to be true, it usually is. There are safe and conservative ways to use captive insurance structures to lower costs and obtain benefits for businesses. And, some types of captive insurance products do have statutory protection for deducting life insurance premiums (although not 831(b) captives). Learning what works and is safe is the first step an accountant should take in helping his or her clients use these powerful, but highly technical insurance tools.
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New BISK CPEasy™ CPE Self-Study Course
CPA’s Guide to Life Insurance
Author/Moderator: Lance Wallach, CLU, CHFC, CIMC
Introduction
The CPA faces a daunting series of roles—those of advisor, practitioner, and consumer. Life
insurance can be a powerful tool; improperly wielded, it can lead to malpractice.
The authors hope this text effectively introduces the advisor to basic and also more complex
concepts, enabling the advisor to appropriately counsel clients, or at least spot pitfalls and client
opportunities. Similarly, the authors hope the practitioner who is licensed and sells insurance is
aware of the myriad options available and which best help the client. Finally, the authors hope
the CPA as consumer gains an understanding of the important concepts that can help the CPA
on a personal level.
This text and corresponding video was a daunting challenge—how to encapsulate the complex
field of life insurance and its applications into an understandable and useful reference. The
authors hope this was accomplished.
Program Learning Objectives
Upon successful completion of this program, the user should:
· Understand the basics of life insurance
· Have a general understanding in determining insurance needs
· Be aware of the major pros and cons of each type of insurance
· Be familiar with business related insurance
· Be familiar with “split-dollar insurance”
· Be familiar with foundational estate planning issues
· Understand how life insurance is used to protect the estate
· Understand basic buy-sell agreement theory (estate planning for the business)
· Understand basics about various retirement plans
· Understand alternatives to cashing out or terminating a policy
· Be familiar with how products are illustrated
· Have a general understanding of annuities
· Be aware of trouble areas
Prerequisite: None
Formats: Online, Software, Text $109.00/6 CPE Credit Hours
Formats: Audio w/text $119.00/8 CPE Credit Hours
Formats: DVD w/text $179.00/8 CPE Credit Hours
New BISK CPEasy™ CPE Self-Study Course
CPA’s Guide to Life Insurance
Author/Moderator: Lance Wallach, CLU, CHFC, CIMC
Introduction
The CPA faces a daunting series of roles—those of advisor, practitioner, and consumer. Life
insurance can be a powerful tool; improperly wielded, it can lead to malpractice.
The authors hope this text effectively introduces the advisor to basic and also more complex
concepts, enabling the advisor to appropriately counsel clients, or at least spot pitfalls and client
opportunities. Similarly, the authors hope the practitioner who is licensed and sells insurance is
aware of the myriad options available and which best help the client. Finally, the authors hope
the CPA as consumer gains an understanding of the important concepts that can help the CPA
on a personal level.
This text and corresponding video was a daunting challenge—how to encapsulate the complex
field of life insurance and its applications into an understandable and useful reference. The
authors hope this was accomplished.
Program Learning Objectives
Upon successful completion of this program, the user should:
· Understand the basics of life insurance
· Have a general understanding in determining insurance needs
· Be aware of the major pros and cons of each type of insurance
· Be familiar with business related insurance
· Be familiar with “split-dollar insurance”
· Be familiar with foundational estate planning issues
· Understand how life insurance is used to protect the estate
· Understand basic buy-sell agreement theory (estate planning for the business)
· Understand basics about various retirement plans
· Understand alternatives to cashing out or terminating a policy
· Be familiar with how products are illustrated
· Have a general understanding of annuities
· Be aware of trouble areas
Prerequisite: None
Formats: Online, Software, Text $109.00/6 CPE Credit Hours
Formats: Audio w/text $119.00/8 CPE Credit Hours
Formats: DVD w/text $179.00/8 CPE Credit Hours
NEW TAX WEBSITES TO THE RESCUE!!!!
TaxAudit419.com Lawyer4audits.com VebaPlan.org Taxlibrary.us
LanceWallachchfc.blogspot.com
LanceWallachchfc.blogspot.com
IRS tax relief firm, Lance Wallach, speaking: How to Avoid IRS Fines for You and Your Clients
IRS tax relief firm, Lance Wallach, speaking: How to Avoid IRS Fines for You and Your Clients | ...: How to Avoid IRS Fines for You and Your Clients | LifeHealthPro
IRS: Disclose Offshore Accounts or Go to Jail
IRS: Disclose Offshore Accounts or Go to Jail
Brian
That's pretty much the headline from a CNBC article on Friday. And it's true.In 2009, 15,000 Americans came forward and admitted having foreign bank accounts. Unfortunately, Uncle Sam estimates there are some 500,000 more people hiding money offshore. Opening a bank account in another country isn't illegal. There are a whole host of reasons why people may wish to send money offshore. It only becomes illegal when you send money to a foreign country in the hopes of cheating Uncle Sam.
U.S. law makes it a felony if you fail to declare the income from foreign investments on your U.S. tax return and makes it illegal to not disclose the existence of the foreign account.
So what is a person to do? Taxpayers can do nothing and hope they don't lose the "audit lottery" (there are no winners with the IRS). Or taxpayers can come into compliance, report the account and pay the government ¼ of the highest dollar amount that was in the account. That's right, if you had an account with $200,000 in it, get out the checkbook and write a check to the IRS for $50,000.
Taxpayers wanting to take advantage of the current amnesty program (called the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative) must move quickly, however. Unlike the 2009 program, which simply said you had to apply be the deadline, the current amnesty requires that all missing forms ("FBAR's"), amended returns and payment must be made by the deadline. There is a great deal of paperwork involved with the new program, waiting until the last minute is a recipe for disaster.
Those that don't comply face prison and loss of 50% of their highest account value.
So what is the risk of getting caught? We think it is quite high.
Transparency within the international banking community is at an all time high. And the developed countries are exchanging information. That means if Germany obtains information about accounts in a Bermuda bank it will likely share that information with other countries.
The U.S. has been issuing "John Doe" subpoenas to foreign banks fishing for the names of American account holders. Countries like Germany have been bribing foreign bank officials to simply steal the information and turn it over.
Still not convinced? The IRS paid its first award under the new whistleblower program - $4.5 million to an accountant who reported his employer! If anyone, anywhere knows you have a foreign account; they may report you and keep a large percentage of what you pay.
The world suddenly got much smaller.
This is interesting article but I do not believe everything in it is correct. I have received numerous phone calls from participants in these plans and the IRS is auditing. For the most accurate information contact: Lance Wallach at lancewallach.com or call 516-935-7346
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