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.
Showing posts with label 419. Show all posts
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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
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