Corporate-owned Life Insurance - Tax Law History

Tax Law History

Under the Internal Revenue Code ("IRC") dealing with life insurance benefits paid due to the death of the insured, the benefits are usually excluded from the taxable income of the beneficiary.

Because of the tax-free nature of death benefits, the IRC prohibits the deduction of the premiums paid for life insurance when the premium payor is also the beneficiary of the death benefit rather than the individual employee and their family. In addition, loans from insurers secured by policy values are not income and earnings credited to an owner's policy values (known as "inside buildup") by the insurance company are not currently taxed (and may escape taxation altogether if such earnings are not distributed other than as part of the death benefits paid upon the death of the insured).

Read more about this topic:  Corporate-owned Life Insurance

Famous quotes containing the words tax, law and/or history:

    The government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
    Ronald Reagan (b. 1911)

    One of the reforms to be carried out during the incoming administration is a change in our monetary and banking laws, so as to secure greater elasticity in the forms of currency available for trade and to prevent the limitations of law from operating to increase the embarrassment of a financial panic.
    William Howard Taft (1857–1930)

    Those who weep for the happy periods which they encounter in history acknowledge what they want; not the alleviation but the silencing of misery.
    Albert Camus (1913–1960)