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Published byDiane Dickerson Modified over 9 years ago
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Life Insurance In Qualified Plans Chapter 32 Tools & Techniques of Life Insurance Planning 32 - 1 What is it? Life insurance is purchased and owned by the qualified pension or profit sharing plan and uses employer contributions to the plan as a source of funds When is the use of this technique indicated? When a substantial number of employees under the plan have unmet insurance needs When there are gaps or limitation in other company plans that provide death benefits Group term plans Split Dollar plans Nonqualified deferred compensation plans When a qualified plan for a closely held business or professional corporation is overfunded or close to the full funding limitation.
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Life Insurance In Qualified Plans Chapter 32 Tools & Techniques of Life Insurance Planning 32 - 2 When is the use of this technique indicated? (cont'd) When life insurance would be attractive to plan participants as an additional option for investing their plan accounts When an employer wants an extremely secure funding vehicle for a plan with guarantees as to future costs and plan benefits Plan proceeds can provide financial security for the participant’s survivors Advantages Premiums are deductible by the employer
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Life Insurance In Qualified Plans Chapter 32 Tools & Techniques of Life Insurance Planning 32 - 3 Advantages (cont'd) Life insurance inside a qualified plan Lower premiums and higher dividends “Locking in” present mortality standards Life insurance with a built-in conversion into an annuity No sales fees or other costs to purchase annuities Pure insurance portion of the qualified plan death benefit not subject to income tax A fully insured plan (412(i)) is not subject to the minimum funding requirements Low cost installation and administration
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Life Insurance In Qualified Plans Chapter 32 Tools & Techniques of Life Insurance Planning 32 - 4 Advantages (cont'd) May be less expensive than group term insurance to the employee May be less expensive than group term insurance to the employer Greater amounts of life insurance for owner-employees than with group term Substandard risks can obtain coverage that might otherwise not be available Additional insurance premium ratings may be deductible to the employer Substandard rating costs are not taxed to the employee Death benefit risk transferred from the plan to the insurer
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Life Insurance In Qualified Plans Chapter 32 Tools & Techniques of Life Insurance Planning 32 - 5 Advantages (cont'd) Defined contribution plans Employee can purchase insurance on the lives of certain relatives or even unrelated persons in whom they have an insurable interest Funding a buy-sell agreement Defined benefit plans Life insurance may create a larger deduction, even in plans that are “maxed out” Qualified plan can “incubate” a policy High up front costs can be supported by the pension plan at the cost of reporting the economic benefit of the term insurance Employee can obtain an individual life insurance contract at original issue age rates at retirement or termination of employment
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Life Insurance In Qualified Plans Chapter 32 Tools & Techniques of Life Insurance Planning 32 - 6 Disadvantages Insurance rate of return on cash values may be lower than alternative investments Policy commissions and expenses may be higher than alterative investments Income taxes are levied upon the death proceeds in an amount equal to the cash value portion of the policy immediately before the insured’s death Exclusion of life insurance in a qualified plan from an insured’s estate is uncertain What are the tax implications? Employer contributions are deductible The amount of life insurance purchased must fall within “incidental limits”
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Life Insurance In Qualified Plans Chapter 32 Tools & Techniques of Life Insurance Planning 32 - 7 What are the tax implications? (cont'd) Employer contributions are deductible (cont'd) The “incidental” test Cost of non-retirement benefit must be less than 25% of the total cost of the plan Life insurance is considered “incidental" if “100 to 1” test – the participant’s insured death benefit is not more than 100 times the expected monthly normal retirement benefit or “Less than...” test – the aggregate premium paid over the life of the plan for any insured death benefit must at all times be less than Ordinary life 50% Term insurance25% Universal life25% Variable life50%
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Life Insurance In Qualified Plans Chapter 32 Tools & Techniques of Life Insurance Planning 32 - 8 What are the tax implications? (cont'd) Employees can supplement the employer contributions with their own after-tax contributions Coverage on key employees not subject to the incidental test to the extent that the proceeds are payable to the profit sharing plan and shared with all plan participants The economic value of pure life insurance is taxed annually to the participant at the lower of IRS Table 2001 or The life insurance company’s actual rates for individual one-year term policies available to all standard risks
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Life Insurance In Qualified Plans Chapter 32 Tools & Techniques of Life Insurance Planning 32 - 9 What are the tax implications? (cont'd) Income taxation of an insured death benefit received by the beneficiary Pure insurance element is income tax free to the participant’s beneficiary The total of all Table 2001 costs paid by the participant can be recovered tax free from the death benefit The sum of all nondeductible contributions toward the plan made by the employee is tax free to the participant’s beneficiary Loans made by the plan and taxed to the employee are recovered tax free by the beneficiary Any employer contributions that were, for some reason, taxed to the employee are tax free to the beneficiary
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Life Insurance In Qualified Plans Chapter 32 Tools & Techniques of Life Insurance Planning 32 - 10 What are the tax implications? (cont'd) Income taxation of an insured death benefit received by the beneficiary (cont'd) The remainder of the distribution is taxed as a qualified plan distribution The value of a life insurance contract sold or otherwise distributed from a plan is the contract’s cash value, without reduction for surrender charges provided that amount is at least as large as: Premiums paid from date of issue through date of determination plus Any amount credited with respect to those premiums (e.g. dividends and interest) or With respect to variable life insurance Adjustments made to premiums paid that reflect current market value and the current market value of segregated asset accounts Minus reasonable mortality charges and other charges from date of issue to the date of distribution
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Life Insurance In Qualified Plans Chapter 32 Tools & Techniques of Life Insurance Planning 32 - 11 What are the tax implications? (cont'd) Qualified plan death benefits are, in general, included in the decedent’s estate for federal estate tax purposes.
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Life Insurance In Qualified Plans Chapter 32 Tools & Techniques of Life Insurance Planning 32 - 12
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