Is a captive insurance cell the way to go? - Accounting Today - Captive Insurance: Achieve large tax and cost reductions by renting a “CAPTIVE”. Most accountants and small business owners are unfamiliar with a great way to reduce taxes and expenses. By either creating or sharing “a captive insurance company”, substantial tax and cost savings will benefit the small business owner.
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Showing posts with label Captives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Captives. Show all posts
How to Get Fined $100,000 by the IRS and Lose Your License
By
Lance Wallach, CLU, ChFC and Ira Kaplan, Esq., CPA, MBA
Over the past decade, business owners have been overwhelmed by a plethora of
arrangements designed to reduce the cost of providing employee benefits and taxes,
while simultaneously 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 the
marketing and selling of aggressive and non-compliant plans.
The result has been thousands of audits and an IRS task force seeking out tax shelter
promotion. In addition, the IRS has been auditing most 412(i) defined benefit
retirement plans and all 419 welfare benefit plans. These plans are sold by many
insurance agents. For unknowing clients, the tax consequences are enormous. For
their accountant advisors, the liability may be equally extreme. If an accountant signs
a tax return with one of these plans on it, and if the IRS considers the plan an
abusive, listed transaction or substantially similar to such a transaction, the
accountant may be called a “material advisor”. The fine for a material advisor is $200,000
if the accountant is incorporated or $100,000 if the accountant is not incorporated. There
is also an IRS referral to the Office of Professional Responsibility. We have received
hundreds of phone calls recently from accountants, who are in this predicament. It is
very difficult to help them after the fact. When I speak at national accounting
conventions or AICPA events about these topics, most accountants in the audience
do not understand what I am talking about, because they have never had this problem
and are not aware of the recent IRS enforcement activities.
Unfortunately, within a few weeks after I speak at a convention, attendees will call me
after reviewing their clients’ tax returns. They often find one of these abusive plans
on the return (these plans are very popular). If the plan is discovered before the IRS
audit, many steps can be taken. If the IRS discovers the plan on audit, the results can
be disastrous, both for your client and for you. The client gets fined $200,000 per year.
For more information on this, see www.vebaplan.com and www.irs.gov.
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 to
obtain 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
effectiveness 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.
_________________________________________________________________________
Lance Wallach, the National Society of Accountants Speaker of the Year, speaks and
writes extensively about retirement plans, Circular 230 problems and tax reduction
strategies. He speaks at more than 40 conventions annually, writes for over 50
publications and has written numerous best-selling AICPA books, including Avoiding
Circular 230 Malpractice Traps and Common Abusive Business Hot Spots. Contact him
at 516.938.5007 or visit www.vebaplan.com.
The information provided herein is not intended as legal, accounting, financial or any
other type of advice for any specific individual or other entity. You should contact an
appropriate professional for any such advice.
Over the past decade, business owners have been overwhelmed by a plethora of
arrangements designed to reduce the cost of providing employee benefits and taxes,
while simultaneously 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 the
marketing and selling of aggressive and non-compliant plans.
The result has been thousands of audits and an IRS task force seeking out tax shelter
promotion. In addition, the IRS has been auditing most 412(i) defined benefit
retirement plans and all 419 welfare benefit plans. These plans are sold by many
insurance agents. For unknowing clients, the tax consequences are enormous. For
their accountant advisors, the liability may be equally extreme. If an accountant signs
a tax return with one of these plans on it, and if the IRS considers the plan an
abusive, listed transaction or substantially similar to such a transaction, the
accountant may be called a “material advisor”. The fine for a material advisor is $200,000
if the accountant is incorporated or $100,000 if the accountant is not incorporated. There
is also an IRS referral to the Office of Professional Responsibility. We have received
hundreds of phone calls recently from accountants, who are in this predicament. It is
very difficult to help them after the fact. When I speak at national accounting
conventions or AICPA events about these topics, most accountants in the audience
do not understand what I am talking about, because they have never had this problem
and are not aware of the recent IRS enforcement activities.
Unfortunately, within a few weeks after I speak at a convention, attendees will call me
after reviewing their clients’ tax returns. They often find one of these abusive plans
on the return (these plans are very popular). If the plan is discovered before the IRS
audit, many steps can be taken. If the IRS discovers the plan on audit, the results can
be disastrous, both for your client and for you. The client gets fined $200,000 per year.
For more information on this, see www.vebaplan.com and www.irs.gov.
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 to
obtain 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
effectiveness 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.
_________________________________________________________________________
Lance Wallach, the National Society of Accountants Speaker of the Year, speaks and
writes extensively about retirement plans, Circular 230 problems and tax reduction
strategies. He speaks at more than 40 conventions annually, writes for over 50
publications and has written numerous best-selling AICPA books, including Avoiding
Circular 230 Malpractice Traps and Common Abusive Business Hot Spots. Contact him
at 516.938.5007 or visit www.vebaplan.com.
The information provided herein is not intended as legal, accounting, financial or any
other type of advice for any specific individual or other entity. You should contact an
appropriate professional for any such advice.
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