26 C.F.R. §§ 1.848-1–1.848-3

In general. A “specified insurance contract” is any life insurance contract, annuity contract, noncancellable or guaranteed renewable accident and health insurance contract, or combination contract. A reinsurance agreement that reinsures the risks under a specified insurance contract is treated in the same manner as the reinsured contract.

Definition. A “combination contract” is a contract (other than a contract described in section 848(e)(3)) that provides two or more types of insurance coverage, at least one of which if offered separately would be a life insurance contract, an annuity contract, or a noncancellable or guaranteed renewable accident and health insurance contract.

Example. The principles of this paragraph (g) are illustrated by the following example.

In general. A life insurance contract (as defined in paragraph (c) of this section) is group life insurance contract if—

Underwriting practices used by company. [Reserved]

Supplemental life insurance coverage. For purposes of determining whether the requirement in paragraph (h)(3)(i) of this section is satisfied, any supplemental life insurance coverage (including optional coverage for members of the group, their spouses, or their dependent children) is (or is treated as) a separate contract. In determining whether the group affiliation requirement of paragraph (h)(2) of this section is satisfied for the supplemental coverage, a member's spouse and dependent children are treated as members of the group if they are eligible for coverage.

Special rules relating to the payment of proceeds. The following rules apply for purposes of section 848(e)(2) and paragraph (h)(1)(vi) of this section.

In general. An insurance company must use the accrual method of accounting (as prescribed by section 811(a)(1)) to determine the net premiums with respect to each category of specified insurance contracts. With respect to any category of contracts, net premiums means—

Separate determination of net premiums for certain reinsurance agreements. Net premiums with respect to reinsurance agreements for which an election under paragraph (h)(3) of this section has been made (certain reinsurance agreements with parties not subject to United States taxation) are treated separately and are subject to the rules of paragraph (h) of this section.

General rule. The term “gross amount of premiums and other consideration” means the sum of—

Items included. The gross amount of premiums and other consideration includes—

Deferred and uncollected premiums. The gross amount of premiums and other consideration does not include deferred and uncollected premiums.

General rule. Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph (c), an exchange of insurance contracts (including a change in the terms of a specified insurance contract) does not result in any amount being included in the gross amount of premiums and other consideration.

External exchanges. If a contract is exchanged for a specified insurance contract issued by another insurance company, the company that issues the new contract must include the value of the new contract in the gross amount of premiums and other consideration.

Example. The principles of this paragraph (c) are illustrated by the following example.

In general. The following items are not included in the gross amount of premiums and other consideration—

Amounts received or accrued from a guaranty association. Amounts received or accrued from a guaranty association relating to an insurance company that is subject to an insolvency, delinquency, conservatorship, rehabilitation, or similar proceeding are not included in the gross amount of premiums and other consideration.

Exclusion not to apply to dividend accumulations. For purposes of section 848(d)(3) and paragraph (d)(1) of this section, amounts applied from a dividend accumulation account to pay premiums on a specified insurance contract are not amounts treated as paid to, and immediately returned by, the policyholder.

In general. For purposes of section 848, the ceding company and the reinsurer must treat amounts arising from the reinsurance of a specified insurance contract consistently in determining their net premiums. See paragraph (g) of this section for restrictions on the amount of the net negative consideration for any reinsurance agreement that may be taken into account. See paragraph (h) of this section for special rules applicable to reinsurance agreements with parties not subject to United States taxation.

Timing consistency required. For purposes of determining the net consideration of a party for a reinsurance agreement, an income or expense item is taken into account for the first taxable year for which the item is required to be taken into account by either party. Thus, the ceding company and the reinsurer must take the item into account for the same taxable year (or for the same period if the parties have different taxable years).

Treatment of retrocessions. For purposes of this paragraph (f), a retrocession agreement is treated as a separate reinsurance agreement. The party that is relieved of liability under a retrocession agreement is treated as the ceding company.

Mixed reinsurance agreement. If a reinsurance agreement includes more than one category of specified insurance contracts (or specified insurance contracts and contracts that are not specified insurance contracts), the portion of the agreement relating to each category of reinsured specified insurance contracts is treated as a separate agreement. The portion of the agreement relating to reinsured contracts that are not specified insurance contracts is similarly treated as a separate agreement.

Treatment of policyholder loans. For purposes of determining the net consideration under a reinsurance agreement, the transfer of a policyholder loan receivable is treated as an item of consideration under the agreement. The interest credited with respect to a policyholder loan receivable is treated as investment income earned directly by the party holding the receivable. The amounts taken into account as claims and benefit reimbursements under the agreement must be determined without reduction for the policyholder loan.

Examples. The principles of this paragraph (f) are illustrated by the following examples.

In general. Paragraph (g)(3) of this section provides for a reduction in the amount of net negative consideration that a party to a reinsurance agreement (other than a reinsurance agreement described in paragraph (h)(2) of this section) may take into account in determining net premiums under paragraph (a)(2)(ii) of this section if the party with net positive consideration has a capitalization shortfall (as defined in paragraph (g)(4) of this section). Unless the party with net negative consideration demonstrates that the party with net positive consideration does not have a capitalization shortfall or demonstrates the amount of the other party's capitalization shortfall which is allocable to the reinsurance agreement, the net negative consideration that may be taken into account under paragraph (a)(2)(ii) of this section is zero. However, the reduction of paragraph (g)(3) of this section does not apply to a reinsurance agreement if the parties make a joint election under paragraph (g)(8) of this section. Under the election, the party with net positive consideration capitalizes specified policy acquisition expenses with respect to the agreement without regard to the general deductions limitation of section 848(c)(1).

Application to reinsurance agreements subject to the interim rules. In applying this paragraph (g) to a reinsurance agreement that is subject to the interim rules of § 1.848-3, the term “premiums and other consideration incurred for reinsurance under section 848(d)(1)(B)” is substituted for “net negative consideration,” and the term “gross amount of premiums and other consideration under section 848(d)(1)(A)” is substituted for “net positive consideration.” If an insurance company has “premiums and other consideration incurred for reinsurance under section 848(d)(1)(B)” and a “gross amount of premiums and other consideration under section 848(d)(1)(A)” for the same agreement, the net of these amounts is taken into account for purposes of this paragraph (g).

Amount of reduction. The reduction required by this paragraph (g)(3) equals the amount obtained by dividing—

Capitalization shortfall. A “capitalization shortfall” equals the excess of—

General deductions allocable to reinsurance agreements. An insurance company's general deductions allocable to its reinsurance agreements equals the excess, if any, of—

Allocation of capitalization shortfall among reinsurance agreements. The capitalization shortfall is allocated to each reinsurance agreement for which the required capitalization amount (as determined in paragraph (g)(5) of this section) is a positive amount. The portion of the capitalization shortfall allocable to each agreement equals the amount which bears the same ratio to the capitalization shortfall as the required capitalization amount for the reinsurance agreement bears to the sum of the positive required capitalization amounts.

Example. The principles of this paragraph (g) are illustrated by the following examples.

In general. Unless an election under paragraph (h)(3) of this section is made, an insurance company may not reduce its net premiums by the net negative consideration for the taxable year (or, with respect to a reinsurance agreement that is subject to the interim rules of § 1.848-3, by the premiums and other consideration incurred for reinsurance) under a reinsurance agreement to which this paragraph (h) applies.

Amount taken into account for purposes of determining specified policy acquisition expenses. If for a taxable year an insurance company has a net positive foreign capitalization amount (as defined in paragraph (h)(5)(i) of this section), any portion of that amount remaining after the reduction described in paragraph (h)(7) of this section is treated as additional specified policy acquisition expenses for the taxable year (determined without regard to amounts taken into account under this paragraph (h)). A net positive capitalization amount is treated as an amount otherwise required to be capitalized for the taxable year for purposes of the reduction under section 848(f)(1)(A).

Reduction of net positive foreign capitalization amount by carryover amounts allowed. If for a taxable year an insurance company has a net positive foreign capitalization amount, that amount is reduced (but not below zero) by any carryover of net negative foreign capitalization amounts from preceding taxable years. Any remaining net positive foreign capitalization amount is taken into account as provided in paragraph (h)(4) of this section.

Examples. The principles of this paragraph (h) are illustrated by the following examples.

In general. This paragraph (i) authorizes a carryover of an excess negative capitalization amount (as defined in paragraph (i)(2) of this section) to reduce amounts otherwise required to be capitalized under section 848. Paragraph (i)(4) provides special rules for the treatment of excess negative capitalization amounts of insolvent insurance companies.

Excess negative capitalization amount. The excess negative capitalization amount with respect to a category of specified insurance contracts for a taxable year is equal to the excess of—

Treatment of excess negative capitalization amount. The excess negative capitalization amount for a taxable year reduces the amounts that are otherwise required to be capitalized by an insurance company under section 848(c)(1) for future years.

In general. Unless otherwise specified in this paragraph, the rules of this section are effective for the taxable years of an insurance company beginning after November 14, 1991.

Reduction in the amount of net negative consideration to ensure consistency of capitalization for reinsurance agreements. Section 1.848-2(g) (which provides for an adjustment to ensure consistency) is effective for—

Net consideration rules. Section 1.848-2(f) (which provides rules for determining the net consideration for a reinsurance agreement) applies to—

Determination of the date on which a reinsurance agreement is entered into. A reinsurance agreement is considered entered into at the earlier of—

Special rule for certain reinsurance agreements with parties not subject to U.S. taxation. The election and special rules in paragraph (h) of this section relating to the determination of amounts required to be capitalized on reinsurance agreements with parties not subject to United States taxation apply to taxable years ending on or after September 30, 1990.

Carryover of excess negative capitalization amount. The provisions of paragraph (i) of this section, including the special rule for the treatment of excess negative capitalization amounts of insolvent insurance companies, are affected with respect to amounts arising in taxable years ending on or after September 30, 1990.