Captive Insurance Companies
Captive insurance companies have been growing by leaps and bounds. A captive is an insurance company that insures the risks of its parent company. It is owned by a parent or, at times, by the shareholders of the parent company. The operating entity insures all or part of its risks with its captive company. The captive may reinsure some or all of such risks, or may retain such risks. The benefits of a captive may be many, but the primary goal is to retain the profit that would have been made by an outside third-party insurance company or to provide coverage where coverage would not be available.
There are many different types of captives depending on the needs of the parent company or its owners are, including Single Parent Captives, Association Captives, Group Captives, Agency Captives, and even Rent-a-Captive, among others.
Captives, like all insurance companies, have specific tax rules that allow them special benefits not available to other companies. An insurance company receives premiums, pays it expenses, and then invests the money it has retained, known as reserves, to pay for future claims. An insurance company receives an income tax deduction for almost all of its funds deemed reserves, and can invest and accumulate these funds. A regular corporation pays income tax on the funds it retains as profits. Yet, as the business of insurance requires the payment of future claims, the accumulation of funds is a necessity for being able to pay such claims.
The amount of reserves that a company can accumulate is determined by an actuarial calculation of the nature and amount of risks it covers, combined with the insurance rules as to the types of allowable investments for company reserves. There are restrictions upon what types of investments and what percentage of assets per investment may be made. The jurisdiction or state of the insurance company’s license will also have an effect on its operations and retentions.
A company owning a captive normally receives an income tax deduction for the payments it makes to such captive as an ordinary and necessary business expense within IRC §162. The captive receives such funds, pays its operating expenses and then deducts the allowable amounts of reserves it invests. If a claim is made the reserves are used to pay such claims.
A captive insurance company may provide an opportunity for a company that either self insures certain risks to have a current income tax deduction for payments to another entity it owns, or its shareholders own, that will provide the future funds for what would otherwise have been a non-deductible current assumption of risk. Read full article.
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