The Wall Street Journal today reports: “Tax Wins Become Rare for Insurers.” (Subscr. required.) The article discusses how the Senate Finance Committee has been taking aim at corporate-owned life insurance, which allows companies to receive proceeds tax-free from policies on workers, even if they are no longer employed by the company. The article notes that Senator Jeff Bingaman (D., N.M.) had tacked on an amendment to pension legislation last month to require companies to pay taxes on proceeds from certain COLI policies and how following heavy industry lobbying, the Senate panel Wednesday took the unusual step of rewriting the Bingaman proposal. According to the article:
The COLI tax proposal originally was set to take effect Sept. 17, but now it won’t kick in until the pension legislation becomes law — and there is no guarantee of that happening this year. That opens the door for more COLI sales in the interim.
Also, this from the HoustonChronicle.com on the Bingaman amendment: “Death benefit crackdown put on hold.”