William Byrnes' Tax, Wealth, and Risk Intelligence

The collapse of the secondary market for life insurance during the recent financial crisis left a lot of trusts anxious to dispose of large face value life insurance policies. Trusts that handed back policies in satisfaction of premium finance loans were then struck, along with their grantors, with massive tax bills for what is known as cancellation of indebtedness or cancellation of debt (COD) income.

The IRS recently released proposed regulations that address the income tax treatment of cancellation of debt income of trusts. Although this highly technical area of the law may not be of interest to lay audiences, it is a vital aspect for advisors selling high-value life insurance policies.

Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber)

For previous coverage of an interesting case involving a premium financed policy in Advisor’s Journal, see Lawsuit Seeks to Hold Insurer Responsible for Suspicious Death (CC 10-101).

For in-depth analysis of life settlements (which can be structured as a premium finance transaction), see Advisor’s Main Library: B—The Life Settlement Industry.