What You Have to Know
- Employers might use split-dollar to fund retirement advantages for extremely paid executives.
- One standard technique includes coverage loans.
- If the IRS thinks disbursements are compensation, quite than loans, an govt consumer may face a nasty tax shock.
One in all Jack Elder’s favourite revenue planning concepts is checking to see whether or not one specific association is working correctly.
Elder, senior director of superior gross sales at CBS Brokerage, likes to ask shoppers who’re extremely paid executives whether or not they have nonqualified deferred compensation preparations. He then seems to be to see whether or not the NQDC retirement advantages are funded with split-dollar life insurance coverage preparations.
If a consumer has an NQDC plan funded with a split-dollar life insurance coverage association, Elder recommends an annual auditing course of.
“Cut up-dollar is a robust device that may assist the best consumer meet particular monetary targets,” Elder stated in an electronic mail interview final week. “Oftentimes, some type of split-dollar is the one method for a consumer to succeed in their goal tax effectively.”
However, on the identical time, Elder stated, monetary professionals have to assist shoppers make certain the preparations are working correctly.
“The tax penalties of a failed split-dollar plan might be extreme,” Elder warned.
What It Means
One approach to please shoppers is to assist them make some huge cash.
One other method is to maintain the IRS from sending them large, sudden tax payments.
Cut up-Greenback Preparations
A split-dollar association offers two or extra events a approach to share prices, different duties and advantages concerned with proudly owning a life insurance coverage coverage.
The preparations are formed by steering from federal companies over time, together with the preamble to a split-dollar association closing rule that the Inside Income Service launched in 2003.
For retirement revenue planners, the preparations that come up most frequently is likely to be these utilized by employers to supply satisfactory retirement advantages for extremely paid staff, by way of use of split-dollar preparations to fund nonqualified deferred compensation plans.
Employers may additionally use split-dollar preparations to supply unusual life insurance coverage advantages for key staff.
Property planning shoppers may use non-public split-dollar preparations to pay for trust-owned life insurance coverage insurance policies, to assist kids and different family members address property tax and reward tax guidelines.
The events can select between an “financial profit regime,” which could contain an employer or rich consumer paying for a life insurance coverage coverage, and one other get together receiving the loss of life profit safety, or a “mortgage regime,” which includes the get together that owns the coverage money worth borrowing the money to pay the premiums from one other get together.
Cut up-Greenback Audits
When monetary advisors carry out split-dollar association audits, they evaluation the age of the association, the precise accounting regimes used to arrange the association and the way properly the events have met the necessities related to the tax regime chosen.
The Pondering
Listed here are solutions that Elder gave to 10 questions on split-dollar association audits. The interview has been condensed and edited.
THINKADVISOR: How may a split-dollar association run into bother?
JACK ELDER: For instance, take into account this primary truth sample: The employer lends $100,000 to a key govt for 10 years, however they by no means account for the $100,000 disbursements as loans — no observe settlement or curiosity accounted for.
If the chief’s tax returns are audited, the IRS may attain the very logical conclusion that these $100,000 disbursements are compensation, not loans. You possibly can have revenue taxes, plus underreporting penalties, plus curiosity.
An identical consequence may happen within the wealth switch context.
Assume the household and trustee didn’t deal with the $100,000 advances as loans — no documentation and no accounting. If the property tax return is audited, the $100,000 yearly appear to be items.
What may failure to audit a split-dollar association imply for a consumer’s tax payments?
These items would then cut back the household’s property tax exemption on a dollar-for-dollar foundation, doubtlessly exposing the household to a 40% property tax price.
What background do folks have to carry out split-dollar plan audits?
Doing an audit doesn’t require particular credentials or training, per se, however offering the cures may.
To audit split-dollar, you have to be very skilled with split-dollar.
