Captive taxation bill resurrected in the Senate

A bill reintroduced earlier this month in the U.S. Senate seeks to clarify how captives are taxed.

The Captive Clarification Act, which was first introduced last year but failed to pass, would make clear that captives do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act of 2010, which provides that nonadmitted insurers are subject to the regulation of their home state.

That law left policyholders unclear on whether some taxes on insurance purchased from a captive should be paid to a captive owner’s home state in addition to the captive’s domicile.

The Captive Clarification Act, which was introduced by Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., would make clear that the NRRA does not apply to captives, according to a statement from the Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc., which supports the legislation.

“For risk professionals to successfully manage alternative risk programs like captives, we need a clear understanding of government regulations. The NRRA, in its original form, leaves risk professionals guessing as to whether their organizations will be taxed twice and even whether they need to change the location of their captive,” said RIMS President Rick Roberts in the statement.