Life reinsurance acquisition was assumption reinsurance requiring amortization

Plain-English summary

A life insurer acquired another reinsurer's business through an asset purchase and a 100 percent coinsurance retrocession agreement. The parties also agreed to obtain novation and release agreements that would substitute the buyer for the seller and discharge the seller from each reinsurance contract. While those agreements were pending, the buyer collected premiums, paid claims, handled administration, and controlled litigation relating to the contracts. Chief Counsel concluded that the integrated transaction was assumption reinsurance for federal income tax purposes, not indemnity reinsurance, because the seller's obligations ultimately were extinguished and the buyer became solely responsible. Under sections 197 and 848, the buyer had to amortize over 15 years the ceding commission amount exceeding its specified policy acquisition expenses.

Ruling snapshot

• Question: Did the acquired life reinsurance business constitute assumption reinsurance, requiring amortization of the excess ceding commission?
• Outcome: Advice given.
• Key authorities: IRC §§ 197, 848, and 1060; Treas. Reg. §§ 1.197-2, 1.809-4, and 1.809-5.

Full text (IRS public release)

       Office of Chief Counsel
       Internal Revenue Service
       Memorandum
       Number: 201642032
       Release Date: 10/14/2016
       CC:FIP:B04: SYHorn                                  Third Party Communication: None
       POSTF-137309-15                                     Date of Communication: Not Applicable

UILC: 848.06-06, 848.05-03, 197.00-00, 1060.00-00

date: June 29, 2016

 to:   William R. Davis, Jr.
       Associate Area Counsel
       (CC:LB&I:CTM:DEN)

from: Alexis A. MacIvor
Branch Chief, Branch 4
(Financial Institutions & Products)

subject: Life Reinsurance Business Acquisition

       This Chief Counsel Advice responds to your request for assistance. This advice may
       not be used or cited as precedent.


       LEGEND

       Parent = ----------------------------------

       Subsidiary = ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

       Seller = --------------------------------------------------------

       Date 1 = ----------------

       Date 2 = -------------------

       Year 1 = --------

       Year 2 = --------

       Year 3 = -------

       #A = ----

POSTF-137309-15 2

B = -----

$U = -------------------

$V = -------------------

$W = ------------------

$X = -------------------

Y% = ---------

ISSUES

Whether Subsidiary entered an assumption reinsurance arrangement with Seller when it
acquired Seller’s life reinsurance business and, therefore, must amortize the excess of
the ceding commission over the section 848 specified policy acquisition expenses.

CONCLUSIONS

Subsidiary entered an assumption reinsurance arrangement with Seller when it
acquired Seller’s life reinsurance business and, therefore, must amortize the excess of
the ceding commission over the section 848 specified policy acquisition expenses.

FACTS

Parent, a holding company, indirectly owns 100% of Subsidiary, a life insurance
company under section 816(a). In Year 1, Subsidiary purchased certain assets used in
Seller’s life reinsurance business in an applicable asset acquisition under section 1060
and entered into a retrocession agreement with Seller for a specified number of Seller’s
life reinsurance contracts (the “Transaction”).

As part of the Transaction, Subsidiary entered into a Master Asset Purchase Agreement
(the “Agreement”) with Seller on Date 1, Year 1. Amendment No. 1 to the Agreement
was executed on Date 2, Year 1 and the Transaction closed on Date 2, Year 1.

The Agreement provides the following:

             WHEREAS, Seller is engaged in, among other things, the
             marketing, issuance and administration of its Life
             Reinsurance Business;

             WHEREAS, subject to the terms, conditions and limitations
             set forth in this Agreement, Seller desires to sell, and
             [Subsidiary] wishes to purchase, such Life Reinsurance
             Business;

POSTF-137309-15 3

The Agreement defines the term Life Reinsurance Business to mean the life
reinsurance business of Seller, as currently conducted by Seller, assumed by Seller
pursuant to the life reinsurance contracts.

The Agreement also provides the following:

            This Agreement (including the Ancillary Agreements . . . and
            the other agreements contemplated hereby and thereby, and
            the Exhibits and Schedules hereto and thereto) contains the
            entire agreement among the parties with respect to the
            subject matter hereof . . . .

The Ancillary Agreements include the Retrocession Agreement and the Exhibits include
an unexecuted Form of Novation and Release Agreement.

Pursuant to the Retrocession Agreement, Subsidiary assumed the Life Reinsurance
Agreement Liabilities (the insurance risk attributable to Seller’s life reinsurance
contracts) on a 100% coinsurance indemnity basis. Subsidiary agreed to maintain the
100% coinsurance and to provide administrative services with respect to each of the life
reinsurance contracts until their natural expiration or until the Subsidiary and Seller
obtained an executed novation and release agreement from each company Seller
reinsured (“Retrocedent”) with respect to such contracts.

Under the administrative services provisions of the Retrocession Agreement,
Retrocedents paid their premiums directly to Subsidiary and, among other duties,
(1) Subsidiary paid all claims under the life reinsurance contracts, (2) Subsidiary agreed
to be sued and to defend, at its own expense, any action brought against it, or any
action naming Seller as a defendant, with respect to the life reinsurance contracts, and
(3) Subsidiary had control and direction over litigation with respect to the life
reinsurance contracts and, provided it obtained written consent from Seller, has the
authority to settle or consent to judgment in any such litigation.1

Under the Agreement, Subsidiary and Seller agreed to use commercially reasonable
efforts to obtain executed novation and release agreements from #A Retrocedents for
approximately #B life reinsurance contracts. Subsidiary and Seller further agreed that,
upon receipt of an executed novation and release agreement from a Retrocedent:
(1) Subsidiary shall be substituted for Seller under the life reinsurance contracts, in
Seller’s name, place and stead; (2) Seller shall be deemed to have ceased to be a party
to, and will not reinsure, the life reinsurance contracts, and shall forever be discharged
1
The Retrocession Agreement provides that Seller shall not unreasonably withhold, condition, delay, or
deny consent. Also, Seller’s consent shall not be required where: (i) all settlement amounts with respect
thereto are Life Reinsurance Agreement Liabilities; (ii) the settlement or judgment does not impose any
obligation (other than the payment of monetary amounts by Subsidiary on behalf of Seller), limitation or
injunction on, or any admission by, Seller; and (iii) Subsidiary obtains a complete release of, or a
dismissal with prejudice of claims, against Seller with respect to such litigation.
POSTF-137309-15 4

from all obligations and liabilities thereunder to the Retrocedent; and (3) Retrocedent
will look solely to Subsidiary for performance of any and all obligations and liabilities
owed to the Retrocedent under the retroceded life reinsurance contracts.

Subsidiary and Seller negotiated the terms of the novation and release agreements with
some Retrocedents that requested modifications to the Form of Novation and Release
Agreement attached to the Agreement. By Date 2, Year 2, Subsidiary and Seller
obtained novation and release agreements for Y% of the retroceded life reinsurance
contracts. Subsidiary and Seller obtained novation and release agreements for the
remaining retroceded life reinsurance contracts by Date 2, Year 3.2

For statutory accounting purposes, both Subsidiary and Seller treated the reinsurance
portion of the Transaction as indemnity reinsurance under SSAP No. 61, Life, Deposit-
Type and Accident and Health Reinsurance. Subsidiary assumed $U of net aggregate
reserves for life contracts, and recognized an initial ceding commission of $U.

For federal income tax purposes, Subsidiary treated $V as ceding commissions,
capitalizing $W as section 848 specified policy acquisition expenses and deducting the
remaining $X in Year 1.

LAW

Specified Insurance Contracts and Policy Acquisition Expenses

Section 848 provides that an insurance company, whether subject to tax under Part I or
Part II of subchapter L, must amortize its “specified policy acquisition expenses” for the
taxable year. In lieu of identifying the specific expenses that must be capitalized,
section 848 requires a company to amortize an amount of otherwise deductible
expenses equal to specified percentages of the net premiums for certain types of
“specified insurance contracts.”

Section 848(e)(1)(A) defines the term “specified insurance contract” as any life
insurance, annuity, or noncancellable accident and health insurance contract (or any
combination thereof). For purposes of section 848, a reinsurance contract is treated in
the same manner as the reinsured contract. Section 848(e)(5). In addition, section
848(g) provides that nothing in any provision of law, other than section 848 or section
197, “shall require the capitalization of any ceding commission . . . under any contract
which reinsures a specified insurance contract.”

2
The novation provision in the Agreement provided an 18-month window to effect novations. At least Y%
were completed within this window. Even though Date 2, Year 3 was beyond this window, Subsidiary
represents that the 18-month period was established to clarify expectations to complete the novations,
but was not intended to be a hard deadline as long as commercially reasonable efforts were made to
novate the life reinsurance contracts.
POSTF-137309-15 5

Section 197

Section 197 provides for an amortization deduction with respect to any “amortizable
section 197 intangible.” The amount of the deduction is determined by amortizing the
adjusted basis of such intangible asset ratably over a 15-year period. Section 197(a).

The term “amortizable section 197 intangible” means any section 197 intangible
acquired by the taxpayer and held in connection with the conduct of a trade or business
or an activity described in section 212. Section 197(c); Treas. Reg. § 1.197-2(d). The
term “section 197 intangible” includes assumption reinsurance contracts. Section
197(d)(2); Treas. Reg. § 1.197-2(c)(2).

Treas. Reg. § 1.197-2(g)(5)(i) provides that section 197 generally applies to insurance
and annuity contracts acquired from another person through assumption reinsurance,
as defined in Treas. Reg. § 1.809-5(a)(7)(ii). Treas. Reg. § 1.197-2(g)(5)(i) further
provides the following:

          The transfer of a reinsurance contract by a reinsurer
          (transferor) to another reinsurer (acquirer) is treated as an
          assumption reinsurance transaction if the transferor's
          obligations are extinguished as a result of the transaction.

In the case of any amortizable section 197 intangible resulting from an assumption
reinsurance transaction, the amount taken into account as the adjusted basis of such
intangible is the excess of the amount paid or incurred by the acquirer under the
assumption reinsurance transaction, over the amount required to be capitalized under
section 848 in connection with such transaction. Section 197(f)(5).

Indemnity and Assumption Reinsurance

In general, reinsurance is a transaction in which one insurance company transfers all or
a portion of the risk arising out of an insurance policy to another insurance company.
The insurance company that transfers risk in the transaction is referred to as the ceding
company. The insurance company that assumes risk in the transaction is referred to as
the assuming company or reinsurer.

Reinsurance may be classified as either indemnity reinsurance or assumption
reinsurance. In an indemnity reinsurance arrangement, the ceding company remains
solely liable to the policyholders and passes a portion or all of the insured risk to the
reinsurer. Treas. Reg. § 1.809-4(a)(1)(iii). An indemnity reinsurance arrangement is
“[a] form of reinsurance under which the risk is passed to the reinsurer, which
indemnifies the ceding company for losses covered by the insurance agreement. The
ceding company retains its liability to and its contractual relationship with the insured.”
John E. Tiller, Jr. and Denise Fagerberg Tiller, Life, Health and Annuity Reinsurance
716 (4th ed. 2015).
POSTF-137309-15 6

In contrast, assumption reinsurance is an arrangement in which the assuming company
(the reinsurer) becomes solely liable to the policyholders on the contract transferred by
the ceding company. Treas. Reg. § 1.809-5(a)(7)(ii). “Assumption reinsurance is a
process whereby the obligations and the relationship to the policyholders both legally
shift from the original direct writing company . . . to the new insurer . . . . Effectively,
assumption reinsurance is the sale of 100% of the transferring insurer’s interest in a
block of business.” Tiller at 157. See also Beneficial Life Ins. Co. v. Commissioner, 79
T.C. 627, 645 (1982), nonacq. on other grounds, 1984-2 C.B. 1.

Regardless of whether parties enter an indemnity or assumption arrangement, the
reinsurer usually pays the primary insurer a ceding commission for the right to future
profits under the contracts acquired. See Colonial Am. Life Ins. Co. v. Commissioner,
491 U.S. 244, 251 (1989).

Retrocession is a contract for reinsurance of reinsurance and, in general, is treated
synonymously with reinsurance transactions. 7-71 Appleman on Insurance Law § 71.02
(Library Edition 2015). Parties may enter a retrocession arrangement on an indemnity
or assumption basis. See ReliaStar Life Ins. Co. v. IOA Re, Inc., 303 F.3d 874 (8th Cir.
2002) (indemnity); American Bankers Ins. Co. of Florida v. Northwestern Nat’l Ins. Co.,
198 F.3d 1332 (11th Cir. 1999) (indemnity); Beneficial Life, 79 T.C. 627 (assumption).

Section 1060 Applicable Asset Acquisition

The purchase price allocation rules under section 1060(a) apply to any transfer of
assets that constitutes an “applicable asset acquisition.” Section 1060(c) defines “an
applicable asset acquisition” to mean any transfer, whether direct or indirect, of a group
of assets constituting a trade or business with respect to which the purchaser's basis is
determined wholly by reference to the consideration paid for such assets. Under Treas.
Reg. § 1.1060-1(b), a group of assets constitutes a “trade or business” if the use of
those assets would constitute a trade or business for purposes of the section 355
divisive reorganization provisions, or if the character of those assets is such that
goodwill or going concern value “could under any circumstances attach to such group.”

Sections 338(b)(5) and 1060(a) and the regulations thereunder mandate the use of a
residual method of allocation to allocate the purchase price among the assets
purchased. Under the residual method, the assets of a going business must be placed
into the seven distinct asset classes designated under Treas. Reg. § 1.338-6. Treas.
Reg. § 1.1060-1(c).

ANALYSIS

You asked for advice regarding whether Subsidiary entered an assumption reinsurance
arrangement with Seller when it acquired Seller’s life reinsurance business and,
therefore, must capitalize and amortize the excess of the ceding commission over the
section 848 specified policy acquisition expenses.
POSTF-137309-15 7

Under the Transaction, Subsidiary purchased certain assets used in Seller’s life
reinsurance business in an applicable asset acquisition under section 1060 and entered
into a retrocession agreement with Seller for a specified number of Seller’s life
reinsurance contracts. Sections 338(b) and 1060 and the regulations thereunder
require the use of a residual method to allocate the purchase price among the assets.
Under the residual method, the assets of a going business must be placed into the
seven distinct asset classes as designated under Treas. Reg. § 1.338-6.3

In determining whether Subsidiary must amortize the excess of the ceding commission
over the section 848 specified policy acquisition expenses, section 848(g) provides that
nothing other than section 848 or section 197 shall require capitalization of such
amount. Section 197 and the regulations thereunder provide for amortization of the cost
(above the section 848 amount) of acquiring an assumption reinsurance contract when
it is held in connection with a trade or business.4 Under Treas. Reg. § 1.197-2(g)(5)(i),
the “transfer of a reinsurance contract by a reinsurer (transferor) to another reinsurer
(acquirer) is treated as an assumption reinsurance transaction if the transferor’s
obligations are extinguished as a result of the transaction.” See also Treas. Reg.
§ 1.809-5(a)(7)(ii); Beneficial Life, 79 T.C. at 636.

In addition, Treas. Reg. § 1.197-2(g)(5)(i) provides that section 197 applies to insurance
contracts acquired through assumption reinsurance, as defined in Treas. Reg. § 1.809-
5(a)(7)(ii). That regulation defines assumption reinsurance as an arrangement in which
the assuming company (the reinsurer) becomes solely liable to the policyholders on the
contract transferred by the ceding company.

Here, Subsidiary acquired the life reinsurance contracts and held them in connection
with its trade or business. Under the Agreement, Subsidiary and Seller intended that
Seller’s obligations would be extinguished through novation and release agreements
and agreed to use commercially reasonable efforts to cause Subsidiary to assume each
of the life reinsurance contracts. In fact, as a result of the Transaction, Seller’s
obligations were extinguished.

3
The regulations with respect to section 338 provide that, if the buyer and seller make an election to treat
the stock sale of an insurance company as an asset acquisition, the deemed sale of insurance contracts
is treated as an assumption reinsurance transaction. In CCA 201501011 (Jan. 2, 2015), we concluded
that, because the section 1060 regulations apply the principles of the section 338 regulations to an
applicable asset acquisition of an insurance company, a reinsurance contract acquired as part of a
section 1060 acquisition was treated as an assumption reinsurance transaction. We have reconsidered
our analysis and now conclude that, in a section 1060 acquisition, the section 338 regulations apply with
respect to the basis allocation rules only and do not treat the acquisition of insurance contracts as an
assumption reinsurance transaction.
4
Section 197(f)(5) provides that in the case of any amortizable section 197 intangible resulting from an
assumption reinsurance transaction, the amount taken into account as the adjusted basis of such
intangible under section 197 shall be the excess of the amount paid or incurred by the acquirer under the
assumption reinsurance transaction, over the amount required to be capitalized under section 848 in
connection with such transaction.
POSTF-137309-15 8

The novation and release agreements were part of the Transaction between Subsidiary
and Seller.

           As a general rule, where a contract of insurance consists of
           a policy and other papers or documents, executed as a part
           of the same transaction, and accompanying the policy or
           incorporated therein by attachment or reference, they must
           be construed together, if possible, as constituting the
           contract and in determining the meaning and effect thereof.
           This rule applies even though the papers or documents are
           not attached to the policy or referred to therein, if they in fact
           constitute a part of the insurance transaction [and] even
           though they are not executed on the same day.

45 C.J.S. Insurance § 586; see also Upper Deck Co. v. American Int’l Specialty Lines
Ins. Co., 495 F.Supp.2d 1092 (S.D. Cal. 2007), aff’d, 549 F.3d 1210 (9th Cir. 2008)
(Court sustained the arbitrator’s decision that the insurance company was not liable
because the insured did not comply with the insurance policy, specifically relying on the
following documents that the court incorporated with the insurance policy: (1) tax
advisor’s opinion letter, (2) the shareholders agreement, (3) the S corporation’s
representation letter, (4) the warrant agreement, and (5) the share appraisal).

Pending receipt of the novation and release agreements, the Agreement provided that
Subsidiary would be responsible for the life reinsurance contracts. Retrocedents paid
their premiums directly to Subsidiary5 and, among other duties, Subsidiary (1) paid all
claims under the life reinsurance contracts, (2) sued or defended, at its own expense,
any action brought against it, or any action naming Seller as a defendant, with respect
to the retroceded life reinsurance contracts, and (3) had control and direction over
litigation. These facts further support the conclusion that the reinsurance portion of the
Transaction was an assumption reinsurance arrangement.

In an indemnity reinsurance arrangement, the ceding company remains solely liable to
the policyholders and passes a portion or all of the insured risk to the reinsurer. Treas.
Reg. § 1.809-4(a)(1)(iii); see also John E. Tiller, Jr. and Denise Fagerberg Tiller, Life,
Health and Annuity Reinsurance 716 (4th ed. 2015) (ceding company retains liability).
Subsidiary and Seller intended to, and did, obtain novation and release agreements
from all the Retrocedents. Moreover, prior to executing the novation and release
agreements, the Retrocedents paid their premiums directly to the Subsidiary and
Subsidiary paid all claims under the life insurance agreements, among other
responsibilities. Accordingly, the reinsurance portion of the Transaction is not an
indemnity reinsurance arrangement.

5
See Assumption Reinsurance/Novation, OGC Op. No. 08-07-15, NY General Counsel Opinion No. 7-21-
2008 (NY INS BUL) (“An insured who, for example, remits his insurance premiums to, files claims with,
and requests policy changes through the assuming reinsurer could be found to have consented to the
novation.”)
POSTF-137309-15 9

In addition, if we conclude that the reinsurance portion of the Transaction is an
indemnity reinsurance arrangement, we would effectively nullify the provisions in
sections 197 and 848(g) that distinguish between indemnity and assumption
transactions for federal income tax purposes. Due to current state insurance regulatory
rules, it is unusual, if not unheard of, to implement and finalize an assumption
arrangement on the same day. Therefore, companies commonly implement
assumption reinsurance contracts in transactions similar to the Transaction between
Seller and Subsidiary.

Subsidiary contends that the reinsurance portion of the Transaction is an indemnity
insurance transaction because (1) the novations and release agreements were not part
of the Transaction and were obtained in Year 2 and Year 3, and (2) the term
“policyholder” in Treas. Reg. § 1.809-5(a)(7)(ii) does not include retrocedents and thus,
there is no assumption reinsurance for federal income tax purposes. We disagree. As
described above, the novation and release agreements were part of the Transaction,
and were not separate transactions that stand alone without the rest of the Transaction.
The fact that the novation and release agreements were obtained in the years
immediately following the year of closing, Year 1, does not render the novation and
release agreements separate transactions. Moreover, pending the receipt of the
novation and release agreements, Subsidiary stepped in the shoes of Seller.

With respect to Subsidiary’s second argument, the term “policyholder” is not limited to
the purchaser of insurance and includes the holder (or reinsurer) in a reinsurance
transaction. General insurance provisions do not support this interpretation. The term
“policyholder” does not have a definite and settled meaning in insurance and may
include holders of reinsurance contracts. Steven Plitt et al., 1 Couch on Insurance
§ 6:19 (3rd ed. 2016); see also Volume V, Reinsurance, NAIC 801-3 National
Association of Insurance Commissioners (2015) (The Assumption Reinsurance Model
Act provides a broad definition of the term “policyholder”). Here, the Retrocedents are
the policyholders of the reinsurance contracts and there is assumption reinsurance for
federal income tax purposes.

Consequently, for federal income tax purposes, the transfer by Seller of its life
reinsurance contracts to Subsidiary is an assumption reinsurance transaction.
Therefore, under section 848(g) Subsidiary must amortize the remaining $X of the
ceding commission over a 15-year period. Sections 848(g), 197.

CASE DEVELOPMENT, HAZARDS AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
POSTF-137309-15 10

 6

6
POSTF-137309-15 11

This writing may contain privileged information. Any unauthorized disclosure of this
writing may undermine our ability to protect the privileged information. If disclosure is
determined to be necessary, please contact this office for our views.

Please call 202-317-6995 if you have any further questions.