A bill introduced in Congress could help spur sales of life insurance in the secondary market by allowing policyholders to use the proceeds from the sale of a life insurance policy to fund an account to be used for paying long-term care expenses on a tax-favored basis.
Bill: HR Bill 7203
The bill, introduced by U.S. Rep. Kenny Marchant of Texas, a Republican, and U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins of New York, a Democrat, has been referred to the House Ways and Means Committee. The bill would allow policyholders to reduce “the amount of gain from the sale or assignment of a life insurance contract by the amount of contributions to a long-term care account” as long as the contribution was made “during the 30-day period beginning on the date of such sale or assignment.”
Currently, in a life insurance policy sale, the policy owner is taxed on the amount above the cost basis – typically the premium paid. This new law would allow a policy sale to occur tax-free, and then allow the policyholder to place the proceeds into a newly created long-term care account that would be “exempt from taxation” as long as the account was used for paying for long-term care.
Tax-free distributions could be made from the accounts to pay for “qualified long-term care services” as well as “premiums for a qualified long-term care insurance contract,” for both the beneficiary and the beneficiary’s spouse, and after the death of the account beneficiary, the account would revert to the spouse.