The Joint Committee on Taxation is currently considering whether to expand the limits under Internal Revenue Code Section 831(b), the provision that makes it economically feasible for small businesses to engage in responsible risk management activities. I urge you to support this expansion, and more importantly to take this opportunity to thwart the IRS’s current attack on Section 831(b).
On February 3rd, 2015 the IRS issued a release (IR-2015-19). Among other things, this release makes clear what the industry has known for some time now– the IRS’s attack on Section 831(b) is coordinated, intentional and seeks to undermine the express will of Congress. By launching a coordinated attack on the variety of captives favored by small businesses, the Service is trying to achieve through the spread of fear, uncertainty and doubt, not to mention intimidation, that which it has been completely unable to achieve in the courts. The IRS has lost nearly every single court case of consequence involving captive insurance companies in the last thirty years, including two important ones in the last twelve months alone (Rent-A-Center and Securitas).