For you business owners or advisors to business owners, beware of COLI. COLI is Corporate Owned Life Insurance. If a business owns a life insurance policy issued after August 17, 2006, where the business is the owner and the beneficiary, the death benefit could be taxable. Unless the employee signed a notice and consent form prior to issuance, the death benefit could be subject to income tax under IRC 101(j). This mistake could cost the company tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The catch is, the employer cannot go back after the fact and have the form signed. In other words, they cannot correct the deficiency on the current policy. The corrective measure is to purcahse a new policy and do the proper Notice and Consent filing, which includes, filing IRS Form 8925 with the corporate tax return.
Don’t let this happen to you!
