Contribution transfer
Insurance companies have for the part of the booked gross premiums , the income for a certain period after the balance sheet date represents unearned premiums in the balance sheet of the financial statements to form (§ 341 e para. 2 no. 1 German Commercial Code ).
Due to the method of determination, the unearned premiums have the character of a deferred income . However, they are still to be reported under the technical provisions . Because they ultimately fulfill the function of a provision . Taking into account the short terms of most contracts for which unearned premiums are formed and the mostly even risk transfer during this period, in most cases the calculation of the settlement arrears would not result in a significantly different value. Therefore, in these cases, the contribution transfer can also be viewed as an approximation for an actuarial reserve .
In most insurance lines there is a temporal proportionality between premiums and risk history. Then the contribution, after deducting the contribution parts that are attributable to collection costs ( life insurance ) or commissions (property / casualty insurance), is divided proportionally to the financial year and the following year. Due to tax regulations, the costs that may be collected directly are limited to 4% in life insurance and to 85% of the commission actually incurred in all other cases.
Example: An accident insurance contract has an annual premium of 636 euros and a commission of 100 euros (85% of which is 85 euros) has been paid. The premium is due on October 1st. Then there are nine months of the insurance year in the following calendar year and the transfer of premiums to December 31 is calculated
(€ 636 - € 85) × 9 ÷ 12 = € 413.25.
If the risk is not proportional during the insurance period, the transfer of premiums may have to be modified or the performance arrears must be explicitly determined using actuarial methods.
In most countries, e.g. B. According to US-GAAP , unearned premiums are only formed for insurance contracts for which no actuarial reserve is made, since the premiums are already taken into account there as they are actually paid. In Germany, the actuarial reserve is traditionally calculated on the basis of the annual contributions, even if the contributions are paid in installments during the year. However, the actuarial reserve is then interpolated to the balance sheet date so that the result ultimately corresponds to that of a monthly premium payment. If the contributions are paid at longer intervals, a contribution transfer for correction must also be made for life insurance contracts.
