Shareholder insurance
The partnership insurance is a life insurance that a partnership as a policyholder enters into the lives of one or more of its partners and can register as a beneficiary. The purpose of this insurance is that at the time of the departure of the shareholder (s) financial means are available to be able to satisfy his / her compensation claims.
Delimitations
The partner insurance shows parallels to the so-called key worker insurance. The jurisprudence differentiates between "real" and the "fake" insurance. In the case of a real partner insurance, the partnership is the policyholder. In the case of fake partner insurance, the policyholder and the beneficiary of the contract are the partners in a crossover relationship.
Tax treatment
Shareholder insurance policies are not recognized as being operationally initiated for tax purposes, since according to the case law of the Federal Fiscal Court a private risk can be recognized and the intended use does not play a role for the business. The contributions to be paid are therefore not operating expenses , but rather to be booked as withdrawals by the shareholders. The insurance benefits, on the other hand, are not operating income , but are collected in private assets, so that they can subsequently be brought into the company as a capital contribution . This right has been in effect since the early 1990s. Until then, partner insurance policies were fully effective on the balance sheet.
If the shareholder insurance is taken out privately with the shareholder as beneficiary, the above principles also apply. The insurance is a private life insurance and is also part of the private assets in these cases. The insurance benefits are to be recorded according to the half-income method and pension benefits are subject to the income share taxation .
Individual evidence
- ^ BFH judgments of May 11, 1989, IV R 56/87; of April 10, 1990, VIII R 63/88; dated February 6, 1992, IV R 30/91
Literature and case law
- Kreußler / Nörig, life insurance and tax, VVW Karlsruhe
- Heinz-Gerd Horlemann, The capital life insurance and its income in the German income tax system, VVW Karlsruhe, ISBN 3-88487-492-6
- Order of the OFD Münster of March 19, 1991, 2144-47-St 11-31
- BFH rulings of May 11, 1989, IV R 56/87, BStBl. 1989 II, p. 657 and February 6, 1992, IV R 30/91, Federal Tax Gazette. 1992 II, p. 653
