You cannot deduct premiums on the following kinds of insurance.
- Self-insurance reserve funds. You cannot deduct amounts credited
to a reserve set up for self-insurance. This applies even if you cannot get
business insurance coverage for certain business risks. However, your actual
losses may be deductible. See Publication 547.
- Loss of earnings. You cannot deduct premiums for a policy
that pays for lost earnings due to sickness or disability. However, see the
discussion on overhead insurance, item (8), under
Deductible Premiums,
earlier.
- Certain life insurance and annuities.
- For contracts issued before June 9, 1997, you cannot deduct
the premiums on a life insurance policy covering you, an employee, or any person
with a financial interest in your business if you are directly or indirectly a
beneficiary of the policy. You are included among possible beneficiaries of the
policy if the policy owner is obligated to repay a loan from you using the
proceeds of the policy. A person has a financial interest in your business if
the person is an owner or part owner of the business or has lent money to the
business.
- For contracts issued after June 8, 1997, you generally cannot
deduct the premiums on any life insurance policy, endowment contract, or annuity
contract if you are directly or indirectly a beneficiary. The disallowance
applies without regard to whom the policy covers.
- Partners. If, as a partner in a partnership, you take out
an insurance policy on your own life and name your partners as beneficiaries to
induce them to retain their investments in the partnership, you are considered a
beneficiary. You cannot deduct the insurance premiums.
- Insurance to secure a loan. If you take out a policy on your
life or on the life of another person with a financial interest in your business
to get or protect a business loan, you cannot deduct the premiums as a business
expense. Nor can you deduct the premiums as interest on business loans or as an
expense of financing loans. In the event of death, the proceeds of the policy
are generally not taxed as income even if they are used to liquidate the debt.