Is Disability Insurance Tax Deductible For Corporations

Private Disability Policies Are Individual Disability Benefits Taxable

Disability benefits received from an individual disability policy you bought personally, with post-tax dollars, are not taxable.

However, the choice of paying for an individual policy with pre-tax vs. post-tax dollars is up to the policyholder. Using after-tax money is the preferred method, as you pay more now but have maximum funds available should you become disabled. If long-term disability becomes the reality, all taxes will have been paid.

If your premiums are paid with pre-tax dollars, you would need to pay taxes on your long-term disability benefits.  

Professional Corporations And Bcma Insurance Faq

Here are some commonly asked questions regarding premium payments of life insurance and other policies offered through the BCMA.

What are the benefits to having my BCMA term life insurance corporately paid versus personally paid?There are many factors to consider when deciding whether to pay your life insurance premiums corporately or personally. The main advantage to having your corporation pay premiums is the tax savings. 

Lets take an example of a $1000 annual life premium and assume a 14% business tax rate and 40% personal marginal tax rate. Your corporation would have to earn $1163 and pay 14% business tax to net the $1000 required to pay the insurer. To pay the premium personally, your corporation would have to earn $1667, pay this amount to you in salary, which is taxed to you personally at 40%, to net $1000. This example shows a tax savings of $504 per year by paying premiums corporately. 

Aside from tax savings however, you should consider several factors before deciding how best to pay premiums. For corporately paid premiums, your corporation must be the policy beneficiary, and depending on your corporate ownership structure and the terms of your will, your beneficiaries may not be able to access the funds immediately. 

Can a professional corporation be named as a beneficiary?Yes. However, you should confer with your accountant/financial advisor to determine if there are any advantages to naming your professional corporation as the beneficiary of your insurance. 

Are Disability Insurance Premiums Tax Deductible

Jon Byman

Disability insurance is a critical part of any financial plan because it protects your ability to earn an income, which is one of your most valuable assets. If youâre injured or sick and canât work for several weeks or more, disability insurance will help you make up lost income. Itâs such a critical part of your financial plan because it allows you to keep paying for the essentials while also saving for future goals, such as retirement.

A frequent question about disability insurance, are disability insurance premiums tax deductible? In most cases, disability insurance premiums are not tax deductible â but thereâs more to this story. Hereâs a little more about how it works.

Is Disability Insurance Taxable Is Short Term Disability Taxable Income

The answer to the question are disability payments taxable? is this How disability payments are taxed depends on the source of the disability income. The answer will change depending on whether the payments are from a disability insurance policy, employer-sponsored disability insurance policy, a workers compensation plan, or Social Security disability.

Note For Business And Professional

If you cannot apply the rebate, grant, or assistance you received to reduce a particular expense, or to reduce an asset’s capital cost, include the total in Part 3C at line 8230, “Other income,” on Form T2125. For more information, go to Grants, subsidies, and rebates.

The following may be considered when determining operating expenses:

Disability Insurancepremiums Paid By A Business

Disability insurance costs paid by employers are deductible as salaries,wages and benefits, and are included as a taxable benefit on the T4 ofemployees.  As mentioned above, insurance proceeds received by the employeein this case will be taxable to the employee.

If you are a self-employed sole proprietor, disability insurance costsfor yourself are nottax deductible, but if you make a claim on the insurance, the proceeds will notbe taxable.

The T2125Statement of Business or Professional Activities includes line 8690 forInsurance – this includes commercial insurance premiums for insurance on anybuildings, machinery and equipment you use in your business.  See 

It is always best totalk to your professional tax advisor regarding tax implications.

Fringe Benefits For More Than 2% Shareholders Of An S Corporation Benefit Minute

Posted in: Benefit Minute, Employee Benefits

Generally, many fringe benefits provided to employees are excluded from taxable income.  However, this favorable tax treatment is not available to an S corp shareholder who owns more than 2% of the stock of the corporation on any day of the corporations tax year .  Section 1372 of the Internal Revenue Code requires that 2% shareholders be treated as partners in a partnership for this purpose, making them self-employed individuals instead of employees.  This Benefit Minute summarizes how certain fringe benefits offered to 2% shareholders are treated.

Section 125 Cafeteria Plans/Health Savings Accounts

A cafeteria plan is a written plan established under Section 125 of the Code that allows an employee to choose between non-taxable benefits and taxable benefits .  Employees can pay for qualified benefits on a pretax basis via salary reduction.  It also allows for salary reduction for flexible spending accounts and health savings accounts .  However, the tax benefit of salary reduction contributions is only available to employees.  Since 2% shareholders are treated as self-employed individuals and not employees, they may not participate in a Section 125 cafeteria plan.  This means they are ineligible to make pretax contributions for insurance, FSAs and/or HSAs.  However, a 2% shareholder is permitted to contribute to an HSA on a post-tax basis and may be entitled to an above-the-line deduction on the Form 1040.

Group Term Life Insurance

Irs Tax Reporting Guidelines For Disability Benefits

The IRS website is not the easiest to navigate. The following links are to current IRS publications regarding disability insurance taxation.

Tip: The IRS classifies both short-term disability and long-term disability insurance benefits as sick pay. IRS home page: 

And specifically regarding disability insurance taxation: 

Social Security Disability Insurance

Income from Social Security disability isnât taxable if your provisional income is less than the base amount. Provisional income is your modified adjusted gross income plus half of the Social Security benefits you receive. The base amount is $25,000 for individuals and $32,000 for joint filers.

If your provisional income exceeds your base amount, up to 50 percent of your Social Security benefits can be taxable. You can also be taxed on 85 percent of benefits is the base amount is at least $34,000 for individuals and $44,000 for joint filers.

Learn More:Social Security Disability Insurance

Can I Deduct Disability Insurance Premiums As A Business Expense

The answer is no in almost every situation. Although, this Sun Life publication, authored by Stuart Dollar, Director of Tax and Insurance Planning at Sun Life, explains the exceptions across the spectrum of business and personal insurance products.  He exhaustively covers the tax-deductibility of premiums for all types of insurance, including disability insurance premiums . The only noted exception that affects self-employed individuals deals with private health services plans . In a nutshell, medical and dental insurance plan premiums may be fully or partially deductible for the self-employed person and their spouse and children who live in the same household.  In summary, premiums may be deductible expenses in the following situations:

 
• Health insurance plan premiums for self-employed individuals and their dependents, as mentioned above.

 

• Group disability insurance premiums paid by an employer for an employee could be a deductible expense for the business.

Disability Insurance Features And Costs

 
• Have a look at this federal government disability insurance page. You can find out about government disability benefits and tax credits too.

 

• Visit insurance company websites, such as RBC’s or Manulife’s. You’ll find policy comparisons and a disability insurance premium calculator for basic coverage.

 

• Once you’re up to speed on the basics, discuss your needs with a life insurance advisor.

Business Insurance Premiums That Are Deductible

The IRS states that all ordinary and necessary costs of insurance can be considered business expenses. What does this exactly mean?

First, ordinary means that it is a type of insurance that is very common and accepted in your industry and the type of business that you run. Necessary would mean that the insurance might not be required to have, but that it is considered appropriate and helpful for your business to obtain this coverage.

More specifically, these are the insurance coverages that are most commonly deemed deductible:

General Liability Insurance:General liability is a basic insurance policy that just about every business needs and will cover any legal expenses and damages arising from third-party injuries or property damages directly related to your business.

Commercial Property Insurance: This coverage protects your business property and will cover the costs of repairing or replacing damaged or lost business property. Commercial property insurance, obviously, protects your main business properties and locations but can also cover contents, equipment, furniture, tools, warehouse contents, computers, servers, and more.

Workers Compensation Insurance: As most business owners know, workers compensation is a coverage that is required by most states, so the fact that the premium is tax-deductible shouldnt be surprising. This policy pays for medical expenses, rehabilitation, and lost wages related to employee injuries at the workspace.

Key Person Disability Plans Tax

A key-person policy is paid for and owned by the business. An employer takes out a disability policy for a preset period on behalf of one or several irreplaceable employeesindividuals who are considered to be key persons in the companys operations. The business figures that it would suffer significant setbacks if its most valuable individual cannot work due to a disabling condition. 

A company needs this compensation to cover staffing costs, project delays, profit loss, and maintain financial stability in the eyes of stakeholders. The employer pays the premium, which is not deductible, and benefits paid to the business are tax-free.

Are Disability Insurance Premiums Deductible In Canada

“Prepare for the worst and hope for the best” is a common expression. Disability should be on everyone’s list of things to prepare for. Disabilities caused by injury or illness are challenging life events that happen to anyone. Disability and other types of insurance should be part of your financial and business plan.  Most of us depend on our income to support our living expenses and our families. Disability insurance provides financial security. Knowing that insurance will cover your expenses if something serious happens to you brings peace of mind.  It’s hard to save up for emergencies and unexpected life events when you own a business. Undoubtedly, relying on savings can help, but it’s a temporary solution. That’s why insurance is so important because a disability can be long-term or even permanent.

Is Disability Insurance Taxable

Disability benefits may or may not be taxable. You will not pay income tax on benefits from a disability policy where you paid the premiums with after tax dollars. This includes:

• A policy you bought yourself with after-tax dollars
• A employer sponsored policy you contributed to with after-tax dollars. These rules apply to both short-term and long-term disability policies. Income from social security disability isnt taxable if your provisional income isnt more than the base amount. Provisional income is your modified adjusted gross income plus half of the social security benefits you received. The base amount is:
• $25,000 if youre filing single, head of household, or married filing separately 
• $32,000 if youre married filing jointly
• $0 if youre married filing separately and lived together with your spouse at any point in the year
• Your modified AGI includes all other income without subtracting exclusions for:

Are Ltd Benefits Taxable Under A Group Disability Plan

Typically yes, group disability benefits are taxable. Employer-paid premiums in a group disability insurance plan is a tax deduction for the employer as a business expense. 

In most cases, LTD premiums are paid by the employer on a pre-tax basis and are not reported on the employees Form W-2 for that year. The employer would not include the cost of the disability insurance coverage in the employees gross income; therefore, the employee would report received benefit payments as income on his or her tax return. 

The scenario above is the most common for group LTD plans. However, other forms of LTD benefit payments are offered by various insurance carriers, resulting in varying tax consequences. 

Again, the determining taxation factors are who pays for LTD premiums and whether premiums are paid with pre-tax or post-tax dollars. If group LTD plans are paid with after-tax dollars, then benefits received are not taxed. 

Below are common examples:

Fees Penalties Or Bonuses Paid For A Loan

You can deduct the fee you pay to reduce the interest rate on your loan. You can also deduct any penalty or bonus a financial institution charges you to pay off your loan before it is due. Treat the fee, penalty, or bonus as prepaid interest and deduct it over the remaining original term of your loan.

For example, if the term of your loan is five years and in the third year you pay a fee to reduce your interest rate, treat this fee as a prepaid expense and deduct it over the remaining term of the loan. For more information, see Prepaid expenses.

Legal Accounting And Other Professional Fees

You can deduct the fees you incurred for external professional advice or services, including consulting fees.

You can deduct accounting and legal fees you incur to get advice and help with keeping your records. You can also deduct fees you incur for preparing and filing your income tax and GST/HST returns.

You can deduct accounting or legal fees you paid to have an objection or appeal prepared against an assessment for income tax, Canada Pension Plan or Quebec Pension Plan contributions, or employment insurance premiums. However, the full amount of these deductible fees must first be reduced by any reimbursement of these fees that you have received. Enter the difference on line 23200, Other deductions, of your income tax return .

If you received a reimbursement in the tax year, for the types of fees that you deducted in a previous year, report the amount you received on line 13000, Other income, of your income tax return of the current year .

You cannot deduct legal and other fees you incur to buy a capital property, such as a boat or fishing material. Instead, add these fees to the cost of the property. For more information on capital property, go to Claiming capital cost allowance .

For more information, go to Interpretation Bulletin IT-99, Legal and Accounting Fees.

Are Life Insurance Premiums Tax

Life insurance can help you provide a measure of family security for your loved ones if something should happen to you. You may be wondering whether life insurance premiums are deductible on your personal tax return, and the answer is generally no. But premiums are deductible as a business-related expense .

The death benefit is generally tax-free for individual policy owners and their beneficiaries. 

Although death benefits for business-related beneficiaries are often tax-free as well, there are certain situations in which the death benefit for corporate-owned life insurance can be taxable. However, employers offering group term life coverage to employees can deduct premiums that they pay on the first $50,000 of benefits per employee, and amounts up to this limit are not counted as income to the employees. 

Life insurance premiums can also often be deducted for most types of non-qualified plans, such as deferred compensation or executive bonuses. Usually, the premiums are considered compensation for key executives under the rules of these plans. However, in some cases, the deduction cannot be taken until the employee constructively receives the benefit.

No Matter How You File Block Has Your Back

Taking Advantage Of Tax

Staying financially responsible is one of the pillars of a quality growth strategy, which is why small business owners and startup founders are constantly looking for new ways to save money. One of the best cost-saving tools that small businesses have at their disposal is the ability to claim a variety of tax deductions on business-related expenses.

And while tax season can certainly be an incredibly stressful time of the year for business owners, putting in the time and effort to take advantage of every tax deduction opportunity available is well worth it.

Business insurance premiums just so happen to be an excellent tax deduction opportunity that no business should miss out on. Since the Internal Revenue Service classifies insurance as a necessary cost of conducting a trade or business, many of the policies you have purchased are deductible expenses on your federal tax return and can provide you with significant savings.

Lets take a closer look at what types of business insurance premiums are and arent deductible and talk further about what your business needs to do in order to take advantage of this excellent cost-cutting opportunity.

Fees Deductible Over Five Years

You can deduct certain fees you incur when you get a loan to buy or improve your business property. These fees include:

• application, appraisal, processing, and insurance fees
• loan guarantee fees
• loan brokerage and finder’s fees
• legal fees related to financing

You deduct these fees over a period of five years, regardless of the term of your loan. Deduct 20% in the current tax year and 20% in each of the next four years. The 20% limit is reduced proportionally for fiscal periods of less than 12 months.

However, if you repay the loan before the end of the five-year period, you can deduct the remaining financing fees then. The number of years for which you can deduct these fees is not related to the term of your loan.

Are Disability Insurance Premiums Tax

You cant deduct your disability insurance premiums from your personal taxes. You can deduct certain medical, dental, and long-term care insurance from your taxes, but life insurance and disability dont qualify for a deduction.

According to the IRS, you cant deduct premiums for the following policies:

• Coverage for loss of life, limbs, sight, etc.
• Policies that pay you while youre hospitalized for sickness or injury.

• Life insurance policies
• Coverage for loss of earnings

Essntially, all money is taxed at some point, whether its coming in or going out but it can only be taxed once. This means money thats initially taxed wont be taxed later. This applies to your disability premiums. Since its taxable money up front, if you become disabled and use the policy then the money you receive will be tax-free.

Does it matter if I have a short-term or long-term disability policy?

No. The tax implications are the same regardless of how long you collect on a disability policy.

Can I Deduct My Disability Insurance Premiums If Im A Business Owner

If youre a business owner, there are some instances where you deduct disability insurance from your taxes. It will depend on the type of business entity you own, whos paying the premiums, and whether theyre using pre-tax or after-tax money.

Sole proprietors

Sole proprietors cant deduct disability insurance premiums from their business taxes just like an individual cant deduct disability premiums from their personal taxes.

The business in a sole proprietorship is legally the same as the individual who owns it, its not treated as a separate legal entity. This means that all business income is taxed to the individual.

S-corporations

Disability insurance premiums may be deducted by an S-corporation on shareholders or employees who own at least 2% of the business.

If an S-corp is paying the premiums for a disability policy for one of its employees, they can deduct that premium from their taxes. The employee cant deduct the premiums on their own taxes, but they will receive the benefit tax-free if they collect on the policy.

C-corporations

C-corporations may deduct disability premiums from their taxes if it pays for premiums on behalf of the employee. Shareholders who are not employees do not qualify for the premium to be deducted.

However, if the C-corp excludes the premiums from the employees income, then the benefit will be taxable if the employee collects.

LLCs

Disability insurance for self-employed individuals

One Type Of Disability Insurance Premium That Is Tax

The closest you can come to deducting your disability insurance premiums is if you own a business.

For those who also have to be concerned with keeping their businesses running in the event of short-term or long-term disability, there is an option called business overhead expense insurance .

Whereas regular disability insurance covers individual income, a business overhead expense policy will help cover monthly business expenses such as employee salaries, rent, utilities, maintenance, taxes, etc.

Premiums for this type of insurance are considered a business expense and are therefore tax-deductible. Overhead expense policies are specifically listed in IRS Publication 535, Business Expenses. Under the heading of deductible premiums, the document states:

âOverhead insurance that pays for business overhead expenses you have during long periods of disability caused by your injury or sickness.â

Keep in mind, however, that deductibility does not apply to a business owner who gets disability insurance to cover lost personal income. It only applies to insurance that covers business expenses.

Taxes And Disability Insurance

In many cases, youâll have a mix of pre- and post-tax disability insurance coverage. Pre-tax disability insurance will likely come through your employerâs group plan while post-tax disability insurance is usually something youâll buy on your own.

The tax treatment of your disability insurance premiums is an important planning consideration as it will impact whether you will owe taxes on your benefit, should you ever become disabled. A financial advisor can show you how disability insurance fits into your larger financial plan and help you anticipate the tax impact on various parts of your plan.

Northwestern Mutual is the marketing name for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Milwaukee, WI

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What Is Disability Insurance

Disability insurance is a type of insurance that provides income in the event that an employee is unable to perform tasks at work due to an injury or disability.

Disability insurance falls in two categories:

Short-term disability: This type of insurance pays out a portion of your income for a short period of time and can last from a few months to up to two years.

Long-term disability: This type of insurance begins after a waiting period of several weeks or months and can last from a few years to up to retirement age.

Disability insurance can come from different sources. Disability insurance can be provided by your employer or something you buy yourself from an insurance company.

See If You Qualify For Any Of Them

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• The Bottom Line

When it comes to filing taxes, getting the lowest tax liability is not all about skillits about what you know. Unfortunately, many taxpayers miss out on deductions and credits simply because they arent aware of them. Several of the most overlooked deductions pertain to health and medical expenses, as well as to insurance premiums.

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated many deductions, but it left most of the ones discussed below unchanged.