Captive Insurance

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What is It?

A captive insurance company is a subsidiary created to provide insurance coverage for the parent company or a group of related businesses. Rather than purchasing insurance from a traditional insurer, the parent company insures its own risks through its own captive insurer.

A captive insurance company is a risk-financing tool — one that grants owners greater control (in both financial and risk management sectors) than is offered by traditional commercial insurance. Captive insurance involves setting up your own insurance company to cover risks beyond what is and can be covered under traditional commercial insurance, to create tax deductions, or to have greater control over losses, reinsurance, and costs.

With a captive insurance structure, you can make sure that your risks are written into policies as you see fit — without ambiguous or obscure wording or using terms that strongly benefit your insurer at claims time.

A captive insurance company is a wholly-owned subsidiary company created to provide insurance to a noninsurance parent company and its affiliates or to an association. It may also provide insurance to other companies that join the captive as members. Captive insurance offers a range of benefits for businesses, particularly for those with unique or complex risk management needs.

What Services are Included?

Who Qualifies?

Captive insurance can be especially beneficial for larger companies or groups with significant risks, predictable loss patterns, or specific insurance needs not easily met by traditional insurers. It’s often ideal for businesses with:

  • Large-scale operations
  • High insurance premiums or specialized risk exposures
  • A strong risk management culture
  • The financial capacity to capitalize the insurance company

While the upfront costs and complexity of forming a captive insurance company may be significant, for the right companies, the long-term benefits in cost savings, risk management, and financial flexibility can be substantial for business owners with an operation that has significant uninsured or underinsured risks and is looking to gain greater control over insurance premium costs.

What are the Benefits?

  • Cost savings with better, more predictable pricing and coverage
  • Access to capital and control over investment
  • Tailored Policies with flexible terms
  • Control over claims
  • Privacy and risk reduction
  • Tax deductibility of premiums
  • Tax-deferred investment growth

What are the Savings?

Tax savings:

  • Premiums are usually tax-deductible for your main business
  • Premium income up to $2.8 million/year (for 2024) may be tax-free at the entity level
  • Investment income taxed at lower corporate tax rates or can be deferred

Risk management savings:

  • Customize your own coverage for real business risks — often at a lower cost
  • Keep the underwriting profits

Estate planning / wealth transfer:

  • Ownership of the captive can be structured with trusts or family members
  • Move wealth out of your operating company into the captive without paying gift or estate taxes immediately

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