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Q & A – PPLI Combines Beauty and Utility

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Questions and Answers from the book “The Wit and Wisdom of Professor PPLI: How to Achieve Exceptional Asset Structuring with Private Placement Life Insurance”

~ by Michael Malloy, CLU TEP RFC

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PPLI Combines Beauty and Utility

Let Us Learn from a Master Thinker

Section 2, Part 4

Professor PPLI, in this Part the influential 20th century thinker, George Santayana, gives us his famous definition of beauty, and concludes: “Beauty is therefore a positive value that is intrinsic; it is a pleasure.” How is this related to a PPLI asset structure?

His use of “intrinsic” reminds me of the nature of life insurance in a PPLI asset structure. Life insurance is the intrinsic element that makes this possible. Life insurance is a basic financial planning tool that is used in almost all countries throughout the world. PPLI is one variety of this well- recognized and accepted financial instrument. PPLI can become the intrinsic instrument to organize a families worldwide assets into a conservative and easy to understand structure.

At Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc. we are proud to be mentioned in the Wikipedia page for “Private Placement Life Insurance.” This is in the section entitled “Expanded Worldwide Planning.”

“There exist a number of structures that provide clients’ security from data breaches, erroneous government reporting, and the “blanket and indiscriminate nature of automatic exchange under CRS”. Among these structures, Expanded Worldwide Planning (EWP) is a concept that has emerged. It offers international families a framework that enhances privacy and asset protection within a flexible, open architecture platform.

For example, Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc. is one proponent of EWP. It is an element of international taxation created to implement directives from several tax authorities following the 2008 worldwide recession.

EWP gives privacy and compliance with tax laws. It also enhances protection from data breaches and strengthens family security. It allows for a tax compliant system that still respects basic rights of privacy. EWP addresses the concerns of law firms and international planners about some aspects of CRS related to their clients’ privacy. EWP assists with the privacy and welfare of families by protecting their financial records and keeping them in compliance with tax regulations.”

The 953(d) election is a major topic in this Part of the book. What are the essentials of this section of the U.S. tax code, and why is it significant for wealthy international families today?

The 953(d) election refers to Section 953(d) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code (IRC). This is the section that allows a non-U.S. Insurance Company to make the election to be treated as a U.S. taxpayer. This election provides some very material benefits to both the insurance company and policyholders.

For the policyholder and beneficiaries, the insurance structure itself can be used to optimize income, capital gains and estate tax planning. Additionally, there is no withholding tax on U.S. investments as the company is U.S. person with a completed W-9 form.

The “953(d)” insurance company is treated as a domestic corporation by the U.S. government for tax purposes. The insurance company (not the policyholder) completes and submits the W-9 form to the bank, facilitating compliance with U.S. domestic custodians and paying agents. This makes the 35% withholding tax under FATCA a non-issue. The company is not subject to state or federal insurance law being an offshore provider. Finally, there is no requirement to file and maintain form 720.

Professor PPLI, we begin this Part with a famous line from Leonardo da Vinci, “Can’t beauty and utility be combined?” How does this relate to PPLI?

Probably at least a few of you have taken the back off your laptop computer. At first sight, it is a confusing array of wires and computer chips that confounds the mind of one who knows nothing about computer hardware. This inside look into the device is in sharp contrast to the outside which is a sleek looking case of plastic with a keyboard.

To the uneducated advisor a PPLI asset structure might look like the inside of the laptop in our analogy. To the experienced advisor the finished asset structure is every bit as clean and well-order as the outside of the laptop, because all the various components in the structure function like a computer that is operating at peak performance.

For advisors to take a trust and marry it with many asset classes and beneficiaries, both of which may be spread out over many tax jurisdictions throughout the world, is a daunting task. Much like the inside of our laptop to the untrained eye. For those willing to learn, the benefits to wealthy international families are outstanding in comparison to the learning curve of international PPLI asset structuring.

Returning to Leonardo da Vinci, Yes, beauty and utility can be combined with PPLI into a single well-working structure that is compliant with all the tax jurisdictions that the policy supports. At Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc. this is our specialty.

by Michael Malloy, CLU TEP RFC, @ Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc

#michaelmalloy #PPLI #privateplacement #lifeinsurance #advancedfinancialsolutions

Privacy Flows with EWP and PPLI

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GO WITH THE FLOW

“Go with the flow” can have several meanings, and oddly enough, in the context of Expanded Worldwide Planning (EWP) it can pertain to privacy. As our firm specializes in structuring for international clients using Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI), we will discuss two recent news articles and how they relate to securing privacy, as well as full compliance, for families involved in international tax planning. The articles are interesting in themselves, and we have used them to make a few points related to our topic.

Because PPLI is issued under a variable universal life insurance contract, the insurance company becomes the beneficial owner of the assets inside the policy. When reporting to the tax authorities of the jurisdictions involved with the policy, the insurance company becomes the owner of the assets inside the policy, even though the assets are held in separate accounts for the benefit of the owner of the assets. It is the goal of EWP to secure as much privacy for clients that is allowable under law, and still be fully compliant with tax authorities worldwide.

Now back to our new articles and “going with the flow.” In a certain sense, the flow of information and the flow of wealth is akin to plumbing. As long as things flow, in the direction intended there is not a problem. When things begin to backup or flow in the wrong direction, we encounter problems.

Our first news article discusses the movement of families within the U.S. to states with no or little state income tax, and how the states that have high state income taxes like New York and California are unprepared for the loss of these tax dollars. The point is also made in the article that the states like Florida and Texas that are receiving the migrating families are also unprepared for the influx of new people in their states. In our analogy, we have a situation here where things are flowing in a direction that is not intended.

Here are a few of the salient points courtesy of the Wall Street Journal by Arthur B. Laffer and Stephen Moore, “So Long, California. Sayonara, New York.”

“Since 2007 Texas and Florida (with no income tax) have gained 1.4 million and 850,000 residents, respectively, from other states. California and New York have jointly lost more than 2.2 million.”

“As the migration speeds up, it will raise real-estate values in low-tax states and hurt them in high-tax states.”

“Despite its shrinking tax base, New York spends nearly twice as much on state and local government per person ($16,000) as does economically booming Tennessee ($9,000).”

Our second news article is about the flow of information, and a possible unintended consequence of regulating it. Perhaps the pipes have been put at the wrong angles, or in the wrong place?

Again, from the Wall Street Journal by Steve Rosenbush, “The Morning Download: Europe’s New Privacy Rule, in Unexpected Twist, Helps Facebook, Google.”

The main point of the article is contained in these two quotes:

“The EU will begin enforcing the General Data Protection Regulation, “which in many cases require companies to obtain affirmative consent to use European residents’ personal information,” the Journal’s Sam Schechner and Nick Kostov report”

“Google and Facebook, using their scale and sophistication, “are applying a relatively strict interpretation of the new law, competitors say—setting an industry standard that is hard for smaller firms to meet,” the Journal reports.”

How does our discussion of “go with the flow” pertain to the benefits of using EWP and a properly constructed PPLI policy to provide privacy? In the first article, the families were moving to save significant tax dollars. Inside the privacy protection of PPLI, there is a similar movement, as the assets inside the policy, if structured correctly, are in a tax-free environment. Like the families in question, they have gone from a high tax situation to a no tax situation–if they moved to Florida and Texas where there is no state income tax.

The new privacy regulations in the second article that favor companies like Google and Facebook show how laws change over time, and when the laws change, it affects the companies subject to the regulation. One favorable element of using PPLI for structuring is that it is subject to the insurance regulations of the tax authorities involved in the policy structure. Insurance regulation tends to be much more simple and straightforward than tax codes, and this greatly favors families in their planning.

The insurance codes in most countries are also less subject to change than the tax codes. Insurance is also considered a vehicle that benefits the whole society. EWP structures enjoy the simplicity that insurance affords.

Our firm is here to assist you in “going with the flow” in the right direction, so please let us know your needs, and so we can find out if your situation is right for EWP and PPLI.

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by Michael Malloy CLU TEP RFC, @ Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc

PPLI for Wealthy Chinese Families

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Works for Assets in Both East and West

Wealthy Chinese are not different from wealthy citizens in other parts of the globe in that they all seek to maximize tax efficiency and privacy wherever their assets are located. Many wealthy Chinese lead dual lives in that they are subject to different laws for their assets inside China and those outside of China.

The concept of Expanded Worldwide Planning (EWP) coupled with a properly structured Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) can give these wealthy Chinese a vehicle to achieve tax efficiency and privacy, as well as complying with the dictates of the tax authorities in the different countries involved in their structures.

The beneficial owner of the assets in a properly structured PPLI policy is the insurance company. This greatly simplifies any reporting obligations to tax authorizes, because the assets inside the policy are held in segregated accounts, and frequently spread out over multiple jurisdictions worldwide. The PPLI insurance company becomes the administrator of the assets and their beneficial owner. Because they are held in segregated accounts, they are not part of the insurance company’s balance sheet and are often placed in the hands of a custodian bank.

Most PPLI companies will accept any qualified institution to act as custodian, and any qualified asset manager to direct the investments in the segregated accounts. This relationship between the owner of the policy, the insurance company, and the segregated accounts is codified in the laws of the various jurisdictions where PPLI insurance companies are located, and therefore lends viable commercial substance to such a structure.

Depending on the needs of the client, the PPLI policy can be joined to a trust or offshore foundation to achieve the families aims. In addition to tax benefits, trusts also allow beneficiaries to protect assets from creditors as the trust may be bankruptcy remote. For example, under a discretionary trust, settlor could be the protector and one of the beneficiaries. Therefore, the settlor may be able to be protected from creditors and benefit from the trust assets without owning them.

Using a private foundation is not only tax-wise but also helps in preserving and protecting assets and net wealth of a family. What is more is that a foundation opens up ways to avoid problems concerning formalities of a will, claims of spouses or other family members when dealing with an inheritance. One of the major benefits is that the death of a foundation founder does not have any impact on the situation of the foundation on both tax and other issues.

EWP can use trusts and foundations to own PPLI policies that can solve issues not possible with other planning tools. We welcome your inquiries on how we can achieve for you tax compliance, tax efficiency, and privacy.

by Michael Malloy CLU TEP RFC, @ Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc