policyholder dividends

ASC 405-944 tells insurance entities where liability accounting guidance lives and adds one specific rule for reinsurance contracts. Liabilities for claims costs and future policyholder benefits are in Subtopic 944-40, premium deficiencies in 944-60, and policyholder dividends in 944-50. The substantive rule here: a ceding entity that agrees to service the reinsured contracts without reasonable compensation must accrue a liability for estimated excess future servicing costs (405-944-25-1).

This Subtopic applies Topic 740's income tax model to insurance entities. Deferred tax liabilities and assets are recognized for temporary differences generally, but a life insurance entity does not provide deferred taxes on taxable temporary differences related to policyholders' surplus arising in fiscal years beginning on or before December 15, 1992 — unless a known or expected reduction in that surplus makes tax payment likely, in which case the attributable tax is accrued currently. Disclosure of unrecognized deferred tax liabilities under the Topic 740 exceptions is required.

ASC 944-50 governs how insurance entities account for and report policyholder dividends on participating insurance contracts. For participating contracts other than the long-duration participating life contracts described in 944-20-15-3, dividends are accrued (measured at an estimate of the amount to be paid, or recognized over the premium-paying period using anticipated/illustrated dividend scales), and any policyholders' share of net income that cannot be distributed to stockholders is charged to operations and credited to a participating policyholders' funds liability. For long-duration participating life contracts meeting 944-20-15-3, annual policyholder dividends are expensed based on amounts incurred for policies in force and reported separately in the statement of earnings.