Holding Pattern

Insurance tax specialists at the Internal Revenue Service have been accelerating challenges to the loss reserve tax deductions taken by property and casualty insurance companies. The IRS claims that some insurers are intentionally and systematically overstating their loss reserves to inflate tax deductions beyond what is “fair and reasonable,” the legal standard for the tax deduction in IRS regulations. Loss reserve audits can be expected to continue for several years, until the cycle of industry reserve releases ends.