What is an annuity? Annuities are financial products that are designed to make money for you over time. They’re like savings accounts, except instead of putting money in and having it sit there until you need it, annuities take your money and invest it for you. You’ll get back monthly payments on your investment—but just as with any other investment, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get back more than what you put in.
In this blog, we will go over the basics of annuities and how they’re taxed so that you can decide whether or not they might be right for your situation!
Annuities are given favorable tax treatment only if they are life annuities, which are bought from a life insurance company.
An annuity is an investment that pays you a certain amount of money each month for a certain period of time. If your annuity is purchased from a life insurance company, it’s called a “life annuity”, and it will be treated favorably by the IRS as long as you live.
Life annuities are tax-deferred because they take advantage of the fact that payments received before death don’t count as taxable income. In addition, if you were receiving Social Security benefits before purchasing your life annuity, those benefits will continue to accrue even after the purchase. This means that when the time comes for this payment stream to end (i.e., when you pass), any remaining payments will not be taxed!
Life annuities are taxed as ordinary income, not as capital gains when the policyholder starts withdrawing money from it.
The taxation of life annuities is favorable because you pay taxes on the amount you withdraw as ordinary income, not as capital gains. This is the opposite of mutual funds and other investments, which are taxed as capital gains. The difference can be significant: if you’re in a high-tax bracket and earn 5% interest from a mutual fund or bank account, every dollar above $2 million will be taxed at 20%. With a life annuity, there’s no limit to how much money you can pull out each year for living expenses (although some contracts may have fees associated with early withdrawals).
As an example of this tax break in practice, imagine that both Ann and Bob have $10 million invested in stocks that earn 5% annually over their lifetime. If they both die after 10 years (when they’re 80), their heirs would inherit $25 million ($15 million per spouse) under current law—but if they withdrew all of these earnings through life annuities instead, their heirs would get $30 million ($20 million per spouse).
Favorable tax treatments of life annuities is that you don’t pay tax until you start withdrawing money from it, unlike mutual funds and other investments where you pay taxes on capital gains each year.
So as your money grows in the annuity, it’s not taxed. And when it’s time for you to withdraw money from the annuity, then any withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income at a rate of up to 28%.
You should consider this when deciding if an annuity is for you or not.
When you purchase an annuity, the whole purchase price of the annuity is called a cost basis. When you withdraw money from this account, you will be taxed on the amount you withdraw as ordinary income.
When you purchase an annuity, the whole purchase price of the annuity is called a cost basis. When you withdraw money from this account, you will be taxed on the amount you withdraw as ordinary income.
Life annuities are a type of insurance policy that pays out for life in fixed payments to an individual or individuals during their lifetime. These are considered ordinary income and are not taxed as capital gains because they are not considered investments under current tax law, but rather a contract between yourself and an insurer that is designed to provide financial security for your future needs.
As a result, the cost basis of your annuity is not taxed as ordinary income. This is because the IRS considers it to be a capital gain rather than an ordinary income. However, you will still have to pay taxes when you start withdrawing money from it later on in life.
If you have any further questions about taxes, annuities or anything else discussed in this blog, then reach out to our experts at Care Financial today!
