Group term life

[Guest Mark Porter]

I have a situation where an employer provides up to $50,000 of group term life and in addition has a voluntary buy up program whereby employees can buy additional coverage over the $50,000 provided by the employer and if they do so the employer will pay for 80% of the additional voluntary coverage. Is that amount subject to Table I reporting?

[Michael Devault]

Here are the calculation steps, which must be performed on a monthly basis.

1. Determine the amount of group term life insurance provided for the month.

2. Subtract $50,000.

3. Multiply the difference, if any, by the appropriate Table I rate.

4. Subtract the amount the employee pays for the insurance.

In your instance, the insurance in excess of $50,000 is subject to the Table I rates. That amount is then reduced by the 20% of the cost that the employee pays. The rest is taxable income to the employee.

Hope this helps.