Richard J. Burness, J. Howard Stecker, & Gregory L. Stephenson (all of the Washington Tax Office of Deloitte Tax LLP) have published 2004 Insurance Tax Year Review: Part I — Federal Tax Matters, also available on the Tax Analysts web site as Doc 2005-833, 2005 TNT 46-99.  Here is the Conclusion:

Changes in the U.S. business environment in the past few years, such as Sarbanes-Oxley legislation and the creation of the Public Corporation Accounting Oversight Board, new tax shelter reporting requirements and related penalties, and the ongoing discussion at the Financial Accounting Standards Board regarding U.S. GAAP accounting computation of contingency reserves for uncertain tax positions, have placed a whole new layer of compliance burden on tax departments of public companies and corporate taxpayers in general. In the insurance arena, the unique rules of subchapter L and statutory accounting further complicate the implementation of, and compliance with, these new rules. Coupled with these complexities is the fact that in most areas of insurance taxation, significant differences remain between taxpayers and the IRS regarding the proper application of the specialized provisions. Some differences have gone unresolved for 45 years or more.

Maybe it is inevitable that an industry such as insurance — which itself is constantly evolving to respond to changes in the business and legal environment, globalization, and many other causes — will always have some significant unresolved tax issues as the tax law tries to keep pace with these changes. However, this industry has what seems to be an overabundance of issues that never seem to get resolved. The guidance received in 2004 is welcome (for the most part); however, a resolution to expand the number of areas to be resolved in 2005 would be a great beginning to a new year. For many of us, the uncertainty creates jobs that in turn help the economy prosper — so maybe we do not want the IRS to solve everything this year, just step up the pace a little.