St. Patrick’s Day is one of our first harbingers of spring here in Vermont, although with the snowstorm that passed through a few days ago, one would hardly notice! That being said, having the sun shine early and stay out later makes it all worthwhile.

I just returned from the annual CICA conference in San Diego this week. It’s a great opportunity for me to meet and check in with many leaders in the captive world outside of our own annual conference in August. One highlight was a meeting of the Captive Association Leadership Coalition, or CALC, which (as the name sounds) is a gathering of captive association leaders to explore issues facing the captive industry as a whole.

There are a number of issues facing the captive industry at present. Perhaps the one that has all most concerned is a border adjustment tax proposed by Speaker Ryan. Taxes would apply based on the destination of where goods and services are consumed, rather than where they are produced or where the business has its headquarters.   It is still uncertain whether financial services transactions will be taxable if this proceeds (and it seems likely based on the reports I have heard), with the impact to reinsurance costs estimated to be in the billions. In most other jurisdictions that utilize a similar value added tax (VAT), financial services are exempt due to the unique nature of these transactions. VCIA is working with the same coalition that opposes the Neal Bill on this issue, seeking to insure this exemption applies. We’ll keep you posted!

Thank you all very much, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Rich Smith
VCIA President