投资连结型保险在中国的发展与税法规则的跟进

The Development of Investment-linked Insurance in China and the Legislation of Its Taxation Rules

投资连结型保险是我国保险市场中的新型保险产品。但由于税法规则的缺失,其不确定的税收负担在一定程度上妨碍了其在中国的发展。由于投资连结型保险包含投资的因素,因此,其保险金的给付是否能够享受免税的待遇,保险期间所累积的投资收益是否计入应税所得以及保费支付是否允许扣除等问题,仍存在诸多的争议。保险因素还是投资因素将决定这一保险产品相关收益的税收待遇,存在整体或分解课税法的分歧。如投资连结型保险合同中保险属性居于主导地位而投资安排仅为服务于保险功能的实现,则该合同应当被视为保险合同,以此属性确定其收益的纳税义务。

Investment-linked insurance is one of the innovative insurance products in Chinese insurance market. However, due to the absence of relevant taxation rules, the uncertainty of tax burden has hindered its devel- opment. Because of the investment characteristic in the insurance contract, consensus hasn＇ t been reached on whether the insurance benefits are exempted from income tax, whether accumulated investment earnings during the term of policy should be recognized as taxable income, and whether insurance premiums are allowed to deduct. The issue that whether the tax treatment of investment-linked insurance should be determined under the approach of bi- furcation or integration is also debated. Such issue is actually concerned with the question whether the insurance ele- ments or investment elements should decide the tax treatment of the income from investment-linked insurance. In general, if the insurance element is dominant in the investment-linked insurance and the investment element just serves for the fulfillment of the insurance function, the contract should be regarded as an insurance contract and then its tax treatment should be determined accordingly.