SERVICES
Corporate-Owned Life Insurance (COLI)
Transform your corporation’s life insurance from an expense into a powerful tax-efficient asset. Protect your key people and optimize your retained earnings.
Corporate-owned life insurance starts with your balance sheet
How a policy should be owned, funded and eventually extracted depends on your corporate structure and your accountant’s plans. There is no useful price until someone has looked at both.
WHY IT MATTERS
Corporate Wealth Preservation. Business Continuity.
Corporate-Owned Life Insurance (COLI) allows a business to insure its key stakeholders while creating a tax-sheltered environment for corporate capital.
How does the "Tax-Free" payout work for a corporation?
When the corporation receives the death benefit, the portion that exceeds the policy’s adjusted cost basis can be credited to the Capital Dividend Account (CDA). This allows the corporation to pay out a tax-free dividend to the surviving shareholders.
Is the premium tax-deductible for the business?
Generally, life insurance premiums are not tax-deductible. However, the tax-sheltered growth inside the policy and the tax-free payout usually provide a much higher internal rate of return (IRR) than traditional taxable investments.
What happens if we sell the business?
The policy is a corporate asset. It can be transferred to the departing owner, kept by the corporation, or factored into the sale price of the company. We help you structure the policy with an “exit-ready” mindset. Last update 23, 2024
WHAT’S COVERED
What This Cover Includes
Buy-Sell Funding
Ensure the corporation has the immediate liquidity to buy out a deceased shareholder’s interest without depleting cash reserves.
Tax-Advantaged Growth
Grow your company’s retained earnings inside the policy, shielded from the high passive income tax rates.
Key Person Protection
Safeguard the business against the financial loss of a high-value executive or founder.
The Corporate Benefit
Utilize the Capital Dividend Account (CDA) to flow death benefits to shareholders tax-free. Solidify your exit strategy with guaranteed funding for shareholder agreements. Move taxable corporate investments into a tax-sheltered insurance contract. Provide liquidity to heirs who aren’t active in the business without selling company assets. In many cases, COLI policies can be structured to offer a layer of protection from business creditors. Access the policy’s cash value to fund corporate opportunities or executive retirement. Aligning Insurance with Corporate Objectives
WHY THINK INSURANCE
What You Get With Us
Our Expertise in Corporate Structuring
- Shareholder Agreement Audit: We ensure your policy matches the requirements of your buy-sell agreements.
- Tax Strategy Alignment: We work alongside your CPA and tax lawyers to maximize your corporate tax benefits.
- Ongoing Compliance: We provide annual reviews to ensure the policy reflects your company’s current valuation.
WHY THINK INSURANCE
What Working With Us Actually Looks Like
Independent advice, plain language, and a phone number that reaches a person. Here is what that means in practice.
Cover sized to your situation
Single, a couple, a young family, or a parent arriving on a Super Visa. We work out who actually depends on you, then size the policy to that — not to a package.
Quotes from several insurers
We are brokers, not one carrier. Give us your details once and see what the major Canadian insurers will genuinely charge you, side by side.
Straight answers before you sign
We explain what a policy will not pay for as clearly as what it will. If a plan is a poor fit for you, we say so rather than sell it.
Covered without the wait
Most visitor and travel plans are quoted online in minutes, and the policy document reaches your inbox the same day.
A person on the other end
Call 604-828-7213 and reach someone who can answer. Assistance runs 24/7, with access to multilingual support wherever you are in Canada.
We stay with you through the claim
The claim is the reason you bought cover. We prepare the paperwork with you and follow it up with the insurer ourselves.
Licensed and accountable
Think Insurance Services Inc. is a licensed agency in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, advising families since 2011.
Not sure which cover fits? Ask us.
Tell us who you are protecting and we will come back with real options, usually the same day.