A life insurance contract will generally be classified as a Modified Endowment Contract (MEC) if...

A. fails the federal seven-pay test is correct. Internal Revenue Code §7702A defines a Modified Endowment Contract (MEC) as a life insurance contract that satisfies the statutory definition of life insurance but fails the seven-pay test , or a contract received in exchange for an existing MEC under applicable rules. The IRS explains that a contract fails this test when cumulative premiums paid during the first seven contract years exceed the cumulative net level premiums that would have been required to provide paid-up future benefits after seven level annual premiums.

MEC classification is important because it changes the tax treatment of distributions during the insured's lifetime. Non-annuity distributions from a MEC generally operate on an income-first basis , and policy loans, assignments, or pledges can also be treated as distributions for federal tax purposes.

A policy does not become a MEC simply because its death benefit exceeds $50,000, because it develops cash value, or because ordinary policy-loan provisions exist. Those characteristics can appear in properly structured non-MEC permanent life policies.

The seven-pay test is therefore the controlling concept.

Reference topics: Modified Endowment Contracts; IRC §7702A; Seven-Pay Test; Taxation of Life Insurance Distributions.