Best Life Assurance Company of California - Page 7




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            the denominator of Best Life's life insurance company qualifying                           
            fraction.  Based thereon, respondent determined that Best Life                             
            did not qualify as a life insurance company as defined under                               
            section 816(a).  Accordingly, respondent disallowed the claimed                            
            life insurance company deductions under section 806.                                       
                  We recently decided this same issue in favor of another                              
            insurance company in Central Reserve Life Corp. & Subs. v.                                 
            Commissioner, 113 T.C. 231 (1999), which followed the Court of                             
            Appeals for the Seventh Circuit's 1992 opinion and analysis in                             
            Harco Holdings, Inc. v. United States, 977 F.2d 1027, 1029 (7th                            
            Cir. 1992), revg. 754 F. Supp. 130 (N.D. Ill. 1990).  We follow                            
            the holdings and the analyses set forth in those two opinions.                             
                  Therein, it is recognized that Congress promulgated sections                         
            801 through 818 using the specialized language of the insurance                            
            industry and that Congress generally intended the language of                              
            sections 801 through 818 to be given the technical meaning used                            
            by the insurance industry.  See Harco Holdings, Inc. v. United                             
            States, 977 F.2d at 1030; Central Natl. Life Ins. Co. v. United                            
            States, 216 Ct. Cl. 290, 574 F.2d 1067, 1074 (1978) (“the                                  
            definitions combine the 'labyrinthine composition' of the tax law                          
            with the 'mystic processes' in life insurance reserves; they were                          
            not 'written for ordinary folk.'”)(fn. ref. omitted); Alinco Life                          
            Ins. Co. v. United States, 178 Ct. Cl. 813, 373 F.2d 336, 352-353                          








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