Vermont fine-tunes dormant captive regulations

Vermont will now allow more types of captives, including sponsored and industrial insured captives, to enter dormant status in the domicile without having to pay annual minimum premium tax.

The change has come as Governor Peter Shumlin signed into law H-538. The law fine-tunes regulations governing dormant captives and protected cells, among other housekeeping changes.

Previously, the state granted only pure captives this privilege. H-538 now allows owners to sell or transfer protected cells, or to convert a protected cell to either an incorporated cell or pure captive. The new legislation will also permit sponsored and association captives to file fiscal year-end reports for the first time, matching the fiscal years of their owners and insureds.

Risk retention group governance standards, which were part of last year’s legislation, were also clarified. Last year’s changes to law governing RRGs go into effect next month.

“Vermont’s legislators always work with regulators and the industry to find ways to improve captive law, and this year is no different,” said Guy Ragosta, JLT Towner Insurance Management chief executive officer. “Once again, we have updated captive law that is robust but fair, making it easier for the industry to conduct business in the state.”

JLT Towner is an independent, full-service captive insurance management and captive consulting company with a multi-domicile reach.