Internal Revenue Service

Excise Tax - Structured Settlement Factoring: IRS Audit Techniques Guide Internal Revenue Service

Structured settlements have enjoyed widespread acceptance and have become an established part of our legal landscape over the past twenty-five years. More than $6 billion is now paid each year to fund new structured settlements in the United States, and an estimated $100 billion or more has been paid in the aggregate to fund structured settlements that are in force today. Little controversy attended the development of structured settlements. Much controversy has accompanied the development of a secondary market, in which structured settlement "factoring" companies acquire from settlement recipients their rights to receive future payments. Since 1997, the controversy surrounding structured settlement factoring has led thirtyeight states to enact statutes that make transfers of payment rights under structured settlements ineffective unless those transfers receive advance court approval. Since 2002, the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) has reinforced the state statutes by imposing a 40 percent federal excise tax