Louisiana to Withdraw from Multi-State Surplus Lines Clearinghouse

Effective Oct. 1, Louisiana will withdraw from the Nonadmitted Insurance Multi-state Agreement (NIMA) and the NIMA-sponsored surplus lines clearinghouse, state insurance regulators announced.

The state’s withdrawal from NIMA means it will no longer share surplus lines tax revenue with NIMA participating states.

In Bulletin No. 2015-06, the Department of Insurance reported that surplus lines transactions with an effective date on or after Oct. 1 will be taxed at a rate of 4.85 percent instead of the current rate of 5.00 percent.

A surplus lines policy with an effective date before Oct. 1 will continue to be taxed at the 5 percent rate.

New and renewal multi-state policies dated previous to Oct. 1 will continue to be subject to NIMA rules and reporting through the clearinghouse.

Effective July 1, 2015, the transaction fee charge by the surplus lines clearinghouse was reduced to 0.175 percent, down from 0.3 percent.

Several changes to surplus lines reporting requirements are also effective Oct. 1.

The changes are a result of legislative measures passed in 2015. Changes also include the exemption from taxes on surplus lines policies for certain colleges and universities, as well as qualifying political subdivisions that have populations greater than 350,000.