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Don’t Need Your Annuity? Use It to Buy Life Insurance for Your Beneficiary
When you purchase a deferred annuity all taxes on its earnings are tax-deferred. If you don’t need your deferred annuity, you can leave it for your beneficiary upon your death. Unless the beneficiary is your spouse, he’ll have the option of cashing it some time within a 5 year period, or taking if over his remaining life expectancy. But he’ll have to pay tax on the earnings at his income tax rate.