SRA 831b Admin

09/02/2026

The 831(b) conversation has shifted — and Peter Dawson captures exactly how.

Writing for the 831(b) Institute, Dawson reflects on three years of industry advocacy and a trend we've watched closely at SRA: the broader captive insurance world is finally giving micro-captives the serious, balanced attention they deserve.

For too long, 831(b) arrangements were dismissed by assumption rather than evaluated on merit. That's changing. More captive managers, attorneys, CPAs, and regulators are engaging in thoughtful dialogue about how properly structured micro-captives serve the same risk-management purpose for small businesses that 831(a) captives have served for large corporations for decades.

What's driving the shift? Persistent education. Landmark cases like Drake Plastics. And a risk landscape - cyber threats, AI exposure, supply chain disruption, severe weather - that traditional carriers simply aren't keeping up with.

The takeaway for advisors: your clients aren't asking if they need better risk-management tools. They're asking why they don't have them yet.

The next step isn't more awareness. It's ensuring the regulatory framework distinguishes legitimate insurance from abuse - without shutting the door on the small businesses these tools were built for.

The 831(b) conversation is finally catching up to small businesses

08/31/2026

Three-quarters of businesses deployed four or more AI tools in just the past six months. Meanwhile, nearly 80% reported AI-related security vulnerabilities.

That gap between adoption speed and risk awareness is where problems live.

Our Take: AI isn't a standalone IT initiative anymore. It's embedded in your CRM, HR systems, financial platforms, cybersecurity tools, and vendor relationships. When an AI system makes a mistake, it doesn't carry a label — it carries your company's name.

The organizations getting this right are doing a few things differently. They're conducting AI inventories to map where AI actually touches their operations. They're reviewing insurance policies before a loss reveals a coverage gap. And they're building governance frameworks that keep humans in the loop on high-impact decisions.

As our president Dustin Carlson put it: "The organizations that succeed won't necessarily be the ones adopting AI the fastest. They'll be the ones that pair innovation with thoughtful governance and a proactive approach to managing risk."

The parallel to cyber insurance is worth watching. A decade ago, ransomware forced carriers to tighten underwriting. AI-related exposures are following the same trajectory — expect more exclusions, more scrutiny, and more questions from underwriters about your AI governance.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming a core part of business operations, helping organizations automate customer service, analyze data, strengthen

07/29/2026

Is your insurance keeping up with your AI adoption?

Artificial intelligence has moved into business operations faster than most companies can assess the risk. Employees are using AI tools to write content, summarize documents, assist customers, and process sensitive information — often without formal policies in place. Here's the problem: insurers have noticed too.

Carriers are already adding AI-related exclusions to general liability, professional liability, and cyber policies. A chatbot gives a customer bad advice. An employee pastes proprietary data into a third-party AI tool. Marketing content generated by AI infringes on someone's IP. These are real scenarios — and your policy may no longer cover them.

Our President Dustin Carlson compares AI risk to the early days of cyber liability. Companies embraced the internet before they understood the exposure. When insurers carved cyber out of general liability, many businesses discovered their gaps too late.

AI is following the same playbook.

The takeaway for business owners and their advisors: don't wait for a denied claim to find out what's excluded. Review policy language at renewal. Ask about AI-specific exclusions and sublimits. And start building a strategy for risks your traditional coverage may no longer carry.

The worst time to learn about a coverage gap is after the damage is done‼️

Artificial intelligence has moved into business faster than many companies can properly assess. Teams are using it to write copy, summarize documents, assist

07/20/2026

Congratulations to our president, Dustin Carlson, on being named #43 on the 2026 Captive Review Power 50 — his second consecutive year on the list.

This recognition comes during a pivotal time for the 831(b) micro-captive space. As president of the 831(b) Institute, Dustin has been at the forefront of the industry's response to the IRS's final regulations on micro-captive transaction designations. That work included litigating alongside Drake Plastics in a case that produced one of the biggest wins the micro-captive industry has seen — the court vacating the IRS's authority to designate an 831(b) arrangement as a "listed transaction."

For advisors guiding clients through micro-captive planning, that ruling matters. It reinforces that properly structured 831(b) plans remain a legitimate and valuable risk management tool — not a transaction category to be penalized by default.

The Power 50 is selected through industry nominations, and Dustin's back-to-back placement reflects the growing recognition that advocacy and compliance leadership are just as critical to this industry's future as day-to-day administration.

Read the full Power 50 reveal 👉

The countdown of the 2026 Captive Review Power 50 begins as we reveal those that placed from 50-31   We begin our countdown of the 2026 Captive Review Power 50 by today revealing who features from 50-31. The 50–31 section of this year’s Power 50 highlights a mix of rising talent, returning figu...

06/08/2026

Insurers are drawing a line on AI risk — and most businesses haven't noticed yet.

The Insurance Services Office (ISO) has introduced new endorsements allowing generative AI exclusions under commercial general liability policies. What does that mean in practice? If your client's business uses AI for marketing, customer service, reporting, or internal workflows, claims tied to those tools may no longer be covered.

This isn't a hypothetical. It's happening now across the market.

The shift from "silent coverage" — where AI risks weren't explicitly addressed but might still be covered — to explicit exclusions is accelerating. And the concern goes beyond individual claims. When thousands of businesses depend on the same AI platform, a single failure could trigger losses across an entire insurer's portfolio. That aggregation risk is driving underwriters to pull back fast.

For advisors, this is a conversation worth having with every client adopting AI tools. The gap between what businesses think is covered and what actually is covered is widening — and traditional policies weren't built to absorb these exposures.

Businesses are increasingly turning to alternative risk strategies, including 831(b) plans, cyber liability, and standalone AI coverage, to take a more active role in managing exposures the traditional market is stepping away from.

AI is evolving faster than the frameworks built to insure it. The businesses that act now will be the ones that are protected later.

Businesses across the U.S. may now be fully exposed to risks created by their own artificial intelligence tools, as new insurance exclusions remove coverage

06/03/2026

The coverage gap facing small and mid-size businesses isn't theoretical — it's showing up in claims data, renewal conversations, and the number of companies scrambling for capital after an incident.

Our president Dustin Carlson writes in Insurance Journal about a reality the industry needs to talk about more openly: traditional policies are getting more expensive while covering less. Deductibles are higher. Exclusions are expanding around cyber, supply chain, and emerging tech risks. The result is a growing share of losses that are underinsured or uninsured entirely.

His argument isn't that captives are the answer to everything. It's that businesses need a layered approach:
→ Transfer what the market covers well
→ Retain what you can quantify and fund responsibly
→ Prepare for what you cannot predict

An 831(b) plan, properly structured with real underwriting and strong governance, can help close the gap between what your policy says and what your business can actually withstand.

Worth a read for any advisor helping clients navigate a hardening market.

Across the insurance landscape, a familiar tension is playing out. Interest in captives and alternative risk solutions is rising, even as many small and

05/26/2026

Your CRM goes down for 48 hours. Your team can't access client data, process orders, or close deals. You call your insurance company. They tell you there's no coverage.

That's the reality Van Carlson, SRA's founder and CEO, broke down in his appearance on the Million Dollar Flip Flops podcast with Rodric.

Third-party business interruption, when a system you depend on but don't own fails, is one of the fastest-growing risks for small and mid-size businesses. And traditional insurance simply doesn't cover it.

Van walked through how business owners can take a more proactive approach to risk: identifying the gaps standard policies miss, setting aside tax-deferred dollars to self-insure through an 831(b) Plan, and building reserves that create real flexibility when disruption hits.

The key insight: risk mitigation should always come first. The tax benefit is the incentive, not the purpose.

❓ What's the biggest coverage gap you've seen catch a client off guard?

Podcast Episode · Million Dollar Flip Flops · April 24 · 21m

05/21/2026

On April 15, a federal court in Houston struck down the IRS's "listed transaction" designation for 831(b) micro captive insurance plans.

SRA 831(b) Admin was a co-plaintiff in the case.

We stepped into Drake Plastics Ltd. Co. & SRA 831(b) Admin v. Internal Revenue Service because small businesses were being swept into a one-size-fits-all enforcement approach that threatened legitimate risk management strategies. The court agreed, vacating the IRS's most punitive classification and rejecting the agency's attempt to broadly label 831(b) plans as presumptive tax shelters.

This matters for every advisor and business owner who has been watching this space. The "listed transaction" label carried fines up to $200,000, significant compliance burdens, and real reputational harm for businesses simply trying to cover risks their commercial insurers wouldn't.

As our president Dustin Carlson put it: "The court rejected the idea that you can call something a tax shelter first and prove it later."

The ruling leaves in place a lower-tier disclosure requirement, which is appropriate. Transparency and compliance have always been central to how we operate. What it removes is the presumption of wrongdoing that was never warranted for businesses using these plans responsibly.

For advisors: this is a turning point. Your clients using 831(b) plans to manage real, underinsured risks now have a clearer regulatory path forward.

Read the full announcement:

/PRNewswire/ -- SRA 831(b) Admin, a leading 831(b) Plan manager, is responding to a major federal court decision that came down on April 15 out of Houston that...

05/11/2026

More than 200 million birds affected nationwide. Six confirmed cases in Iowa this year alone. Bird flu isn't a hypothetical for poultry producers. It's an ongoing operational risk.

For Iowa farmers, who lead the nation in egg production, a single outbreak can trigger mandatory depopulation of entire flocks. That means immediate revenue loss, months of recovery, and ripple effects across workers, suppliers, and local economies.

Traditional insurance and government assistance help, but they rarely cover the full scope of losses tied to disease outbreaks. Prevention and vaccines are critical, but they only address part of the equation. The financial exposure remains.

That's why more producers are building 831(b) micro captive plans into their risk management programs. These plans allow farmers to set aside reserves in advance for exactly this kind of high-impact, low-frequency event, including death-loss coverage tied to avian influenza.

Instead of scrambling for emergency aid after the fact, producers who plan ahead have funds already reserved for the moment they need them most.

For advisors working with agricultural clients: this is a conversation worth having now, not after the next outbreak hits.

05/06/2026

Seats are limited ⛔ Denver advisors - this one's worth your Tuesday morning.

If you advise entrepreneurs, founders, or closely held businesses, 831(b) micro-captive strategies are worth understanding before the topic walks into your office.

In one hour, Peter Dawson, JD will break down:
🔹 Risk finance structure
🔹 Tax-deferred mechanics
🔹 Planning integration
🔹 Compliance guardrails

1 CE Credit | NASBA & NASAA Accredited | Breakfast Included Tuesday, May 19 | 8:30 AM | The Rally Hotel, Denver

Registration closes soon 👉

The presentation will begin promptly at 8:30 AM. Please plan to arrive by 8:15 AM to check in, network, and enjoy breakfast. CE issued through NASBA and NASAA. This course examines how a business can use an 831(b) micro captive as an alternative risk finance solution for Enterprise Risk Management a...