Licensing Information

Please review How to Form a Captive to understand our general formation process.

You will find the documents you need to apply for your captive insurance company license in Applications & Forms, including an Application Index of all required materials. The application form must be filled out in its entirety and submitted with all required materials and an application fee of $675.00 due prior to the approval of the captive or cell.

You company’s minimum required capital and surplus must be provided to the Department in the form of an Irrevocable Letter of Credit, Depository Agreement or Securities Account Control Agreement. Each form can be found in Applications & Forms. Any changes made to these forms will not be accepted by the Department.

The appropriate biographical affidavits must be filled out for all officers, directors, and owners of your captive insurance company, which can be found in Applications & Forms. No substitute form will be accepted.

Tennessee welcomes redomestications of captive insurance companies from other captive insurance domiciles both in the United States and offshore. The Captive Section will work with you and your existing domicile to ensure a smooth transition. Upon request, we can review the documentation your company filed with your current domicile to avoid unnecessary duplication of parts of the application.

For companies seeking to redomesticate from another domicile, there are generally two options:

  1. Owners can choose to form a “new” Tennessee captive insurance company and then, after obtaining a captive insurance certificate of authority from the Department, either transfer all the assets and liabilities of the old company into the new Tennessee company or petition the Tennessee Commissioner and the regulator in the other domicile to merge the companies. 
  2. If you are seeking to redomesticate your captive and have it operate as a Tennessee limited liability company, you may be able convert your non-Tennessee captive entity to a Tennessee LLC if your current domicile allows such conversions.  See T.C.A. § 48-249-703.  Once the company is converted to a Tennessee LLC, the Department is able to issue a new captive insurance certificate of authority.

Regardless of how you choose to convert, the Captive Section will fully recognize the operating history of your captive insurance company. 

Prior to March 15th, all companies except Risk Retention Groups shall submit to the Commissioner a report of financial condition on the Captive Annual Statement Form, verified by oath of two (2) of its officers. Risk Retention Groups must file annual statements on the NAIC blank prior to March 1st of each year.

Reserves and loss expense reserves must be certified by a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society, a member in good standing of the American Academy of Actuaries or an individual who has demonstrated his competence in loss reserve evaluation and has been approved by the Commissioner. It is incumbent upon the applicant to select a member or individual who meets the requirements of this regulation. Please reference the list of Service Providers.

Captive insurance companies in good standing that perform annual audits by an approved CPA firm are placed on a 5-year examination cycle. Captives that elect to not perform annual audits are placed on a maximum 3-year examination cycle. Most of our captive insurance companies elect to perform annual audits of their financial statements. Please reference the list of Service Providers.

Captive applications may be reviewed by an actuarial review firms appointed by the Commissioner. The opinions provided by the reviewing actuary are advisory in nature only and final approval or disapproval of an application will be made by the Commissioner. If the application is assigned to an outside actuarial firm for review, the applicant will be responsible for fees associated with that review.

All books, records, and other information necessary for an examination should be located in Tennessee.

Applications will be processed in approximately 30 days from the time a complete captive application package has been received by Captive Insurance Section.

  • Application Fee $675
  • Certificate of Authority Issuance Fee $440
  • Annual Statement Filing Fee $515
  • Change in Business Plan of Operations Fee $400
  • Certificate of Compliance Fee $7