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The Daily Insight Hub

Is prepaid insurance an expense?

Author

Isabella Turner

Updated on December 29, 2025

Prepaid insurance is considered a prepaid expense. A prepaid expense is carried on an insurance company’s balance sheet as a current asset until it is consumed. That’s because most prepaid assets are consumed within a few months of being recorded.

What is an insurance expense?

Insurance expense is the amount that a company pays to get an insurance contract and any additional premium payments. The payment made by the company is listed as an expense for the accounting period. The company must pay premiums on all its insurance policies.

How do you calculate prepaid insurance and insurance expense?

For example, if you purchase 12 months of insurance, divide your lump sum payment by 12 to determine the cost of one month’s insurance premium. For example, if you spend $1,200 for the 12-month policy, your monthly cost is $100.

How do you record prepaid insurance expense?

When first recording the prepaid expense entry, you should debit the asset account for the amount paid and subtract the same amount from your cash account. Using the above example, you would add $6,000 in assets to your prepaid insurance account and credit $6,000 from your cash account.

What is an example of insurance expense?

Example of Insurance Expense For example, a business spends $12,000 in advance for liability insurance coverage for the next twelve months. The company records this expenditure in the prepaid expense account as a current asset. This is considered unexpired insurance.

How do you account for insurance premiums?

At the end of any accounting period, the amount of the insurance premiums that remain prepaid should be reported in the current asset account, Prepaid Insurance. The prepaid amount will be reported on the balance sheet after inventory and could part of an item described as prepaid expenses.

How do you account for insurance?

How do you determine prepaid expenses?

To recognize prepaid expenses that become actual expenses, use adjusting entries. As you use the prepaid item, decrease your Prepaid Expense account and increase your actual Expense account. To do this, debit your Expense account and credit your Prepaid Expense account. This creates a prepaid expense adjusting entry.

What is the 12 month rule for prepaid expenses?

The 12-Month Rule The “12-month rule” allows for the deduction of a prepaid expense in the current year if the right or benefit paid for does not extend beyond the earlier of: 12 months, or. the end of the taxable year following the taxable year in which the payment is made.

How do you account for insurance expense?

Prepaid Insurance Journal Entry When the asset is charged to expense, the journal entry is to debit the insurance expense account and credit the prepaid insurance account. Thus, the amount charged to expense in an accounting period is only the amount of the prepaid insurance asset ratably assigned to that period.

What is the journal entry of insurance?

A basic insurance journal entry is Debit: Insurance Expense, Credit: Bank for payments to an insurance company for business insurance. Not all insurance payments (premiums) are deductible* business expenses. Some insurance payments can go on to the Profit and Loss Report and some must go on the Balance Sheet.

How do you record monthly insurance expense?

When you buy the insurance, debit the Prepaid Expense account to show an increase in assets. And, credit the Cash account to show the loss of cash. Each month, adjust the accounts by the amount of the policy you use.

What is the journal entry for insurance?

What type of account is the insurance account?

Expense accounts represent a company’s costs of doing business. Common examples include wages, salaries, materials, utilities, rent, depreciation, interest, insurance, etc. Contra-accounts are accounts with negative balances that offset other balance sheet accounts.

Is Accounts Receivable a prepaid expense?

While reviewing a company’s balance sheet, you’ll likely notice a current assets section at the top of the schedule. This group of current assets includes prepaid expenses. Other current asset accounts include cash and equivalents, accounts receivable, and inventory.

Prepaid insurance is considered a prepaid expense. When someone purchases prepaid insurance, the contract generally covers a period of time in the future. When the insurance coverage comes into effect, it is moved from an asset and charged to the expense side of the company’s balance sheet.

Is prepaid insurance a permanent account?

Examples of Permanent Accounts Asset accounts – asset accounts such as Cash, Accounts Receivable, Inventories, Prepaid Expenses, Furniture and Fixtures, etc. are all permanent accounts.

What is the entry for prepaid expenses?

The initial journal entry for prepaid rent is a debit to prepaid rent and a credit to cash. These are both asset accounts and do not increase or decrease a company’s balance sheet. Recall that prepaid expenses are considered an asset because they provide future economic benefits to the company.

What is considered a prepaid expense?

A prepaid expense is a type of asset on the balance sheet that results from a business making advanced payments for goods or services to be received in the future. Prepaid expenses are initially recorded as assets, but their value is expensed over time onto the income statement.

What’s the difference between a prepaid expense and an expense?

However, the premiums may be marginally higher to account for inflation and other operating factors. A prepaid expense is an expenditure paid for in one accounting period, but for which the underlying asset will not be consumed until a future period. Prepaid insurance is considered as such.

How does prepaid insurance show up on a balance sheet?

When they aren’t used up or expired, these payments show up on an insurance company’s balance sheet. as a current asset. A prepaid expense is an expenditure that a business or individual pays for before using it. Prepaid insurance is considered a prepaid expense.

What’s the difference between Bank and prepaid insurance?

Prepaid Insurance is debited which indicates the creation of an asset in the balance sheet Whereas Bank is credited with an equal amount which balances the rule of accounting (for each credit there is an equal debit)

When does a prepaid insurance expense become an asset?

But if a prepaid expense is not consumed within the year after payment, it becomes a long-term asset, which is not a very common occurrence. The payment of the insurance expense is similar to money in the bank—as that money is used up, it is withdrawn from the account in each month or accounting period.