The death benefit of a Modified Endowment Contract generally remains income-tax free to the beneficiary, even though lifetime access to cash value is taxed less favorably. A MEC is a life insurance policy that fails the federal seven-pay test because too much premium has been paid too quickly. Once a policy becomes a MEC, distributions are generally taxed on an income-first basis. IRS guidance states that non-annuity distributions from a MEC are taxed under income-out-first rules and that loans and pledges of MEC value are generally treated as taxable distributions. That means policy withdrawals, dividend surrenders treated as distributions, and policy loans may be taxable to the extent of gain and may also trigger an additional penalty if taken before age 59½. The death benefit, however, preserves the core life insurance tax treatment and is not the taxable transaction listed here. Reference topics: Modified Endowment Contract, Seven-Pay Test, Income-First Taxation, Policy Loans, Death Benefit Tax Treatment.