A purchasing group may be domiciled in any state and purchases liability insurance on a group basis for group members to cover their similar or related liability exposure. A purchasing group is composed of members whose businesses or activities are similar or related with respect to the liability to which members are exposed by virtue of any related, similar, or common business, trade, product, services, premises, or operations.
The licensed insurance agent(s), broker(s), or excess surplus line broker(s) responsible for the purchase of liability insurance for the purchasing group and its members must be either:
- An appointed agent with the admitted insurance company in which the liability coverage is purchased.
- A licensed surplus lines agent if the liability company is a surplus lines insurer.
Prior to doing business in Iowa, a purchasing group must complete the Purchasing Group Notice and Registration Application, and submit the service of process form that gives notice to the commissioner all of the following:
- The state in which the group is domiciled and all states in which the group does or intends to do business.
- The lines and classifications of liability insurance which the purchasing group intends to purchase.
- The insurance company from which the group intends to purchase its insurance and the domicile of that company.
- The principal place of business of the group.
- The method by which, and the person or persons, if any, through whom insurance will be offered to its members whose risks are resident or located in this state.
- Other information as required by the commissioner to verify that the purchasing group is qualified under section 515E.2, subsection 10.
- The commissioner may require the notice to be in a form prescribed by the national association of insurance commissioner
Important Changes regarding the registration submission
The Iowa Insurance Division has implemented a new electronic process for the submission of the Purchasing Group registration. Effective August 1, 2020 all registration submissions must be submitted electronically via OPTins. Before you are able to submit your registration submission you must create an OPTins account.
Please see the information below to create an account.
Once you have created an account, please create a filing for Purchasing Group Registration under Iowa Renewals Reports and Applications. Entity type should be Purchasing Group.
Once you have created a filing you will be prompted to download the Purchasing Group Application, Registration Form, and Service of process form. Please complete these forms and save them to your computer before uploading them.
If you need to make any changes to your filing please amend your filing and upload the corrected documents. This will ensure that the filing is edited and no duplicate filings are received.
Please contact OPTins at optinshelp@naic.org or 816-783-8500 for assistance with submitting your filing.
Purchasing groups must submit a renewal application and $100 application fee by March 1 via OPTins. Information about renewal and filing premium taxes can be found here.
Creating an OPTins Account
OPTins is a simple three-step process which facilitates the electronic submission of premium taxes, surplus lines taxes and state-specific filings. Fees are transmitted via ACH debit or ACH credit, to assure that your funds will be received by the state in a timely and secure manner. There is no special software to purchase or licensing fees - only a transaction fee per filing.
Getting started is easy. For ACH debit, please click on the following link, https://www.optins.org/getting_started.htm and complete the Implementation Forms - All Other (ACH Debit). If you would like to utilize ACH credit, please click on the previously mentioned link and complete the Implementation Forms - All Other (ACH Credit). Please note, ACH Credit is not a credit card. OPTins does not accept credit card payments. For more information on ACH debit and credit, please click on the following link https://www.optins.org/documents/OPTins_EFT_Implementation_Guide_Industry...
Once your paperwork is completed, please email the completed account forms to optinsmktg@naic.org. We will then begin the implementation process. Account setup takes about 7-10 business days.
Purchasing groups must submit a renewal application and $100 application fee by March 1 via OPTins. Information about renewal and filing premium taxes can be found here.