News from the Surplus Lines Industry and InsCipher
The SLAS Clearinghouse has issued the following notice regarding the reporting of Surplus Lines policies in Oklahoma. The notice includes several key aspects to be aware of:
June 17, 2025
For brokers that have a current credit balance for Oklahoma taxes in OPTins, when a new invoice is generated from SLAS SLIP, if the SLAS invoice is equal to or less than the refund balance due from OPTins, please send a request to OKSurplusLines@oid.ok.govfor review. Oklahoma staff will review the OPTins credit balance and compare to your SLAS SLIP invoice. If approved, Oklahoma staff will request the tax invoice in SLAS SLIP to be marked as paid and issue a refund of the remaining balance, if applicable. If you have any questions and would like to confirm please reach out to Oklahoma staff at OKSurplusLines@oid.ok.govfor these inquiries.
Surplus Lines Brokers & Agency Policy
Data Reporting Requirements
Do you have questions regarding what broker should be reporting policy data to the SLAS SLIP system?The answer can be found in OAC 365:25-3-13(a)-(c). OAC 365:25-25-3-13(a) provides: "no licensed insurance producer, solicitor, broker or general agent shall place, or cause to be placed with any nonadmitted insurer any policy of insurance upon property and/or any other risks, or any insurable interest therein, having a situs in the State of Oklahoma, except through a duly licensed surplus line broker; and, then, any such policy shall only be procured by strict compliance with the applicable statutes of this State and the Rules issued under the authority of the Insurance Department of the State of Oklahoma."
OAC 365:25-25-3-13(b)(1)-(3) provides: "(1) After procuring any surplus lines insurance, surplus line brokers shall file information relating to the transaction through the electronic database designated by the Commissioner. All required fields shall be completed and accompanied with an attestation under penalty of perjury that the information submitted is true and correct, and all filings shall be in accordance with any instructions provided by the Department. Surplus lines brokers shall retain copies of all filings for a period of not less than three years. (2) In the event any group insurance is determined to constitute a surplus line of insurance, a specific method of reporting additional individual certificates issued or cancelled under such group policy shall be agreed upon between the Insurance Commissioner and the broker concerned. (3) After procuring surplus lines insurance, an insured filing a direct placement shall file information relating to the transaction through the electronic database designated by the Commissioner. All required fields shall be completed and accompanied with an attestation under penalty of perjury that the information submitted is true and correct, and all filings shall be in accordance with any instructions provided by the Department."
OAC 365:25-3-13(c) provides in part: "(1) All taxes due on any insurance policy issued as a surplus line policy, through any non-admitted insurer, shall be collected by the surplus line broker who procures such policy's issuance. Such taxes shall, in each instance be collected in full on or before the issuance of the policy to the insured, except as hereinafter expressly provided for by (a) of this section. All such taxes shall be duly remitted to the State of Oklahoma, through the Insurance Commissioner, on or before the end of each month following each calendar quarter by letter of transmittal accompanying such tax remittance." For additional statutory information and guidance on required application, informational filings, including tax filings and fee and tax payments, please refer to 36 O.S. § 1107.
Oklahoma has received notices and questions from surplus lines carriers who are unable to submit policy data as the correct surplus lines broker is not listed on the policy documentation nor in the SLAS system. Agencies should not be utilizing a single broker’s SLAS SLIP account to submit all business produced by their agency. Each surplus lines broker in your agency that is actively producing business should have their own account to submit the business they are producing.
If a broker of record change has occurred, brokers can reach out to SLAS staff to request a Transfer of Business to move policies to the appropriate broker.
In addition to this information, if the agency has multiple brokers, you can register an Agency account with SLAS SLIP. This will allow each of your brokers to be linked to a single account where users can manage and submit policy data for all individual brokers. The Agency accounts allow agencies to have a single SLIP account where policy data can be accessed and submitted for each broker. If you wish to set up this feature, you will first need to make sure that each of your brokers have been registered with SLAS SLIP. You will register your Agency account, which can be done from the SLAS SLIP Loginscreen. You will then have to have each of your brokers complete the Agent Authorization form (included in the Welcome email from SLIP once registered) and then the brokers can be linked. For further questions on this feature, please contact SLAS staff at info@slasclearinghouse.com.
Oklahoma 2024 Annual Statement
Oklahoma is a zero-reporting state. Even if zero income is earned, a verified annual statement must be filed. Annual reporting for Oklahoma is a statutory requirement. Per 36 O.S. § 1114,
“Each surplus lines licensee or broker licensed or transacting business in Oklahoma shall on or before April 1 of each year file electronically, along with any applicable transaction fees, with the Insurance Commissioner a verified statement of all surplus lines insurance transacted by the broker during the proceeding calendar year where Oklahoma is the home state of the insured.”
Oklahoma requires that an annual statement be submitted for all active license holders, regardless of the amount of business produced. If an Oklahoma licensee held an active license at any time during the given year, the annual statement is required to be submitted for that year. All annual statements prior to 2024 are to be submitted via OPTins. All annual statements for 2024 and after will be submitted in SLAS SLIP.
*Note: If you reported business in OPTins and SLIP during 2024 you will need to submit an annual statement in both systems for the premium submitted in each of the platforms. If you did not submit any business in OPTins, you will not submit an annual statement in that system. All zero business annual statements are to be filed in SLIP for 2024 and forward.
Agencies are required to file zero-business annual statements in OPTins.
If you do not have an active SLIP account, you must register as soon as possible and submit the required annual report. If you have any questions on registering an account, please contact SLAS staff at info@slasclearinghouse.com.
Expired or Surrendered Licenses
If your Oklahoma surplus lines license is set to expire or a licensee plans to surrender their license, please contact the OID as soon as possible at OKSurplusLines@oid.ok.gov. Oklahoma staff will provide information on submitting the broker’s final annual statement. Please do not wait until the annual statement is due to contact Oklahoma staff. Individuals who are no longer licensed but currently need to submit the 2024 annual statement will still need to register an account with SLAS SLIP to complete this requirement.
For assistance or questions for SLAS SLIP, please reach out to SLAS staff at info@slasclearinghouse.com.