Nearly all commission contracts in the insurance industry incorporate rules so that insurance companies can protect themselves from paying multiple remunerations to agents for identical or similar activities

It is difficult to automate these agreements, as rules have to be defined that then enable users/the system to identify such a "similar" business. For example, the system must recognize that one and the same insured person or object is involved, or that the new tariff concluded either fully or partially replaces one that was cancelled.

The offsetting agreement sets down the offsetting features of a standard commission contract.

The offsetting period controls offsetting within a commission case. If you want to execute both a remuneration increase and a remuneration decrease in one commission case, the system offsets the remuneration.

A liability period for offsetting is usually defined, to avoid the situation arising in which offsetting does not take place because of the time differences in a provisional transaction.

For example, if a new (identical or similar) insurance policy is concluded within a certain period of time (usually six to twelve months) after the first policy is terminated, the commission originally paid is offset with that for the new policy.

The liability period also applies in the reverse case. If a second (identical/similar) insurance policy is concluded, and the first policy is terminated within a certain period, the commission paid for the second insurance policy can be recalled up to the amount of the commission paid for the first policy.