table of contents the table below sets forth statutory surplus for the company 2019s insurance companies . the statutory surplus amounts as of december 31 , 2007 in the table below are based on actual statutory filings with the applicable regulatory authorities . the statutory surplus amounts as of december 31 , 2008 are estimates , as the respective 2008 statutory filings have not yet been the company has received approval from the connecticut insurance department regarding the use of two permitted practices in the statutory financial statements of its connecticut-domiciled life insurance subsidiaries as of december 31 , 2008 . the first permitted practice relates to the statutory accounting for deferred income taxes . specifically , this permitted practice modifies the accounting for deferred income taxes prescribed by the naic by increasing the realization period for deferred tax assets from one year to three years and increasing the asset recognition limit from 10% ( 10 % ) to 15% ( 15 % ) of adjusted statutory capital and surplus . the benefits of this permitted practice may not be considered by the company when determining surplus available for dividends . the second permitted practice relates to the statutory reserving requirements for variable annuities with guaranteed living benefit riders . actuarial guidelines prescribed by the naic require a stand-alone asset adequacy analysis reflecting only benefits , expenses and charges that are associated with the riders for variable annuities with guaranteed living benefits . the permitted practice allows for all benefits , expenses and charges associated with the variable annuity contract to be reflected in the stand- alone asset adequacy test . these permitted practices resulted in an increase to life operations estimated statutory surplus of $ 987 as of december 31 , 2008 . the effects of these permitted practices are included in the 2008 life operations surplus amount in the table above . statutory capital the company 2019s stockholders 2019 equity , as prepared using u.s . gaap was $ 9.3 billion as of december 31 , 2008 . the company 2019s estimated aggregate statutory capital and surplus , as prepared in accordance with the national association of insurance commissioners 2019 accounting practices and procedures manual ( 201cus stat 201d ) was $ 13.8 billion as of december 31 , 2008 . significant differences between u.s . gaap stockholders 2019 equity and aggregate statutory capital and surplus prepared in accordance with us stat include the following: .
what is the net change in total statutory capital from 2007 to 2008?
2022 costs incurred by the company to acquire insurance policies are deferred under u.s . gaap while those costs are expensed immediately under us stat . 2022 temporary differences between the book and tax basis of an asset or liability which are recorded as deferred tax assets are evaluated for recoverability under u.s . gaap while those amounts deferred are subject to limitations under us stat . 2022 certain assumptions used in the determination of life benefit reserves are prescribed under us stat and are intended to be conservative , while the assumptions used under u.s . gaap are generally the company 2019s best estimates . in addition , the methodologies used for determining life reserve amounts are different between us stat and u.s . gaap . annuity reserving and cash-flow testing for death and living benefit reserves under us stat are generally addressed by the commissioners 2019 annuity reserving valuation methodology and the related actuarial guidelines . under these actuarial guidelines , in general , future cash flows associated with the variable annuity business are included in these methodologies with estimates of future fee revenues , claim payments , expenses , reinsurance impacts and hedging impacts . at december 31 , 2008 , in determining the cash-flow impacts related to future hedging , assumptions were made in the scenarios that generate reserve requirements , about the potential future decreases in the hedge benefits and increases in hedge costs which resulted in increased reserve requirements . reserves for death and living benefits under u.s . gaap are either considered embedded derivatives and recorded at fair value or they may be considered sop 03-1 reserves . 2022 the difference between the amortized cost and fair value of fixed maturity and other investments , net of tax , is recorded as an increase or decrease to the carrying value of the related asset and to equity under u.s . gaap , while us stat only records certain securities at fair value , such as equity securities and certain lower rated bonds required by the naic to be recorded at the lower of amortized cost or fair value . in the case of the company 2019s market value adjusted ( mva ) fixed annuity products , invested assets are marked to fair value ( including the impact of credit spreads ) and liabilities are marked to fair value ( but generally actual credit spreads are not fully reflected ) for statutory purposes only . 2022 us stat for life insurance companies establishes a formula reserve for realized and unrealized losses due to default and equity risks associated with certain invested assets ( the asset valuation reserve ) , while u.s . gaap does not . also , for those realized gains and losses caused by changes in interest rates , us stat for life insurance companies defers and amortizes the gains and losses , caused by changes in interest rates , into income over the original life to maturity of the asset sold ( the interest maintenance reserve ) while u.s . gaap does not . 2022 goodwill arising from the acquisition of a business is tested for recoverability on an annual basis ( or more frequently , as necessary ) for u.s . gaap , while under us stat goodwill is amortized over a period not to exceed 10 years and the .