- 8 -
The phrase "on account of" is not defined in either the
Internal Revenue Code or in the accompanying regulations.9 See
Burton v. Commissioner, 99 T.C. 622, 626 (1992). The burden of
proving that the Transfer Refund was received "on account of"
petitioner's separation from the service is on petitioners. Rule
142(a); Burton v. Commissioner, supra at 632; Sarmir v.
Commissioner, 66 T.C. 82, 88 (1976). This burden is particularly
heavy because we have recently held, in a case involving
virtually identical facts and circumstances, that a taxpayer's
receipt of a distribution from the Retirement System upon
transferring to the Pension System was not received on account of
his retirement but rather on account of the transfer from the
Retirement System to the Pension System. Hylton v. Commissioner,
T.C. Memo. 1995-27; see also Adler v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo.
1995-148 (involving a transfer from the Maryland State Employees'
Retirement System to the Maryland State Employees' Pension
System), on appeal (4th Cir., June 29, 1995).10
9 The definition provided by the dictionary, "by reason of"
or "because of", is not enlightening in this instance. See
Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1981).
10 The plan provisions of the Maryland State Employees'
Retirement System and the Maryland State Employees' Pension
System are set forth in secs. 1 through 80 and secs. 111 through
129, respectively, of Article 73B of the Annotated Code of
Maryland. The plan provisions of the Maryland State Teachers'
Retirement System and the Maryland State Teachers' Pension System
are set forth in secs. 81 through 104 and secs. 140 through 155,
respectively, of Article 73B of the Annotated Code of Maryland.
The secs. governing the foregoing two Retirement Systems contain
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