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her position or occupation and is still employed."
We accept as a fact that the Transfer Refund was not paid to
petitioner on account of her retirement but rather as an
inducement for her to transfer from the Retirement System to the
Pension System. We also accept as a fact that petitioner has not
retired and is still employed. However, we reject petitioner's
argument that the Transfer Refund did not constitute a retirement
distribution within the meaning of section 4980A.
The fatal flaw in petitioner's argument is that the term
"retirement distribution" is statutorily defined. Thus,
petitioner's reliance on Webster's Dictionary definition of
"retirement", as a "withdrawal from one's position or
occupation", is to no avail. Our analysis is necessarily
governed by the meaning of the operative term as it is
specifically defined by Congress and not as it may be more
popularly construed. 2A Singer, Sutherland Statutory
Construction sec. 47.07, at 151, (5th ed. 1992).
As we have already discussed, section 4980A(e)(1)(A) defines
the term "retirement distribution" to mean the amount distributed
during the taxable year under a qualified employer plan with
respect to which the individual is or was the employee.
Petitioner's Transfer Refund fits squarely within this
definition. Indeed, petitioner admits that she "received a
distribution [the Transfer Refund] from her qualified plan [the
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