American Stores Company and Subsidiaries - Page 32

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               We think that an individual employer's contributions and               
          ensuing deductions for its tax year, in order to comport with               
          anticipated contributions for the plan year on which the section            
          413(b)(7) deduction limit is based, must be limited to those                
          contributions attributable to services performed over a 12-month            
          period.  Lucky Stores, Inc., & Subs. v. Commissioner, 107 T.C. at           
          14.  Section 413(b)(7) states that each limit under section                 
          404(a) shall be determined as if all plan participants were                 
          employed "by a single employer", which mandates uniformity of tax           
          treatment for employer contributors even as their tax years are             
          widely disparate.  As a result, petitioner may not unilaterally             
          and arbitrarily expand its deduction limitation, and thereby                
          increase the amount of its deduction for its tax year, by                   
          including contributions in its tax year in a manner at odds with            
          how anticipated contributions previously had been determined for            
          the plan year in which its tax year falls.  Id.  (In response to            
          one of petitioner's arguments, we recognize that, in certain                
          limited situations, where the same plan year includes both the              
          last day of an employer's tax year and the entire 8-1/2 month               
          grace period that follows the tax year, the use of section                  
          404(a)(6) in the manner advocated by petitioner, if permitted,              
          would have no effect on an individual employer's anticipated                
          contributions for the plan year.  However, many employer                    








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