Margaret M. Merker - Page 12

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               Under FERS, the computation of disability retirement annuity           
          payments does not vary with the nature of the injury; all                   
          employees considered "disabled" receive benefits under a single             
          formula based on the employee's "average pay".  5 U.S.C. secs.              
          8451 and 8452.  Accordingly, petitioner is not entitled to                  
          exclude the disability annuity payments under section 105(c).               
          See Beisler v. Commissioner, supra at 1309.                                 
               Thus, we are left to consider the possibility of exclusion             
          under section 104(a)(3) or 72(b).  To grant petitioner relief               
          from taxation under either section 104(a)(3) or 72(b), it is                
          necessary to determine the amount of the disability annuity                 
          payments attributable to petitioner's contributions toward the              
          disability annuity as well as the percentage of the overall                 
          contributions that this constitutes.  While petitioner's                    
          participation in FERS may require after-tax contributions, there            
          is no evidence of the amount of her after-tax FERS contributions.           
          See 5 U.S.C. sec. 8422(a)(1) and (2) (1994).  Accordingly, we are           
          unable to grant petitioner any relief under either section                  
          104(a)(3) or 72(b).8                                                        
               Petitioner claims that she is being persecuted for the                 
          Government's mistake.  In legal terms, this amounts to an                   
          argument that respondent should be equitably estopped from                  

          8   We need not decide, therefore, any questions concerning the             
          interrelationship or applicability of these two sections to the             
          disability annuity received by petitioner.                                  




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