- 7 - property interest of petitioner’s former spouse is recognizable for Federal income tax purposes, the distributions are taxable to petitioner. Petitioner acknowledges that section 408(g) requires that section 408 be applied without regard to community property laws, but he contends that his former spouse’s community property interest in his IRA’s arose ab initio and thus may be taken into account to determine the taxability of the distributions. Respondent takes no position in this case on the effect of section 408(g). Instead, respondent contends that petitioner is the sole taxable distributee because he was the sole recipient of the distributions. We disagree with respondent’s assertion that the recipient of an IRA distribution is automatically the taxable distributee. We have held that in the context of a distribution from a pension plan the term “distributee” is not necessarily synonymous with “recipient”. Estate of Machat v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1998- 154 (citing Darby v. Commissioner, 97 T.C. 51, 64-66 (1991)). We nevertheless find that petitioner was the sole distributee in this case. The IRA’s were established by petitioner in his name, and, by reason of section 408(g), his wife is not treated as a distributee of any portion of the IRA for Federal income tax purposes despite her community property interest therein.Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Next
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