- 6 - court determined that petitioner's interest in the net military retirement pension was 20 percent. Because of this lack of evidence, we can only assume that the district court followed Texas State law in making its determination. Based on the presumption that property possessed by either spouse upon divorce is community property, and the lack of any evidence to rebut such presumption, we conclude that the pension payments received by petitioner represented petitioner's vested community property interest in Col. Fulgham's military retirement pension. Because Texas is a community property State and petitioner has a vested interest in the pension, the entire pension did not become Col. Fulgham's separate property upon the divorce. Thus, contrary to petitioner’s contention, the entire pension is not taxable solely to Col. Fulgham. See Denbow v. Commissioner, supra. Under section 61(a), gross income includes all income from whatever source derived, including pensions. See sec. 61(a)(11). Military retirement pay is a pension. See Eatinger v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1990-310. If a spouse of a member of the Armed Forces has a vested interest in the community income, then the spouse must pay tax on that share of the income. See Denbow v. Commissioner, supra. Because the $10,095 share of disposable retired pay received by petitioner was from a community property interest in a military pension, the payments constitute income to petitioner under section 61(a)(11). SeePage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next
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