Mary Holland Trull - Page 6




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          matching contributions by the employer.  Section 401(a) includes            
          stock bonus plans, pension plans, and 401(k) cash and deferred              
          arrangement plans.  Sec. 401(a), (k).  Therefore, the CP&L                  
          pension plan is a qualified plan under section 401(a).                      
               Petitioner’s 1996 Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, from               
          CP&L indicates that she participated in the CP&L pension plan               
          before her termination and that she made contributions which                
          totaled $1,175.46.  Petitioner concedes that any money she                  
          contributed in the first weeks of 1996 before her termination               
          went into the funds “already in the [CP&L pension] Plan”, where             
          it remained and she received a benefit.  Petitioner was not                 
          excluded from the eligibility provisions of the CP&L pension plan           
          before her termination.  Petitioner made contributions to, and              
          accrued benefits in, the CP&L pension plan during 1996.                     
               Petitioner’s reliance on IRS Pub. 17 is also misplaced.  The           
          language in IRS Pub. 17 on which petitioner relies states that if           
          a taxpayer receives benefits from a previous employer’s pension             
          plan and the taxpayer is not covered by a current employer’s                
          pension plan, then the taxpayer is not considered covered by a              
          plan.  This was not the case with petitioner because she did not            
          receive benefits from the CP&L pension plan during 1996.  In any            
          event, the authoritative sources of Federal tax law are in the              
          statutes, regulations, and judicial decisions, and not in such              
          informal publications.  Zimmerman v. Commissioner, 71 T.C. 367,             






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