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U.S. 111, 115 (1933).
Payments at Issue
It is petitioner’s position that approximately $100,000
(payments at issue) of the payments that she received pursuant to
the separation agreement was on account of personal physical
injuries or physical sickness and therefore should be excluded
from her gross income under section 104(a)(2).4 It is respon-
dent’s position that petitioner is not entitled to exclude from
her gross income under section 104(a)(2) the payments at issue,
or any other payments, that she received during 2000.
Section 61(a) provides the following sweeping definition of
the term “gross income”: “Except as otherwise provided in this
subtitle, gross income means all income from whatever source
derived”. The regulations promulgated thereunder specifically
provide that compensation for services, such as termination or
severance pay, is included within the definition of gross income.
See sec. 61(a)(1); sec. 1.61-2(a)(1), Income Tax Regs. Not only
is section 61(a) broad in its scope, Commissioner v. Schleier,
515 U.S. 323, 328 (1995), exclusions from gross income must be
narrowly construed, id.; United States v. Burke, 504 U.S. 229,
248 (1992).
Section 104(a)(2), on which petitioner relies, provides that
4The Court ordered the parties to file posttrial briefs.
Petitioner failed to do so.
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