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We followed Poe v. Seaborn in Eatinger v. Commissioner, T.C.
Memo. 1990-310. The taxpayer in Eatinger was the nonemployee
former spouse. The employee spouse retired in 1972 and was
receiving monthly pension payments which were community property.
The Eatingers divorced in 1977. The divorce court ordered the
employee spouse to pay his former spouse an amount equal to her
community property share of his monthly pension benefits. We
held that the payments that a former spouse was entitled to
receive because of her rights under community property law were
taxable to the former spouse. Similarly, the nonemployee former
spouse is liable for tax on his or her community property share
of a lump-sum distribution from a qualified pension plan. Powell
v. Commissioner, 101 T.C. 489, 498 (1993).
3. Respondent’s Contentions
Respondent contends: (a) Petitioner is taxable on the
payments he made to his former spouse on account of her community
property rights in his pension because, unlike the spouse in
Eatinger, petitioner was not yet receiving pension benefits; (b)
not taxing petitioner on payments he was required by California
community property law to make to his former spouse would be
8(...continued)
authorized married taxpayers to file joint Federal income tax
returns. Revenue Act of 1948, ch. 168, 62 Stat. 110, 115.
However, Poe v. Seaborn has not been overturned by Congress or
overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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