- 7 - Form 5329 submission and allow any differences of opinion to be settled in a timely manner by a court of competent jurisdiction. Petitioners have selected this Court as the forum to decide that question. This Court's conclusion is that financial hardship is not a category or basis for an exception from the section 72(t) additional tax on early retirement plan distributions. Milner v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2004-111; Gallagher v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2001-34 (and cases cited). Petitioners have simply crafted an additional category of exception that is clearly beyond the intent and meaning of section 72(t)(2) and the instructions petitioners relied on. Their argument fails. Petitioners also contend that respondent is precluded from making an assessment against them for the section 72(t) penalty because respondent never filed a proof of claim in their bankruptcy proceeding. That argument is also rejected because, whether or not a proof of claim was filed, a discharge in bankruptcy does not discharge an individual debtor from an obligation with respect to a return that was either not filed, or a return that was due to be filed, less than 3 years before the date of filing the bankruptcy petition. In this case, petitioner's income tax return for the year 2000 was filed well within the 3-year period prior to the filing of their bankruptcyPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011