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Emmons v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1996-265. Furthermore, “the
employer bears the risk of loss because the employer is
contractually obligated to pay the retirement benefit specified
in the plan.” Id.
At one point during his testimony, petitioner referred to
the plan as a defined contribution pension plan. This may have
been inadvertent.4 In any case, petitioner’s testimony was
contradicted by that of Alyce Wong, benefits supervisor for the
San Francisco City and County Employees Retirement System (the
retirement system).
Ms. Wong testified that the plan to which petitioner belongs
is a defined benefit plan. She explained that petitioner’s
monthly retirement benefits were calculated based on his age at
retirement, years of service, and highest average rate of
compensation. She also explained that petitioner’s contributions
to the plan do not affect the amount of retirement benefits he
receives. Thus, even if petitioner’s contributions to his
retirement fund were exhausted, his retirement benefits would
continue unchanged. Accordingly, we conclude that the plan is a
qualified defined benefit plan under section 401(a).
In general, section 72(a) requires amounts received as an
4 A publication produced by the retirement system describes
the plan as a defined benefit plan. This publication is included
as an exhibit to the stipulation of facts, and petitioner made
frequent reference to it during trial.
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