- 18 - employment and had executed a comprehensive, general release of all claims against the employer. See Morabito v. Commissioner, supra; Taggi v. United States, supra at 745. In each case, the court rejected the taxpayer’s attempt to exclude all or a portion of the payment from income under section 104(a)(2). Neither taxpayer had made a claim against the employer before accepting the payment, and both courts held that, accordingly, there was no settlement of a specific claim but merely a waiver of general rights. See Morabito v. Commissioner, supra; Taggi v. United States, supra at 746. Both courts further held that the lack of any allocation of the payment to damages excludable under section 104(a)(2) required the entire amount to be included in income. See Morabito v. Commissioner, supra; Taggi v. United States, supra at 746. In Morabito we stated the legal principle as follows: Where a settlement agreement contains a number of claims, does not allocate the portion excludable under section 104(a)(2), and there is no other evidence that a specific claim was meant to be singled out, the court must consider the entire amount taxable. * * * The instant case is much different. Petitioner had made a formal claim against State Farm for damages incurred in an automobile accident, and State Farm paid an amount limited to the motorist/underinsured motoristPage: Previous 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011