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more County pension plan constitutes a governmental plan as
defined in section 414(d).18 Inexplicably, however, none of the
parties addresses section 402(a) in advancing their respective
positions as to whether the monthly payments at issue are
excludable from Mr. Bangs’ income and includible in Ms. Platt’s
income for the taxable year 2002.19 That section governs the
17(...continued)
beneficiaries the corpus and income of the fund
accumulated by the trust in accordance with such
plan;
(2) if under the trust instrument it is im-
possible, at any time prior to the satisfaction of
all liabilities with respect to employees and
their beneficiaries under the trust, for any part
of the corpus or income to be (within the taxable
year or thereafter) used for, or diverted to,
purposes other than for the exclusive benefit of
his employees or their beneficiaries * * *
All references hereinafter to a qualified pension plan are to a
qualified pension plan within the meaning of sec. 401(a).
18Sec. 414(d) defines the term “governmental plan” as “a
plan established and maintained for its employees by the Govern-
ment of the United States, by the government of any State or
political subdivision thereof, or by any agency or instrumental-
ity of any of the foregoing.” All references hereinafter to a
governmental plan are to a governmental plan within the meaning
of sec. 414(d).
19Instead, in support of their respective positions as to
whether the monthly payments at issue are excludable from Mr.
Bangs’ income and includible in Ms. Platt’s income for the
taxable year 2002, the parties rely on sec. 61(a)(11) and on
cases (e.g., Pfister v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2002-198, affd.
359 F.3d 352 (4th Cir. 2004), and Witcher v. Commissioner, T.C.
Memo. 2002-292) in which the Court based its respective holdings
on that section. Although sec. 61(a)(11) provides the general
rule that gross income includes income derived from pensions,
Congress provided a special rule in sec. 402(a) with respect to
(continued...)
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Last modified: March 27, 2008