Lilly v. Commissioner

45 T.C. 168, 1965 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 14
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedNovember 26, 1965
DocketDocket No. 1284-63
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 45 T.C. 168 (Lilly v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lilly v. Commissioner, 45 T.C. 168, 1965 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 14 (tax 1965).

Opinion

OPINION

Akundell, Judge:

Respondent determined deficiencies in income tax for the calendar years 1959, 1960, and 1961, in the amounts of $46.15, $59.04, and $64.45, respectively.

Petitioner assigned errors as follows:

(a) The Commissioner erred in increasing Petitioner’s taxable income in tbe calendar years at issue by adding thereto 'tbe compensation received from tbe Baltimore City Police Department because tbe same is not subject to tax because it is life insurance and is tax exempt under Section 101(a) of tbe 1954 Code.
(b) Tbe Commissioner erred in classifying tbe compensation received by tbe Petitioner from tbe Baltimore City Police Department as an annuity, when tbe same is in fact life insurance.

All of tbe facts have been stipulated and are found accordingly.

Petitioner, a resident of Baltimore, Md., filed individual income tax returns for tbe years in question with tbe district director of internal revenue at Baltimore.

For many years petitioner’s husband, Clarence Lilly, was a member of tbe Baltimore City Police Department, hereinafter referred to as the department.

While a member of the department, petitioner’s husband contributed to and was covered by a so-called special fund set up by the Charter and Public Laws of Baltimore City. Under the law in effect at the time of his retirement, an employee of the department who was covered by the special fund could be retired upon a finding of the police physicians that he was physically incapable of performing active police duty. If he was retired for physical incapacity and was appointed to the department prior to June 1, 1943, and had 16 years of service, or if appointed after June 1, 1943, and had 20 years of service, he received from the special fund an amount equaling one-half of the basic pay of the grade in which he was retired. If the physical incapacity was the result of an injury sustained in the line of duty, then he was retired on one-half of his basic pay for the grade in which he retired without reference to the number of years of service. In addition to the aforementioned provisions for retirement due to physical incapacity, employees could voluntarily retire at age 60 if they had 30 years of service and there was a provision for mandatory retirement at age 70. These provisions are incorporated in section 591 of the Charter and Public Laws of Baltimore City.

All of the above-described benefits were paid out of the special fund, which was made up of contributions of covered employees made while they are on active duty in the amount of 2 percent of their salaries; fines imposed upon policemen; rewards paid the department; and contributions from the City of Baltimore in an amount necessary to make up the deficit between the moneys available in the fund and the pension and retirement benefits paid by the special fund.

The amounts paid under the above-described provisions were paid only to the employee himself and ceased upon his death. There was no survivorship provision whereby an employee’s wife would receive the amount, or a portion thereof, if the employee-husband should predecease her, except in the case of an' employee who was killed in the line of duty or died from injuries sustained in the line of duty. In this event, the widow of the employee received until she remarried the amount to which the employee would have been entitled. If there was no widow but there were children, then the child or children would receive, until they reached the age of 18, the amount to which the employee would have been entitled. This provision is contained in section 586 of the Charter and Public Laws of Baltimore City.

In addition to the above-described special fund and related benefits, the department maintained a “Special Fund for Widows,” hereinafter referred to as the widows’ fund. The widow of an employee received, whether lie died while on active duty or after retirement, an amount equaling one-quarter of the employee’s basic pay at the time of his death or retirement. This sum was paid during the life of the widow or until she remarried. Upon the death of the widow or her remarriage, the sum was paid to the child or children of the deceased employee until they reached the age of 18.

In order to be covered by the widows’ fund, an employee had to be covered by the previously mentioned special fund and had to elect coverage. After electing coverage, an additional sum equal to 2 percent of the employee’s basic pay was withheld from his salary and paid into the widows’ fund. In order for the widow to qualify, she had to be married to the covered employee prior to his retirement and for at least 5 years before his death. If, after receiving the widow’s pension, the widow herself was appointed to the department, the widows’ fund payments were suspended. If she became covered by any pension plan by virtue of her position as an employee of the department, then the widows’ fund payments would not be reinstated. If the widow’s spouse left the department prior to his death or retirement, all claims to benefits were forfeited. The provisions governing the widows’ fund are contained in sections 587 and 588 of the Charter and Public Laws of Baltimore City.

Petitioner’s husband was retired from the department on or about June 7, 1948, and was paid under the provisions of the special fund. During the period of his active duty, petitioner’s husband elected to be covered by the widows’ fund provisions. ITe died in 1955 at which time the petitioner began receiving payments from the widows’ fund. At the time petitioner began receiving these payments she was 54 years old and had a life expectancy of 26.3 years.

During his years of active duty with the department, petitioner’s husband made total contributions to the widows’ fund in the amount of $430.56.

During each of the years 1959, 1960, and 1961, petitioner received an amount of $1,024.92 from the widows’ fund. Petitioner did not report any amount received from the widows’ fund as income in any of her returns for the years in question. All the returns were prepared by her attorney W. Carroll Parks. Written across the face of the original returns was the statement: “Balto Police Dept, tax exempt under section 22(b) (5) of the 1939 Code and section 105(e) of the 1954 Code.”1 Parks filed an amended return for petitioner for 1961 and written across the face of this amended return was the statement: “Balto. Police Dept., tax exempt under Sect. 101 (a) of the 1954 Code.”

In separate notices of deficiency for each of the years involved, the respondent treated the amounts received from the widows’ fund as taxable annuities and, after determining the investment in the contract and applying the exclusion ratio, included the taxable portion in her income for the years in question. In determining the amount of investment in the contract, respondent included the contributions of petitioner’s husband while on active duty, plus $5,000, the amount of the allowable employee death benefit exclusion provided under section 101 (b) (2) (A) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.2

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
45 T.C. 168, 1965 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 14, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lilly-v-commissioner-tax-1965.