T.C. Memo. 1996-446
UNITED STATES TAX COURT
KAY A. CLAWSON, Petitioner v.
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
Docket No. 15334-95. Filed September 30, 1996.
James S. Nowak, for petitioner.
Katherine Lee Wambsgans, for respondent.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
KÖRNER, Judge: Respondent determined a deficiency in
petitioner's Federal income tax for the year 1990 in the amount
of $10,741.
All statutory references are to the Internal Revenue Code
in effect for the year in issue, and all Rule references are to
2
the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure, except as
otherwise noted.
This case was submitted to the Court upon a full stipulation
of facts and exhibits without trial under the provisions of Rule
122. Accordingly, after the settlement of other issues, it only
remains for us to decide the income tax effect of a distribution
which petitioner, as alternate payee, received from her former
husband's thrift and pension funds under a qualified domestic
relations order (QDRO) related to her divorce.
At the time the petition herein was filed, petitioner was a
resident of Ohio. Petitioner was divorced from her husband, Mr.
Willadsen, in 1989. Petitioner remarried in late 1990 and for
that year timely filed a joint return together with her new
spouse, Mr. Clawson. Mr. Clawson's liability is not an issue in
this case.
In December 1989, petitioner and Mr. Willadsen executed a
property settlement agreement incident to their divorce. In that
agreement, the parties agreed that, if covered by a QDRO, $11,930
would be paid to petitioner, representing one-half of the present
value of Mr. Willadsen's pension benefits due to him from the
Marathon Petroleum Co. In addition, if covered by the QDRO,
$23,000 would be paid to petitioner in full satisfaction of her
share of the thrift plans administered by the Marathon Petroleum
Co. for the benefit of Mr. Willadsen. The parties agreed that
thereafter petitioner would have no further interest or claim
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against any benefits that were due to Mr. Willadsen from his
present or future employer.
The parties were formally divorced by the State courts of
Ohio in December 1989. The decree of divorce ordered that the
settlement agreement be incorporated into and made part of the
judgment. In March 1990, the appropriate Ohio court filed a
supplemental order in the divorce case which the parties agree is
the QDRO referred to in the parties' above settlement agreement,
and is a QDRO within the meaning of section 414(p). At paragraph
4 of said QDRO, the Ohio court ordered: "Any taxes due to
Internal Revenue Services on the amount distributed from the
Member's R Account shall be the responsibility of Member". The
parties do not dispute that the "R" account refers to the thrift
and pension plans of the Marathon Oil [or Petroleum] Co., which
were held for the benefit of Mr. Willadsen, who was the "Member",
and that petitioner under the QDRO was designated as the
alternate payee of such plans.
Under the terms of the agreement, disbursement in the amount
of $34,930 was made from Marathon Oil Co. to petitioner,
representing the amount payable under the QDRO, plus $1,156.26 in
interest, all in May 1990.
As part of her joint return for the year 1990, petitioner
did not report the amount of the QDRO distribution made to her.
Respondent thereafter issued to petitioner the statutory notice
of deficiency that is at issue in this case.
4
Within the broad rubric of section 61(a), which defines
gross income as all income from whatever source derived, the law
is clear that a distribution from a qualified retirement plan1 is
generally taxed to the distributee and includable in income in
the year distributed. Specifically, section 402(a)(1), as it
applies to the facts in the instant case provides:
Except as provided in paragraph (4) [not here
relevant], the amount actually distributed to any
distributee by any employees' trust described in
section 401(a) which is exempt from tax under section
501(a) shall be taxable to him, in the year in which so
distributed, under section 72 * * *
More specifically, section 402(a)(9) provides:
For purposes of subsection (a)(1) and section 72, any
alternate payee who is the spouse or former spouse of
the participant shall be treated as the distributee of
any distribution or payment made to the alternate payee
under a qualified domestic relations order (as defined
in section 414(p)).[2]
There is no dispute between the parties here, that the
instrument in question was a QDRO within the meaning of section
402(a)(9). There is also no dispute that petitioner was the
alternate payee under the provisions of the separation agreement
and the QDRO. The parties have also agreed that the Ohio court
order of March 1990 in this case qualifies as a QDRO. It would
1
There is no dispute between the parties that the subject
plans are "qualified plans" within the meaning of the Code.
2
The above quoted section of the Code was replaced by
section 402(e) under the provisions of Unemployment Compensation
Amendments of 1992, Pub. L. 102-318, sec. 521, 106 Stat. 291,
308, for years after Dec 31, 1992. For the year 1990, which is
here in issue, sec. 402(a)(9) was in effect.
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appear that the facts in this case fit the mandatory provisions
of section 402(a)(9), calling for the taxation of the
distribution here to petitioner as the alternate payee under a
QDRO. Nevertheless, petitioner points to the language of the
QDRO itself, which provides that the tax on the amount
distributed here was to be the liability of Mr. Willadsen. We
think this is nothing more than an attempt by the parties to the
divorce to change by their private contract (albeit sanctified by
a State court QDRO) the impact of Federal income tax in a
situation which is clearly provided for by the Code. State law
may indeed determine the rights to and ownership of property, as
the divorce decree, settlement agreement and QDRO provide in this
case, Poe v. Seaborn, 282 U.S. 101 (1930), but the Internal
Revenue Code will determine how those property rights, once
established, shall be taxed. Morgan v. Commissioner, 309 U.S. 78
(1940). Where a distribution is made from a qualified plan to a
participant's former spouse pursuant to a QDRO, as here, such
former spouse is to be considered the "alternate payee" and taxed
on such distribution as the distributee; the subjective intention
of the former husband and wife in trying to agree to shift the
burden of taxation resulting from this transaction is not
effective or relevant. Hawkins v. Commissioner, 86 F.3d 982
(10th Cir. 1996), revg. on other grounds 102 T.C. 61 (1994).
Petitioner may have a cause of action against her former spouse
under the separation agreement and the QDRO, but such cause of
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action is between them, and does not affect the rights of the
fisc.
We accordingly conclude that the distribution to petitioner
from Mr. Willadsen's pension and thrift funds in 1990 was to
petitioner as alternate payee and was taxable to her under the
provisions of section 402(a)(9).
Decision will be entered
under Rule 155.