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Insurance payment: pain & suffering

 

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Subject Author Date
Insurance payment: pain & suffering Vic Dura 10-01-2009
Posted by Stuart A. Bronstein on October 2, 2009, 7:43 pm
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>> removeps-gro...@yahoo.com wrote:
>
>> > Are you talking about section 101?
>>
>> No. I am talking about section 104(a)(2) and 104(a)(3) and its
>> revenue rulings.
>
> Section 104 only covers payments made to the son?

That would be my interpretation. I did some looking around and found
no court cases dealing with the issue.

If you take the statute literally, Alan seems right. The statute
says in relevant part that the following is not included in taxable
income:

"the amount of any damages (other than punitive damages) received
(whether by suit or agreement and whether as lump sums or as periodic
payments) on account of personal physical injuries or physical
sickness;..."

If I were with the IRS I'd take the position that to be excluded, the
personal injuries that caused the emotional distress have to be for
the same person. Otherwise the exceptions might swallow the rule.

However the statute doesn't say that. I don't know the IRS position.
And it might well be reasonable to excluded those damages from income
unless there is more certain authority that would disallow it.

--
Stu
http://downtoearthlawyer.com

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Posted by Bill Brown on October 2, 2009, 9:39 am
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> wrote Re Re: Insurance payment: pain & suffering:
>
> >> Hello,
>
> >> If I were to receive a payment from an someone's liability insurance
> >> company for "pain & suffering", would that be taxable on my form 1040?
> >> If so, does it go in line 21?
>
>
> My son was killed in a boating accident in June. The liability
> insurance company for the boat/owner wants to make a settlement to my
> wife and I for "pain & suffering"; although we are only interested in
> being reimbursed for out-of-pocket medical and funeral expenses. I
> need to have an idea how that would be handled tax wise.

Vic,

My condolences on your loss. It must be a terrible time for you and
your wife.

I disagree with Kamlet and Stussy. The payments are being made because
of physical injury. There is nothing in the code that requires such
excludible payments be made to the person who was injured.

Regards,
Bill

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Posted by Stuart A. Bronstein on October 2, 2009, 10:26 am
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>>
>> My son was killed in a boating accident in June. The liability
>> insurance company for the boat/owner wants to make a settlement
>> to my wife and I for "pain & suffering"; although we are only
>> interested in being reimbursed for out-of-pocket medical and
>> funeral expenses. I need to have an idea how that would be
>> handled tax wise.

Vic - I'm so sorry for your loss. It must be really horrible.

> I disagree with Kamlet and Stussy. The payments are being made
> because of physical injury. There is nothing in the code that
> requires such excludible payments be made to the person who was
> injured.

I suppose it depends on whether the pain and suffering damages are
for those of the son or those of the parents. If for the son then
I agree with you. That would seem to come within §401's exemption
for payments "on account of personal physical injuries or physical
sickness;..."

However if it's for the parents' pain and suffering, seems to me it
would come under the statute's mandate that "emotional distress
shall not be treated as a physical injury or physical sickness."

--
Stu
http://downtoearthlawyer.com

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Posted by Bill Brown on October 2, 2009, 12:43 pm
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wrote:

> I suppose it depends on whether the pain and suffering damages are
> for those of the son or those of the parents.
>

Actually, it does not. The parents suffered emotional pain and
distress because of a physical injury which resulted in the death of
their son. Therefore the payments to them are excludible.

In Kevin M. O’Gilvie and Stephanie L. O’Gilvie, minors, Petitioners v.
United States [96-2 USTC ¶50,664; 117 SCt 452] the Supremes make clear
that the only reason settlement payments received by a decedent's
minor children were not excludible is the payments were punitive
damages. If the payments to the children had not been punitive
damages, then those payments would have been excluded from taxation.
The same reasoning applies to the OP's situation. The payments are
excludible.

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<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
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Posted by Stuart A. Bronstein on October 2, 2009, 1:18 pm
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> "Stuart A. Bronstein" wrote:
>
>> I suppose it depends on whether the pain and suffering damages
>> are for those of the son or those of the parents.
>
> Actually, it does not. The parents suffered emotional pain and
> distress because of a physical injury which resulted in the
> death of their son. Therefore the payments to them are
> excludible.

I believe it has to be for your own personal injuries, not someone
else's.

> In Kevin M. O’Gilvie and Stephanie L. O’Gilvie, minors,
> Petitioners v. United States [96-2 USTC ¶50,664; 117 SCt 452]
> the Supremes make clear that the only reason settlement payments
> received by a decedent's minor children were not excludible is
> the payments were punitive damages. If the payments to the
> children had not been punitive damages, then those payments
> would have been excluded from taxation. The same reasoning
> applies to the OP's situation. The payments are excludible.

That case is inapplicable. First of all this specific issue was
never brought up in that case.

But more important, that case dealt with §104 as it read in 1988.
And then it excluded all damages resulting from personal injuries,
including emotional distress. So under the code as it read at that
time, the damages were excludible from income even if they were for
emotional distress.

--
Stu
http://downtoearthlawyer.com

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
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<< >>
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