An Act To Exempt Military Pensions and Survivor Benefits from Maine Income Tax
Sec. 1. 36 MRSA §5122, sub-§2, ¶M-1, as amended by PL 2013, c. 546, §13, is further amended to read:
For purposes of this paragraph, the following terms have the following meanings.
(1) "Employee retirement plan" means a state , or federal or military retirement plan or any other retirement benefit plan established and maintained by an employer for the benefit of its employees under the Code, Section 401(a), Section 403 or Section 457(b), except that distributions made pursuant to a Section 457(b) plan are not eligible for the deduction provided by this paragraph if they are made prior to age 55 and are not part of a series of substantially equal periodic payments made for the life of the primary recipient or the joint lives of the primary recipient and that recipient's designated beneficiary. "Employee retirement plan" does not include a military retirement plan or survivor benefits under such a plan.
(2) "Individual retirement account" means an individual retirement account under Section 408 of the Code, a Roth IRA under Section 408A of the Code, a simplified employee pension under Section 408(k) of the Code or a simple retirement account for employees under Section 408(p) of the Code.
(3) "Military retirement plan" means retirement plan benefits received as a result of service in the active or reserve components of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines or Coast Guard.
(4) "Pension deduction amount" means $10,000 for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2014.
(5) "Primary recipient" means the individual upon whose earnings or contributions the retirement plan benefits are based or the surviving spouse of that individual.
(6) "Retirement plan benefits" means employee retirement plan benefits, except pick-up contributions for which a subtraction is allowed under paragraph E, reported as pension or annuity income for federal income tax purposes and individual retirement account benefits reported as individual retirement account distributions for federal income tax purposes. "Retirement plan benefits" does not include distributions that are subject to the tax imposed by the Code, Section 72(t);
Sec. 2. 36 MRSA §5122, sub-§2, ¶M-2 is enacted to read:
Sec. 3. Application. This Act applies to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2015.
summary
This bill provides an income tax exemption for benefits received under a military retirement plan, including survivor benefits.