Sec. 1.72-13 Special rule for employee contributions recoverable in three years.

(1) Section 72(d) provides a special rule for the treatment of amounts received as an annuity by an employee (or by the beneficiary or beneficiaries of an employee) under a contract to which section 72 applies. This special rule is applicable only in the event that:

In such an event, section 72(d) provides that all amounts received as an annuity under the contract during a taxable year to which the Code applies shall be excluded from gross income until the total of the amounts excluded under that section plus all amounts excluded under prior income tax laws equals or exceeds the consideration contributed (or deemed contributed) by the employee. The excess, if any, and all amounts received by any recipient thereafter (whether or not received as an annuity), shall be fully included in gross income. See paragraph (b) of this section.

(2) If the aggregate amount receivable as an annuity under the contract within three years from the date on which an amount is first received as an annuity thereunder will not equal or exceed the consideration contributed (or deemed contributed) by the employee in accordance with the provisions of section 1.72-8, computed as of such date, the special rule of section 72(d) shall not apply to amounts received as an annuity under the contract and the general rules of section 72 shall apply thereto.

(3) The aggregate of the amounts receivable as an annuity within the prescribed 3-year period shall be the total of all annuity payments anticipatable by an employee (or a beneficiary or beneficiaries of an employee, if the employee died before any amount was received as an annuity) under the contract as a whole as defined in paragraph (a) of section 1.72-2. See paragraph (a)(3) of section 1.72-2 for rules for determining what constitutes "the contract" in the case of distributions from an employees' trust or plan.

(4) If subparagraphs (1) and (3) of this paragraph apply to amounts received as an annuity under a contract, the rule prescribed in subparagraph (1) of this paragraph shall apply to all amounts so received thereunder regardless of the fact that they may be payable (i) to more than one beneficiary, (ii) for the same or different intervals, (iii) in different sums, or (iv) for a different period certain, life, or lives.

(5) For purposes of section 72(d), contributions which are made with respect to a self-employed individual and which are allowed as a deduction under section 404(a) are not considered contributions by the employee, but such contributions are considered contributions by the employer. A contribution which is deemed paid in a prior taxable year under the provisions of section 404(a)(6) shall be considered made with respect to a self-employed individual if the individual on whose behalf the contribution is made was self-employed for the taxable year in which the contribution is deemed paid, whether or not such individual is self-employed at the time the contribution is actually paid. Contributions with respect to a self-employed individual who is an owner-employee used to purchase life, accident, health, or other insurance protection for such owner-employee shall not be treated as consideration for the contract contributed by the employee in computing the employee contributions for purposes of section 72(d).

(1) Amounts received under a contract to which the rule of paragraph (a) of this section applies (whether or not such amounts are received as an annuity) shall be included in the gross income of the recipient if such amounts are received after the date on which the aggregate of all amounts excluded from gross income by the recipients under section 72(d) and prior income tax laws equalled or exceeded the consideration contributed (or deemed contributed) by the employee.

(2) If the rule of paragraph (a) of this section applies to amounts received by an employee (or his beneficiary or beneficiaries) under a joint and survivor annuity contract, payments made to a prior annuitant may entirely exhaust the amounts excludable from gross income. In such case, amounts paid to the surviving annuitant (or annuitants) shall be included in gross income by such recipients.

(1) Amounts received as proceeds of a life insurance contract to which section 101(a) applies, nor to

(2) Amounts paid to a surviving annuitant under a joint and survivor annuity contract to which paragraph (b)(3) of section 1.72-5 applies, nor to

(3) Amounts paid to an annuitant under Chapter 73 of Title 10 of the United States Code with respect to which section 72(o) and section 1.122-1 apply.