Treas. Reg. § 1.72-2 — Applicability of section.

(a) Contracts.

(1) The contracts under which amounts paid will be subject to the provisions of section 72 include contracts which are considered to be life insurance, endowment, and annuity contracts in accordance with the customary practice of life insurance companies. For the purposes of section 72, however, it is immaterial whether such contracts are entered into with an insurance company. The term “endowment contract” also includes the “face-amount certificates” described in section 72(1).

(2) If two or more annuity obligations or elements to which section 72 applies are acquired for a single consideration, such as an obligation to pay an annuity to A for his life accompanied by an obligation to pay an annuity to B for his life, there being a single consideration paid for both obligations (whether paid by one or more persons in equal or different amounts, and whether paid in a single sum or otherwise), such annuity elements shall be considered to comprise a single contract for the purpose of the application of section 72 and the regulations thereunder. For rules relating to the allocation of investment in the contract in the case of annuity elements payable to two or more persons, see paragraph (b) of § 1.72-6.

(3)

(i) Sections 402 and 403 provide that certain distributions by employees' trusts and certain payments under employee plans are taxable under section 72. For taxable years beginning before January 1, 1964, section 72(e)(3), as in effect before such date, does not apply to such distributions or payments. For purposes of applying section 72 to such distributions and payments (other than those described in subdivision (iii) of this subparagraph), each separate program of the employer consisting of interrelated contributions and benefits shall be considered a single contract. Therefore, all distributions or payments (other than those described in subdivision (iii) of this subparagraph) which are attributable to a separate program of interrelated contributions and benefits are considered as received under a single contract. A separate program of interrelated contributions and benefits may be financed by the purchase from an insurance company of one or more group contracts or one or more individual contracts, or may be financed partly by the purchase of contracts from an insurance company and partly through an investment fund, or may be financed completely through an investment fund. A program may be considered separate for purposes of section 72 although it is only a part of a plan which qualifies under section 401. There may be several trusts under one separate program, or several separate programs may make use of a single trust. See, however, subdivision (iii) of this subparagraph for rules relating to what constitutes a “contract” for purposes of applying section 72 to distributions commencing before October 20, 1960.

(ii) The following types of benefits, and the contributions used to provide them, are examples of separate programs of interrelated contributions and benefits:

(a) Definitely determinable retirement benefits.

(b) Definitely determinable benefits payable prior to retirement in case of disability.

(c) Life insurance.

(d) Accident and health insurance.

However, retirement benefits and life insurance will be considered part of a single separate program of interrelated contributions and benefits to the extent they are provided under retirement income, endowment, or other contracts providing life insurance protection. See examples (6), (7), and (8) contained in subdivision (iv) of this subparagraph for illustrations of the principles of this subdivision. See, also, § 1.72-15 for rules relating to the taxation of amounts received under an employee plan which provides both retirement benefits and accident and health benefits.

(iii) If any amount which is taxable under section 72 by reason of section 402 or 403 is actually distributed or made available to any person under an employees' trust or plan (other than the Civil Service Retirement Act, 5 U.S.C. ch. 14) before October 20, 1960, section 72 shall, notwithstanding any other provisions in this subparagraph, be applied to all the distributions with respect to such person (or his beneficiaries) under such trust or plan (whether received before or after October 20, 1960) as though such distributions were provided under a single contract. For purposes of applying section 72 to distributions to which this subdivision applies, therefore, the term “contract” shall be considered to include the entire interest of an employee in each trust or plan described in sections 402 and 403 to the extent that distributions thereunder are subject to the provisions of section 72. Section 72 shall be applied to distributions received under the Civil Service Retirement Act in the manner prescribed in subdivision (i) of this subparagraph (see example (4) in subdivision (iv) of this subparagraph).

(iv) The application of this subparagraph may be illustrated by the following examples:

Example (1).
On January 1, 1961, X Corporation established a noncontributory profit-sharing plan for its employees providing that the amount standing to the account of each participant will be paid to him at the time of his retirement and also established a contributory pension plan for its employees providing for the payment to each participant of a lifetime pension after retirement. The profit-sharing plan is designed to enable the employees to participate in the profits of X Corporation; the amount of the contributions to it are determined by reference to the profits of X Corporation; and the amount of any distribution is determined by reference to the amount of contributions made on behalf of any participant and the earnings thereon. On the other hand, the pension plan is designed to provide a lifetime pension for a retired employee; the amount of the pension is to be determined by a formula set forth in the plan; and the amount of contributions to the plan is the amount necessary to provide such pensions. In view of the fact that each of these plans constitutes a separate program of interrelated contributions and benefits, the distributions from each shall be treated as received under a separate contract. If these plans had been established before October 20, 1960, then, in the case of an employee who receives a distribution under the plans before October 20, 1960, the determination as to whether that distribution and all subsequent distributions to such employee are received under a single contract or under more than one contract shall be made by applying the rules in subdivision (iii) of this subparagraph. On the other hand, in the case of an employee who does not receive any distribution under these plans before October 20, 1960, the determination as to whether distributions to him are received under a single contract or under more than one contract shall be made in accordance with the rules illustrated by this example.

Example (2).
On January 1, 1961, Z Corporation established a profit-sharing plan for its employees providing that any employee may make contributions, not in excess of 6 percent of his compensation, to a trust and that the employer would make matching contributions out of profits. Under the plan, a participant may receive a periodic distribution of the amount standing in his account during any period that he is absent from work due to a personal injury or sickness. On separation from service, the participant is entitled to receive a distribution of the balance standing in his account in accordance with one of several options. One option provides for the immediate distribution of one-half of the account and for the periodic distribution of the remaining one-half of the account. In addition, any participant may, after the completion of five years of participation, withdraw any part of his account, but in the case of such a withdrawal, the participant forfeits his rights to participate in the plan for a period of two years. Thus, a participant may receive distributions before separation from service; he may receive a distribution of a lump sum upon separation from service; he may also receive periodic distributions upon separation from service. However, since it is the total amount received under all the options that is interrelated with the contributions to the plan and not the amount received under any one option, this profit-sharing plan consists of only one separate program of interrelated contributions and benefits and all distributions under the plan (regardless of the option under which received) are treated as received under one contract. However, if, instead of providing that the amount standing in an employee's account would be paid to him during any period that he is absent from work due to a personal injury or sickness, the plan provided that a portion of the amount in the employee's account would be used to purchase incidental accident and health insurance, this plan would consist of two separate programs of interrelated contributions and benefits. The accident and health insurance, and the contributions used to purchase it, would be considered as one separate program of interrelated contributions and benefits and, therefore, a separate contract; whereas, the remaining contributions and benefits would be considered another separate program of interrelated contributions and benefits and, consequently, another separate contract.

Example (3).
On January 1, 1961, N Corporation established a profit-sharing plan for its employees providing that the employees may make contributions, not in excess of 6 percent of their compensation, to a trust and that N Corporation would make matching contributions out of its profits. Under the plan, the employee may elect each year to have his and the employer's contributions for such year placed in either a savings arrangement or a retirement arrangement. Such an election is irrevocable. Under the savings arrangement, contributions to such arrangement for any one year and the earnings thereon will be distributed five years later. The retirement arrangement provides that all contributions thereto and the earnings thereon will be distributed when the employee is separated from the service of N Corporation. Since the distributions under the retirement arrangement are attributable solely to the contributions made to such arrangement and are not affected in any manner by contributions or distributions under the savings arrangement or any other plan, such distributions are treated as received under a separate program of interrelated contributions and benefits. Similarly, since distributions during any year under the savings arrangement are attributable only to contributions to such arrangement made during the fifth preceding year and are not affected in any manner by any other contributions to or distributions from such arrangement or any other plan, the savings arrangement constitutes a series of separate programs of interrelated contributions and benefits. The contributions to the savings arrangement for any year and the distribution in a subsequent year based thereon constitute a separate contract for purposes of section 72.

Example (4).
The Civil Service Retirement Act (5 U.S.C. Ch. 14) which provides retirement benefits for participating employees, consists of a compulsory program and a voluntary program. Under the compulsory program, all participating employees are required to make certain contributions and, upon retirement, are provided retirement benefits computed on the basis of compensation and length of service. Under the voluntary program, such participating employees are permitted to make contributions in addition to those required under the compulsory program and, upon retirement, are provided additional retirement benefits computed on the basis of their voluntary contributions. Distributions received under the Act constitute distributions from two separate contracts for purposes of section 72. Distributions received under the compulsory program are considered as received under a separate program of interrelated contributions and benefits since they are computed solely under the compulsory program and are not affected by any contributions or distributions under the voluntary program or under any other plan. For similar reasons, distributions which are attributable to the voluntary contributions are considered as received under a separate program of interrelated contributions and benefits.

Example (5).
On January 1, 1961, M Corporation established a contributory pension plan for its employees and created a trust to which it makes contributions to fund such plan. The plan provides that each participant will receive after age 65 a pension of 1_1/2 percent of his compensation for each year of service performed subsequent to the establishment of such plan. In order to fund part of the benefits under the plan, the trustee purchased a group annuity contract. The remaining part of the benefits are to be paid out of a separate investment fund. This pension plan constitutes a single program of interrelated contributions and benefits and, therefore, all distributions received by an employee under the plan are considered as received under a single contract for purposes of section 72.

Example (6).
On January 1, 1961, Y Corporation established a noncontributory pension plan (including incidental death benefits) for its employees and created a trust to which it makes contributions to fund such plan. The plan provides that each participant will receive after age 65 a pension of 1_1/2 percent of his compensation for each year of service performed subsequent to the establishment of such plan. In addition, such plan provides for the payment of a death benefit if the employee dies before age 65. The trustee funded the death benefits through the purchase of a group term insurance policy and funded the retirement benefits through the purchase of a group annuity contract. Because of a subsequent change in funding from the deferred annuity method to the deposit administration method, the trustee purchased a second group annuity contract to provide the retirement benefits under the plan accruing after the effective date of the change in method of funding. Thus, retirement benefits distributed to an employee whose service with Y Corporation commenced before the effective date of the change in method of funding will be attributable to both group annuity contracts. This pension plan includes two separate programs of interrelated contributions and benefits. The death benefits, and the contributions required to provide them, are considered as one separate program of interrelated contributions and benefits; whereas, the retirement benefits, and the contributions required to provide them, are considered as another separate program of interrelated contributions and benefits. Therefore, any retirement benefits received by an employee, whether attributable to one or both of the group annuity contracts, shall be considered as received under a single contract for purposes of section 72. In determining the tax treatment of any such retirement benefits under section 72, no amount of the premiums used to purchase the group term insurance policy shall be taken into account, since such premiums, and the death benefits which they purchased, constitute a separate program of interrelated contributions and benefits.

Example (7).
Assume the same facts as in example (6) except that, in lieu of funding the benefits in the manner described in that example, the trustee purchased individual retirement income contracts from an insurance company. Additional individual retirement income contracts are purchased in order to fund any increase in benefits resulting from increases in salary. Therefore, distributions to a particular employee may be attributable to a single retirement income contract or to more than one such contract. All distributions received by an employee under the pension plan, whether attributable to one or more retirement income contracts and whether made directly from the insurance company to the employee or made through the trustee, are considered as received under a single contract for purposes of section 72. For rules relating to the tax treatment of contributions and distributions under retirement income, endowment, or other life insurance contracts purchased by a trust described in section 401(a) and exempt under section 501(a), see paragraph (a) (2), (3), and (4) of § 1.402(a)-1.

Example (8).
Assume the same facts as in example (6) except that, in lieu of funding the benefits in the manner described in that example, the trustee funded the death benefits and part of the retirement benefits by purchasing individual retirement income contracts from an insurance company. The remaining part of the retirement benefits (such as any increase in benefits resulting from increases in salary) are to be paid out of a separate investment fund. This pension plan includes, with respect to each participant, two separate contracts for purposes of section 72. The retirement income contract purchased by the trust for each participant is a separate program of interrelated contributions and benefits and all distributions attributable to such contract (whether made directly from the insurance company to the employee or made through the trustee) are considered as received under a single contract. For rules relating to the tax treatment of contributions and distributions under retirement income, endowment, or other life insurance contracts purchased by a trust described in section 401(a) and exempt under section 501(a), see paragraph (a) (2), (3), and (4) of § 1.402(a)-1. The remaining distributions under the plan are considered as received under another separate program of interrelated contributions and benefits.

(b) Amounts. (1)(i) In general, the amounts to which section 72 applies are any amounts received under the contracts described in paragraph (a)(1) of this section. However, if such amounts are specifically excluded from gross income under other provisions of Chapter 1 of the Code, section 72 shall not apply for the purpose of including such amounts in gross income. For example, section 72 does not apply to amounts received under a life insurance contract if such amounts are paid by reason of the death of the insured and are excludable from gross income under section 101(a). See also sections 101(d), relating to proceeds of life insurance paid at a date later than death, and 104(a)(4), relating to compensation for injuries or sickness.

(ii) Section 72 does not exclude from gross income any amounts received under an agreement to hold an amount and pay interest thereon. See paragraph (a) of § 1.72-14. However, section 72 does apply to amounts received by a surviving annuitant under a joint and survivor annuity contract since such amounts are not considered to be paid by reason of the death of an insured. For a special deduction for the estate tax attributable to the inclusion of the value of the interest of a surviving annuitant under a joint and survivor annuity contract in the estate of the deceased primary annuitant, see section 691(d) and the regulations thereunder.

(2) Amounts subject to section 72 in accordance with subparagraph (1) of this paragraph are considered “amounts received as an annuity” only in the event that all of the following tests are met:

(i) They must be received on or after the “annuity starting date” as that term is defined in paragraph (b) of § 1.72-4;

(ii) They must be payable in periodic installments at regular intervals (whether annually, semiannually, quarterly, monthly, weekly, or otherwise) over a period of more than one full year from the annuity starting date; and

(iii) Except as indicated in subparagraph (3) of this paragraph, the total of the amounts payable must be determinable at the annuity starting date either directly from the terms of the contract or indirectly by the use of either mortality tables or compound interest computations, or both, in conjunction with such terms and in accordance with sound actuarial theory.

For the purpose of determining whether amounts subject to section 72(d) and § 1.72-13 are “amounts received as an annuity”, however, the provisions of subdivision (i) of this subparagraph shall be disregarded. In addition, the term “amounts received as an annuity” does not include amounts received to which the provisions of paragraph (b) or (c) of § 1.72-11 apply, relating to dividends and certain amounts received by a beneficiary in the nature of a refund. If an amount is to be paid periodically until a fund plus interest at a fixed rate is exhausted, but further payments may be made thereafter because of earnings at a higher interest rate, the requirements of subdivision (iii) of this subparagraph are met with respect to the payments determinable at the outset by means of computations involving the fixed interest rate, but any payments received after the expiration of the period determinable by such computations shall be taxable as dividends received after the annuity starting date in accordance with paragraph (b)(2) of § 1.72-11.

(3)

(i) Notwithstanding the requirement of subparagraph (2)(iii) of this paragraph, if amounts are to be received for a definite or determinable time (whether for a period certain or for a life or lives) under a contract which provides:

(a) That the amount of the periodic payments may vary in accordance with investment experience (as in certain profit-sharing plans), cost of living indices, or similar fluctuating criteria, or

(b) For specified payments the value of which may vary for income tax purposes, such as in the case of any annuity payable in foreign currency,

each such payment received shall be considered as an amount received as an annuity only to the extent that it does not exceed the amount computed by dividing the investment in the contract, as adjusted for any refund feature, by the number of periodic payments anticipated during the time that the periodic payments are to be made. If payments are to be made more frequently than annually, the amount so computed shall be multiplied by the number of periodic payments to be made during the taxable year for the purpose of determining the total amount which may be considered received as an annuity during such year. To this extent, the payments received shall be considered to represent a return of premium or other consideration paid and shall be excludable from gross income in the taxable year in which received. See paragraph (d) (2) and (3) of § 1.72-4. To the extent that the payments received under the contract during the taxable year exceed the total amount thus considered to be received as an annuity during such year, they shall be considered to be amounts not received as an annuity and shall be included in the gross income of the recipient. See section 72(e) and paragraph (b)(2) of § 1.72-11.

(ii) For purposes of subdivision (i) of this subparagraph, the number of periodic payments anticipated during the time payments are to be made shall be determined by multiplying the number of payments to be made each year (a) by the number of years payments are to be made, or (b) if payments are to be made for a life or lives, by the multiple found by the use of the appropriate tables contained in § 1.72-9, as adjusted in accordance with the table in paragraph (a)(2) of § 1.72-5.

(iii) For an example of the computation to be made in accordance with this subparagraph and a special election which may be made in a taxable year subsequent to a taxable year in which the total payments received under a contract described in this subparagraph are less than the total of the amounts excludable from gross income in such year under subdivision (i) of this subparagraph, see paragraph (d)(3) of § 1.72-4.