Davis v. Commissioner T.C. Memo.

1978-12 (1978)

Facts

P worked for The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Co. The Railway merged two offices and rather than accepting another position P elected to take severance pay. P was told that it takes two months to process the severance pay and that she would not receive it before 1975. The Railway mailed her severance pay via certified mail, return receipt requested. A postal employee attempted to deliver the certified letter on December 31, 1974. P was not home and the postal employee left a notice which stated that the letter could be picked up at the Gwynn Oak Post Office Branch after three o'clock p.m. that day. P picked up the letter on January 2, 1975. Insider were vouchers for a net amount of $12,650.31.The Railway included the severance pay in P's 1974 Form W-2, but P excluded the gross amount of $17,006.48 from her 1974 return and attached an explanatory note. D did not like how P disrespected them and so D issued a deficiency. P claimed she did not receive the payment until the next year and thus it was not chargeable to 1974. P sued D.