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An Act To Increase the Deduction for Pension Income
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 36 MRSA §5122, sub-§2, ¶M-1, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 657, Pt. R, §2 and affected by §3, is amended to read:
 
M-1. For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2014, for each individual who is a primary recipient of retirement plan benefits under an employee retirement plan or an individual retirement account, an amount that is the lesser of the aggregate of retirement plan benefits under employee retirement plans or individual retirement accounts included in the individual's federal adjusted gross income and the pension deduction amount reduced by the total amount of the individual's social security benefits and railroad retirement benefits paid by the United States, but not less than $0. The social security benefits and railroad retirement benefits reduction does not apply to benefits paid under a military retirement plan.
 
For purposes of this paragraph, the following terms have the following meanings.
 
(1) "Employee retirement plan" means a state, 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.
 
(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 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$30,000 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);
 
SUMMARY
This bill increases the maximum Maine individual income tax pension deduction amount from $10,000 to $30,000 for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2014.