2015-Ģ��ƵAT-575

Ģ��ƵAT Held or Ģ��ƵDT Pronouncements

Ģ��ƵAT held that the staff member��s retirement benefit from the Ģ��ƵJSPF including the monthly periodic pension benefit was not subject to taxation and/or payment of statutory deductions and that therefore, any challenge with respect to the application and meaning of the words ��gross�� and ��net�� was merely semantic. Ģ��ƵAT held that the ASHI premium was a voluntary payment that was deducted by the Ģ��ƵJSPF at the behest of a beneficiary and therefore could not be treated as or deemed to be a statutory deduction. Ģ��ƵAT dismissed the appeal.

Decision Contested or Judgment/Order Appealed

The staff member and his former spouse signed a divorce notary deed in Austria, in which it was agreed that he would pay to his former spouse 50 per cent of his net base pension once retired from active service. He subsequently appealed a decision of the Standing Committee of the Ģ��ƵJSPB to deny his request under Article 45 of the Ģ��ƵJSPF Regulations that his former spouse be paid 50 per cent of his monthly periodic pension benefit after the deduction of his after-service health insurance (ASHI) premium. The staff member asserted that the Standing Committee erred in law in its interpretation of the phrase ��net base pension��, thereby derogating from the ordinary definition of that phrase.

Legal Principle(s)

A net base pension benefit is the sum that is left after compulsory/statutory deductions. Where a staff member��s pension benefit from the Ģ��ƵJSPF is not subject to taxation and/or payment of statutory deductions, there is no ��net base�� to be considered.

Outcome

Appeal dismissed on merits

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Applicants/Appellants

Gomez

Entity

Case Number(s)

Tribunal

Registry

Date of Judgement