Qualified Public Pension Subtraction

[Zasu]

I am a divorced spouse of a retired police officer. I am collecting a monthly benefit based on my ex-spouse's police and fire retirement plan. His employment was as a basic member and he never paid into social security. Do I qualify for the Qualified Public Pension Subtraction? MN Dept of Revenue referred me to PERA but they are unable to give me a definitive answer. Thanks!

[ThomasM125 · Accepted solution]

First, you would have to see if your pension plan qualifies. You can read about this on the Minnesota Department of Revenue website. For police and fire retirement plans, it would have to be qualified under Chapter 353, sections 353.63 to 353.666.

The payments would have to be taxable on your federal tax return. You could look on line 5(b) of your Form 1040 to verify that.

To view your form 1040 and schedule 1 to 3:

1. Choose Tax Tools from your left menu bar in TurboTax Online while working in your program
2. Choose Tools
3. Choose View Tax Summary
4. See the Preview my 1040 option in the left menu bar and click on it
5. Choose the Back option in the left menu bar when you are done 

Your income would have to be under $101,190.

The other requirement would be that your ex-spouse's compensation was not subject to social security tax, which you mentioned is true.