THE COURT of Appeal is expected to hand down its decision early next term on the appeal brought by the Government regarding the $400 million surplus in the Air Jamaica pension fund in 1994.
Last week, the court reserved its judgement in the matter.
The Commissioner of Taxpayer Audit and Assessment is asking the Court of Appeal to rule that former Air Jamaica workers should pay income tax on their 50 per cent share in the surplus.
Revenue Court Judge Roy Anderson had ruled in December 2003 that the former employees' share in the fund was not liable to income tax but the Commissioner is appealing Mr. Justice Anderson's ruling.
After the Government sold the national airline in 1994 to the Air Jamaica Acquisition Group, the former workers filed a suit against the state. The workers claimed they were entitled to the surplus in the pension fund.
The United Kingdom Privy Council ruled in 1999 that the surplus belonged to Air Jamaica and the former workers.
The defendants in the case are CIBC Trust and Merchant Bank, now First Caribbean Securities, and former Air Jamaica workers, Joy Charlton and Ian Blair, who are the trustees.
The former workers have since been paid their entitlements in the pension fund.
