26 USC § 6020 - Returns prepared for or executed by Secretary

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(a) Preparation of return by Secretary

If any person shall fail to make a return required by this title or by regulations prescribed thereunder, but shall consent to disclose all information necessary for the preparation thereof, then, and in that case, the Secretary may prepare such return, which, being signed by such person, may be received by the Secretary as the return of such person.

(b) Execution of return by Secretary

(1) Authority of Secretary to execute return

If any person fails to make any return required by any internal revenue law or regulation made thereunder at the time prescribed therefor, or makes, willfully or otherwise, a false or fraudulent return, the Secretary shall make such return from his own knowledge and from such information as he can obtain through testimony or otherwise.

(2) Status of returns

Any return so made and subscribed by the Secretary shall be prima facie good and sufficient for all legal purposes.

Source

(Aug. 16, 1954, ch. 736, 68A Stat. 740; Pub. L. 90–364, title I, § 103(e)(3),June 28, 1968, 82 Stat. 264; Pub. L. 94–455, title XIX, § 1906(b)(13)(A),Oct. 4, 1976, 90 Stat. 1834; Pub. L. 98–369, div. A, title IV, § 412(b)(4),July 18, 1984, 98 Stat. 792.)

Amendments

1984—Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 98–369struck out “(other than a declaration of estimated tax required under section 6015)” after “make any return”.

1976—Pub. L. 94–455struck out “or his delegate” after “Secretary” wherever appearing.

1968—Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 90–364struck out reference to section 6016.

Effective Date of 1984 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 98–369applicable with respect to taxable years beginning after Dec. 31, 1984, see section 414(a)(1) ofPub. L. 98–369, set out as a note under section 6654 of this title.

Effective Date of 1968 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 90–364applicable with respect to taxable years beginning after Dec. 31, 1967, except as provided by section 104 ofPub. L. 90–364, see section 103(f) ofPub. L. 90–364, set out as a note under section 243 of this title.

The table below lists the classification updates, since Jan. 7, 2011, for this section. Updates to a broader range of sections may be found at the update page for containing chapter, title, etc.

The most recent Classification Table update that we have noticed was Friday, May 13, 2011

An empty table indicates that we see no relevant changes listed in the classification tables. If you suspect that our system may be missing something, please double-check with the Office of the Law Revision Counsel.

How To Use

Multiple entries for a section are listed most recent first, within the section.

The Session Year indicates which session of Congress was responsible for the changes classified. The Congress number forms the first part of the Public Law number; each Congress has two sessions.

Abbreviations used in the Description of Change column:

An empty field implies a standard amendment.
"new" means a new section or new note, or all new text of an existing section or note.
"nt" means note.
"nt [tbl]" means note [table].
"prec" means preceding.
"fr" means a transfer from another section.
"to" means a transfer to another section.
"omitted" means the section is omitted.
"repealed" means the section is repealed.
"nt ed change" and "ed change" - See the Editorial Classification Change Table [pdf].

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For serious comparison work, we suggest copying all or a portion of the Public Law text into your favorite text editor, for convenient content traversal and window control.

Sections with change type "new" are a special case, still under development. All are now listed, at the title level only.

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General Reference

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You can look for information about what it is and is not, which titles are positive law, the schedule of Supplements, etc. Under download you can find the source data we use here (GPO locator files), as well as, PDF files that look just like the paper books (these may be rather large).

Refer to the Thomas site for changes that have not yet made it into the classification tables.

26 USC	Description of Change	Session Year	Public Law	Statutes at Large

26 USC § 6020 - Returns prepared for or executed by Secretary

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