26 USC § 7491 - Burden of proof | Title 26 - Internal Revenue Code | U.S. Code

USCPrelim is a preliminary release and may be subject to further revision before it is released again as a final version.

Current through Pub. L. 113-9. (See Public Laws for the current Congress.)

(a) Burden shifts where taxpayer produces credible evidence

(1) General rule

If, in any court proceeding, a taxpayer introduces credible evidence with respect to any factual issue relevant to ascertaining the liability of the taxpayer for any tax imposed by subtitle A or B, the Secretary shall have the burden of proof with respect to such issue.

(2) Limitations

Paragraph (1) shall apply with respect to an issue only if—

(A) the taxpayer has complied with the requirements under this title to substantiate any item;

(B) the taxpayer has maintained all records required under this title and has cooperated with reasonable requests by the Secretary for witnesses, information, documents, meetings, and interviews; and

(C) in the case of a partnership, corporation, or trust, the taxpayer is described in section 7430 (c)(4)(A)(ii).

Subparagraph (C) shall not apply to any qualified revocable trust (as defined in section 645 (b)(1)) with respect to liability for tax for any taxable year ending after the date of the decedent’s death and before the applicable date (as defined in section 645 (b)(2)).

(3) Coordination

Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any issue if any other provision of this title provides for a specific burden of proof with respect to such issue.

(b) Use of statistical information on unrelated taxpayers

In the case of an individual taxpayer, the Secretary shall have the burden of proof in any court proceeding with respect to any item of income which was reconstructed by the Secretary solely through the use of statistical information on unrelated taxpayers.

(c) Penalties

Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, the Secretary shall have the burden of production in any court proceeding with respect to the liability of any individual for any penalty, addition to tax, or additional amount imposed by this title.

prev | next

(a) Burden shifts where taxpayer produces credible evidence

(1) General rule

If, in any court proceeding, a taxpayer introduces credible evidence with respect to any factual issue relevant to ascertaining the liability of the taxpayer for any tax imposed by subtitle A or B, the Secretary shall have the burden of proof with respect to such issue.

(2) Limitations

Paragraph (1) shall apply with respect to an issue only if—

(A) the taxpayer has complied with the requirements under this title to substantiate any item;

(B) the taxpayer has maintained all records required under this title and has cooperated with reasonable requests by the Secretary for witnesses, information, documents, meetings, and interviews; and

(C) in the case of a partnership, corporation, or trust, the taxpayer is described in section 7430 (c)(4)(A)(ii).

Subparagraph (C) shall not apply to any qualified revocable trust (as defined in section 645 (b)(1)) with respect to liability for tax for any taxable year ending after the date of the decedent’s death and before the applicable date (as defined in section 645 (b)(2)).

(3) Coordination

Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any issue if any other provision of this title provides for a specific burden of proof with respect to such issue.

(b) Use of statistical information on unrelated taxpayers

In the case of an individual taxpayer, the Secretary shall have the burden of proof in any court proceeding with respect to any item of income which was reconstructed by the Secretary solely through the use of statistical information on unrelated taxpayers.

(c) Penalties

Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, the Secretary shall have the burden of production in any court proceeding with respect to the liability of any individual for any penalty, addition to tax, or additional amount imposed by this title.

Source

(Added Pub. L. 105–206, title III, § 3001(a),July 22, 1998, 112 Stat. 726; amended Pub. L. 105–277, div. J, title IV, § 4002(b),Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 2681–906.)

Prior Provisions

A prior section 7491, act Aug. 16, 1954, ch. 736, 68A Stat. 893, placed the burden of proof in establishing the applicability of an exemption upon the defendant in the case of marihuana offenses, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 91–513, title III, §§ 1101(b)(5)(A), 1103, 1105(a),Oct. 27, 1970, 84 Stat. 1292, 1294, 1295, effective on first day of seventh calendar month that begins after Oct. 26, 1970, with prosecutions commenced prior to such date not to be affected or abated by reason thereof.

A prior section 7492, act Aug. 16, 1954, ch. 736, 68A Stat. 893, related to the enforceability of cotton futures contracts, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 94–455, title XIX, § 1952(n)(4)(A), (o),Oct. 4, 1976, 90 Stat. 1846, effective on the 90th day after Oct. 4, 1976.

A prior section 7493, act Aug. 16, 1954, ch. 736, 68A Stat. 893, provided that no person whose evidence is deemed material by the officer prosecuting on behalf of the United States in any case brought under any provision of subchapter D of chapter 39 of this title withhold his testimony because of complicity by him in any violation of subchapter D of chapter 39 of this title or of any regulation made pursuant to such chapter, but that such person called by such officer who testifies in the case be exempt from prosecution for any offense to which his testimony relates, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 91–452, title II, §§ 232, 260,Oct. 15, 1970, 84 Stat. 930, 931, effective on 60th day following Oct. 15, 1970, and not to affect any immunity to which any individual was entitled under by reason of any testimony given before 60th day following Oct. 15, 1970. See section 6001 et seq. of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure.

Amendments

1998—Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 105–277inserted concluding provisions.

Effective Date of 1998 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 105–277effective as if included in the provision of the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, Pub. L. 105–206, to which such amendment relates, see section 4002(k) ofPub. L. 105–277, set out as a note under section 1 of this title.

Effective Date

Pub. L. 105–206, title III, § 3001(c),July 22, 1998, 112 Stat. 727, provided that:

“(1) In general.—The amendments made by this section [enacting this subchapter] shall apply to court proceedings arising in connection with examinations commencing after the date of the enactment of this Act [July 22, 1998].

“(2) Taxable periods or events after date of enactment.—In any case in which there is no examination, such amendments shall apply to court proceedings arising in connection with taxable periods or events beginning or occurring after such date of enactment.”

The table below lists the classification updates, since Jan. 3, 2012, 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 Wednesday, May 29, 2013

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].

The Public Law field is linked to the development of the law in the Thomas system at the Library of Congress.

The Statutes at Large field is linked to the text of the law, in the context of its volume of the Statutes at Large, at the Government Printing Office. Please note that it takes a while for these pages to get posted, so for very recent legislation, you need to look at the "enrolled" version at the Thomas site.

The Statutes at Large references have been rendered in the format used as page numbers in the Public Law web pages to which we link, to facilitate copy-paste into browser "find on this (web) page" tools. We are still working on a more direct link facility.

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.

You will find that occassionally a specific update you notice in a Public Law listed in a classification table will already have made it into the Code. We assume this is an artifact of the LRC edit process. The LII does not edit the LRC content.

top

General Reference

Refer to the LRC (Law Revision Council) for explanations about the US Code from the folks who put it all together.

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 § 7491 - Burden of proof

U.S. Code Toolbox

Law about... Articles from Wex

Get Involved

Find a Lawyer