26 U.S.C. § 102
Section 102 · Gifts and inheritances
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 265 court decisions — leading case Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Duberstein D Stanton (1960)
Most recently applied in United States v. Myers (May 2025)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 26 U.S.C. § 61 · 26 U.S.C. § 7482 · 28 U.S.C. § 1346
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Gross income does not include the value of property acquired by gift, bequest, devise, or inheritance.
Subsection (a) shall not exclude from gross income—
(1) the income from any property referred to in subsection (a); or
(2) where the gift, bequest, devise, or inheritance is of income from property, the amount of such income.
Where, under the terms of the gift, bequest, devise, or inheritance, the payment, crediting, or distribution thereof is to be made at intervals, then, to the extent that it is paid or credited or to be distributed out of income from property, it shall be treated for purposes of paragraph (2) as a gift, bequest, devise, or inheritance of income from property. Any amount included in the gross income of a beneficiary under subchapter J shall be treated for purposes of paragraph (2) as a gift, bequest, devise, or inheritance of income from property.
(1) In general
Subsection (a) shall not exclude from gross income any amount transferred by or for an employer to, or for the benefit of, an employee.
(2) Cross references
For provisions excluding certain employee achievement awards from gross income, see section 74(c).
For provisions excluding certain de minimis fringes from gross income, see section 132(e).
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1986—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 99–514 added subsec. (c).
Effective Date of 1986 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 99–514 applicable to prizes and awards granted after Dec. 31, 1986, see section 151(c) of Pub. L. 99–514, set out as a note under section 1 of this title.
Cross References
Estate tax, see section 2001 et seq. of this title.
Gift tax, see section 2501 et seq. of this title.