26 U.S.C. § 161
Section 161 · Allowance of deductions
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 110 court decisions — leading case Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Idaho Power Company (1974)
Most recently applied in Actavis Laboratories Fl, Inc. v. United States (March 2025)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 26 U.S.C. § 162 · 26 U.S.C. § 167 · 26 U.S.C. § 22
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.
In computing taxable income under section 63, there shall be allowed as deductions the items specified in this part, subject to the exceptions provided in part IX (sec. 261 and following, relating to items not deductible).
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1977—Pub. L. 95–30 substituted “section 63” for “section 63(a)”.
Effective Date of 1977 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 95–30 applicable to taxable years beginning after Dec. 31, 1976, see section 106(a) of Pub. L. 95–30, set out as a note under section 1 of this title.
Cross References
Adjusted gross income as gross income minus certain deductions, see section 62 of this title.
Deductions of nonresident alien individuals, see section 873 of this title.