26 U.S.C. § 2611
Section 2611 · Generation-skipping transfer defined
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 78 court decisions — leading case Peterson Marital Trust v. Commissioner (1994)
Most recently applied in 647 F. App'x 21 - Woldeselassie v. American Eagle Airlines, Inc. (April 2016)
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.
For purposes of this chapter, the term “generation-skipping transfer” means—
(1) a taxable distribution,
(2) a taxable termination, and
(3) a direct skip.
The term “generation-skipping transfer” does not include—
(1) any transfer which, if made inter vivos by an individual, would not be treated as a taxable gift by reason of section 2503(e) (relating to exclusion of certain transfers for educational or medical expenses), and
(2) any transfer to the extent—
(A) the property transferred was subject to a prior tax imposed under this chapter,
(B) the transferee in the prior transfer was assigned to the same generation as (or a lower generation than) the generation assignment of the transferee in this transfer, and
(C) such transfers do not have the effect of avoiding tax under this chapter with respect to any transfer.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1988—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 100–647, §§1014(g)(1), 1018(u)(43), substituted “generation-skipping transfer” for “generation-skipping transfers” and “means” for “mean”.
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 100–647, §1014(g)(2), redesignated pars. (2) and (3) as (1) and (2), respectively, and struck out former par. (1) which read as follows: “any transfer (other than a direct skip) from a trust, to the extent such transfer is subject to a tax imposed by chapter 11 or 12 with respect to a person in the 1st generation below that of the grantor, and”.
1986—Pub. L. 99–514 amended section generally, substituting provisions defining “generation-skipping transfers” and what that term does not include, for former provisions which defined “generation-skipping transfer”, “transfer”, and “generation-skipping trust”, contained provisions to be used in determining the ascertainment of generation, and provided for a generation-skipping trust equivalent.
Effective Date of 1988 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 100–647 effective, except as otherwise provided, as if included in the provision of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, Pub. L. 99–514, to which such amendment relates, see section 1019(a) of Pub. L. 100–647, set out as a note under section 1 of this title.
Effective Date of 1986 Amendment
Section applicable to generation-skipping transfers (within the meaning of section 2611 of this title) made after Oct. 22, 1986, except as otherwise provided, see section 1433 of Pub. L. 99–514, set out as a note under section 2601 of this title.