26 U.S.C. § 5691
Section 5691 · Penalties for nonpayment of special taxes
Amended 4 times on record
Applied in 38 court decisions — leading case United States v. Bryant (1972)
Most recently applied in United States v. Johnny Ray Jones and John Glen Jones (August 1991)
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.
Any person who shall carry on a business subject to a special tax imposed by part II of subchapter A or section 5276 (relating to occupational taxes) and willfully fail to pay the special tax as required by law, shall be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both, for each such offense.
For the purposes of this chapter, the sale, or offer for sale, of distilled spirits, wines, or beer, in quantities of 20 wine gallons or more to the same person at the same time, shall be presumptive evidence that the person making such sale, or offer for sale, is engaged in or carrying on the business of a wholesale dealer in liquors or a wholesale dealer in beer, as the case may be. Such presumption may be overcome by evidence satisfactorily showing that such sale, or offer for sale, was made to a person other than a dealer, as defined in section 5112(a).
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Prior Provisions
A prior section 5691, act Aug. 16, 1954, ch. 736, 68A Stat. 702, consisted of provisions similar to those comprising subsec. (a) of this section, prior to the general revision of this chapter by Pub. L. 85–859.
Prior section 5691 also related to forfeitures for nonpayment of special taxes relating to liquors. See sections 5607, 5613, 5615, 5661(a), 5671, 5673, 5676(4), 5683, 7301, and 7302 of this title.
Amendments
1987—Pub. L. 100–203 struck out “relating to liquors” after “of special taxes” in section catchline and substituted “a business subject to a special tax imposed by part II of subchapter A or section 5276 (relating to occupational taxes)” for “the business of a brewer, wholesale dealer in liquors, retail dealer in liquors, wholesale dealer in beer, retail dealer in beer, or limited retail dealer,” in subsec. (a).
1984—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 98–369 substituted “or limited retail dealer” for “limited retail dealer, or manufacturer of stills”.
1979—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 96–39 eliminated persons employed as rectifiers from the penalties imposed by this section.
Effective Date of 1987 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 100–203 effective Jan. 1, 1988, see section 10512(h) of Pub. L. 100–203, set out as an Effective Date note under section 5081 of this title.
Effective Date of 1984 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 98–369 effective on first day of first calendar month which begins more than 90 days after July 18, 1984, see section 456(a) of Pub. L. 98–369, set out as an Effective Date note under section 5101 of this title.
Effective Date of 1979 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 96–39 effective Jan. 1, 1980, see section 810 of Pub. L. 96–39, set out as a note under section 5001 of this title.
Effective Date
Section effective July 1, 1959, see section 210(a)(1) of Pub. L. 85–859, set out as a note under section 5001 of this title.