26 U.S.C. § 591
Section 591 · Deduction for dividends paid on deposits
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 11 court decisions — leading case Paulsen v. Commissioner (1985)
Most recently applied in Paulsen v. Commissioner (January 1985)
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 the case of mutual savings banks, cooperative banks, and domestic building and loan associations and other savings institutions chartered and supervised as savings and loan or similar associations under Federal or State law, there shall be allowed as deductions in computing taxable income amounts paid to, or credited to the accounts of, depositors or holders of accounts as dividends or interest on their deposits or withdrawable accounts, if such amounts paid or credited are withdrawable on demand subject only to customary notice of intention to withdraw.
For purposes of this part, the term “mutual savings bank” includes any bank—
(1) which has capital stock represented by shares, and
(2) which is subject to, and operates under, Federal or State laws relating to mutual savings bank.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1981—Pub. L. 97–34 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), inserted heading “In general”, and added subsec. (b).
1962—Pub. L. 87–834 included other savings institutions chartered and supervised as savings and loan or similar associations under Federal or State law, and authorized amounts paid as interest as a deduction.
Effective Date of 1981 Amendment
Section 246(d) of Pub. L. 97–34 provided that: “The amendments made by section 245 [amending this section and section 593 of this title] shall apply with respect to taxable years ending after the date of the enactment of this Act [Aug. 13, 1981].”
Cross References
Special deduction for dividends received by corporation, see section 243 of this title.