26 U.S.C. § 6337
Section 6337 · Redemption of property
Amended 4 times on record
Applied in 129 court decisions — leading case Murray v. United States (1987)
Most recently applied in Arlin Geophysical Company v. United States (January 2020)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 26 U.S.C. § 6335 · 26 U.S.C. § 6331 · 11 U.S.C. § 541
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 whose property has been levied upon shall have the right to pay the amount due, together with the expenses of the proceeding, if any, to the Secretary at any time prior to the sale thereof, and upon such payment the Secretary shall restore such property to him, and all further proceedings in connection with the levy on such property shall cease from the time of such payment.
(1) Period
The owners of any real property sold as provided in section 6335, their heirs, executors, or administrators, or any person having any interest therein, or a lien thereon, or any person in their behalf, shall be permitted to redeem the property sold, or any particular tract of such property, at any time within 180 days after the sale thereof.
(2) Price
Such property or tract of property shall be permitted to be redeemed upon payment to the purchaser, or in case he cannot be found in the county in which the property to be redeemed is situated, then to the Secretary, for the use of the purchaser, his heirs, or assigns, the amount paid by such purchaser and interest thereon at the rate of 20 percent per annum.
When any lands sold are redeemed as provided in this section, the Secretary shall cause entry of the fact to be made upon the record mentioned in section 6340, and such entry shall be evidence of such redemption.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1982—Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 97–248 substituted “180 days” for “120 days”.
1976—Pub. L. 94–455 struck out “or his delegate” after “Secretary” wherever appearing.
1966—Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 89–719 substituted “120 days” for “1 year”.
Effective Date of 1982 Amendment
Section 349A(b) of Pub. L. 97–248 provided that: “The amendment made by subsection (a) [amending this section] shall apply with respect to property sold after the date of the enactment of this Act [Sept. 3, 1982].”
Effective Date of 1966 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 89–719 applicable after Nov. 2, 1966, regardless of when title or lien of United States arose or when lien or interest of another person was acquired, with certain exceptions, see section 114(a)–(c) of Pub. L. 89–719, set out as a note under section 6323 of this title.