26 U.S.C. § 7520
Section 7520 · Valuation tables
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 39 court decisions — leading case Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Estate of C Hubert (1997)
Most recently applied in Judith Badgley v. United States (April 2020)
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 title, the value of any annuity, any interest for life or a term of years, or any remainder or reversionary interest shall be determined—
under tables prescribed by the Secretary, and
by using an interest rate (rounded to the nearest 2/10ths of 1 percent) equal to 120 percent of the Federal midterm rate in effect under section 1274(d)(1) for the month in which the valuation date falls.
If an income, estate, or gift tax charitable contribution is allowable for any part of the property transferred, the taxpayer may elect to use such Federal midterm rate for either of the 2 months preceding the month in which the valuation date falls for purposes of paragraph (2). In the case of transfers of more than 1 interest in the same property with respect to which the taxpayer may use the same rate under paragraph (2), the taxpayer shall use the same rate with respect to each such interest.
This section shall not apply for purposes of part I of subchapter D of chapter 1 or any other provision specified in regulations.
The tables prescribed by the Secretary for purposes of subsection (a) shall contain valuation factors for a series of interest rate categories.
The Secretary shall revise the initial tables prescribed for purposes of subsection (a) to take into account the most recent mortality experience available as of the time of such revision. Such tables shall be revised not less frequently than once each 10 years to take into account the most recent mortality experience available as of the time of the revision.
For purposes of this section, the term “valuation date” means the date as of which the valuation is made.
For purposes of this section, the term “tables” includes formulas.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Codification
Another section 7520 was renumbered section 7521 of this title.
Amendments
2014—Subsec. (c)(2), (3). Pub. L. 113–295 redesignated par. (3) as (2), substituted “The Secretary” for “Not later than December 31, 1989, the Secretary” and struck out “thereafter” after “once each 10 years”, and struck out former par. (2). Prior to amendment, text of par. (2) read as follows: “Not later than the day 3 months after the date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary shall prescribe initial tables for purposes of subsection (a). Such tables may be based on the same mortality experience as used for purposes of section 2031 on the date of the enactment of this section.”
Effective Date of 2014 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 113–295 effective Dec. 19, 2014, subject to a savings provision, see section 221(b) of Pub. L. 113–295, set out as a note under section 1 of this title.
Effective Date
Pub. L. 100–647, title V, § 5031(c), Nov. 10, 1988, 102 Stat. 3669, provided that: “The amendments made by this section [enacting this section] shall apply in cases where the date as of which the valuation is to be made occurs on or after the 1st day of the 6th calendar month beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act [Nov. 10, 1988].”