26 U.S.C. § 7807
Section 7807 · Rules in effect upon enactment of this title
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 6 court decisions — leading case Smith v. United States (1962)
Most recently applied in Cities Service Co. v. United States (December 1974)
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.
Until regulations are promulgated under any provision of this title which depends for its application upon the promulgation of regulations (or which is to be applied in such manner as may be prescribed by regulations) all instructions, rules or regulations which are in effect immediately prior to the enactment of this title shall, to the extent such instructions, rules, or regulations could be prescribed as regulations under authority of such provision, be applied as if promulgated as regulations under such provision.
(1) Reference to law applicable to prior period
Any provision of this title which refers to the application of any portion of this title to a prior period (or which depends upon the application to a prior period of any portion of this title) shall, when appropriate and consistent with the purpose of such provision, be deemed to refer to (or depend upon the application of) the corresponding provision of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939 or of such other internal revenue laws as were applicable to the prior period.
(2) Elections or other acts
If an election or other act under the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939 would, if this title had not been enacted, be given effect for a period subsequent to the date of enactment of this title, and if corresponding provisions are contained in this title, such election or other act shall be given effect under the corresponding provisions of this title.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
The Internal Revenue Code of 1939, referred to in subsec. (b), is act Feb. 10, 1939, ch. 2, 53 Stat. 1, as amended. Prior to the enactment of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 [formerly I.R.C. 1954], the 1939 Code was classified to former Title 26, Internal Revenue Code. The Internal Revenue Code of 1954 was redesignated The Internal Revenue Code of 1986 by Pub. L. 99–514, §2, Oct. 22, 1986, 100 Stat. 2095. For table of comparisons of the 1939 Code to the 1986 Code, see Table I preceding section 1 of this title.
Cross References
Adjustments required by changes in method of accounting, applying subsection (b)(1) of this section, see section 481 of this title.