4 U.S.C. § 111
Section 111 · Same; taxation affecting Federal employees; income tax
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 116 court decisions — leading case Davis v. Michigan Department of the Treasury (1989)
Most recently applied in United States v. Timothy Jermaine Pate (October 2023)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 42 U.S.C. § 1983 · 28 U.S.C. § 1341 · 4 U.S.C. § 106
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.
(a) General Rule.—The United States consents to the taxation of pay or compensation for personal service as an officer or employee of the United States, a territory or possession or political subdivision thereof, the government of the District of Columbia, or an agency or instrumentality of one or more of the foregoing, by a duly constituted taxing authority having jurisdiction, if the taxation does not discriminate against the officer or employee because of the source of the pay or compensation.
(b) Treatment of Certain Federal Employees Employed at Federal Hydroelectric Facilities Located on the Columbia River.—Pay or compensation paid by the United States for personal services as an employee of the United States at a hydroelectric facility—
(1) which is owned by the United States;
(2) which is located on the Columbia River; and
(3) portions of which are within the States of Oregon and Washington,
shall be subject to taxation by the State or any political subdivision thereof of which such employee is a resident.
(c) Treatment of Certain Federal Employees Employed at Federal Hydroelectric Facilities Located on the Missouri River.—Pay or compensation paid by the United States for personal services as an employee of the United States at a hydroelectric facility—
(1) which is owned by the United States;
(2) which is located on the Missouri River; and
(3) portions of which are within the States of South Dakota and Nebraska,
shall be subject to taxation by the State or any political subdivision thereof of which such employee is a resident.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Statutes at Large 5 U.S.C. 84a Apr. 12, 1939, ch. 59, §4, 53 Stat. 575. The words “received after December 31, 1938,” are omitted as obsolete. The words “pay or” are added before “compensation” for clarity as the word “pay” is used throughout title 5, United States Code, to refer to the remuneration, salary, wages, or compensation for the personal services of a Federal employee. The word “territory” is not capitalized as there are no longer any “Territories.” The words “to tax such compensation” are omitted as unnecessary.
Amendments
1998—Pub. L. 105–261 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), inserted heading, and added subsecs. (b) and (c).
Effective Date of 1998 Amendment
Pub. L. 105–261, div. A, title X, §1075(b)(2), Oct. 17, 1998, 112 Stat. 2139, provided that: “The amendment made by this subsection [amending this section] shall apply to pay and compensation paid after the date of the enactment of this Act [Oct. 17, 1998].”