contingent liability
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 321 U.S. 281 - Security Flour Mills Co. v. Commissioner · 1944Most cited · 1,016 citing opinions
A taxpayer may not accrue an expense the amount of which is unsettled or the liability for which is contingent, and this principle is fully applicable to a tax, liability for which the taxpayer denies, and payment whereof he is contesting.
How often courts cite the cases defining “contingent liability”
Court decisions citing the 2 opinions that defined “contingent liability” — 1,529 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 2 definitions, chronological · 1934–1944
- ORIGINAL
Except as otherwise specifically provided by statute, a liability does not accrue as long as it remains contingent.