26 U.S.C. § 1501
Section 1501 · Privilege to file consolidated returns
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 122 court decisions — leading case Board of Governors of Federal Reserve System v. First Lincolnwood Corporation (1978)
Most recently applied in Time Warner Cable, Inc. v. Cincinnati (August 2020)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 26 U.S.C. § 1504 · 26 U.S.C. § 172 · 26 U.S.C. § 1502
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.
An affiliated group of corporations shall, subject to the provisions of this chapter, have the privilege of making a consolidated return with respect to the income tax imposed by chapter 1 for the taxable year in lieu of separate returns. The making of a consolidated return shall be upon the condition that all corporations which at any time during the taxable year have been members of the affiliated group consent to all the consolidated return regulations prescribed under section 1502 prior to the last day prescribed by law for the filing of such return. The making of a consolidated return shall be considered as such consent. In the case of a corporation which is a member of the affiliated group for a fractional part of the year, the consolidated return shall include the income of such corporation for such part of the year as it is a member of the affiliated group.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Cross References
Definition of personal holding company, see section 542 of this title.