26 U.S.C. § 2002
Section 2002 · Liability for payment
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 48 court decisions — leading case 15 Cal. 3d 623 - Bank of California v. Carter (1975)
Most recently applied in United States v. Paulson (September 2018)
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.
The tax imposed by this chapter shall be paid by the executor.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1989—Pub. L. 101–239 substituted “The” for “Except as provided in section 2210, the”.
1984—Pub. L. 98–369 inserted exception phrase.
Effective Date of 1989 Amendment
Section 7304(b)(3) of Pub. L. 101–239 provided that: “The amendments made by this subsection [amending this section and section 6018 of this title and repealing section 2210 of this title] shall apply to estates of decedents dying after July 12, 1989.”
Effective Date of 1984 Amendment
Section 544(d) of Pub. L. 98–369 provided that: “The amendments made by this section [enacting section 2210 of this title and amending this section and sections 6018 and 6166 of this title] shall apply to those estates of decedents which are required to file returns on a date (including any extensions) after the date of enactment of this Act [July 18, 1984].”
Cross References
Definition of executor, see section 2203 of this title.
Discharge of executor from personal liability, see section 2204 of this title.
Liability—
Life insurance beneficiaries, see section 2206 of this title.
Recipient of property over which decedent had power of appointment, see section 2207 of this title.
Reimbursement of distributees out of estate, see section 2205 of this title.