26 U.S.C. § 2603
Section 2603 · Liability for tax
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case In re the Estate of Tubbs (1995)
Most recently applied in Estate of Ginn v. Almond (April 2014)
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.
(1) Taxable distributions
In the case of a taxable distribution, the tax imposed by section 2601 shall be paid by the transferee.
(2) Taxable termination
In the case of a taxable termination or a direct skip from a trust, the tax shall be paid by the trustee.
(3) Direct skip
In the case of a direct skip (other than a direct skip from a trust), the tax shall be paid by the transferor.
Unless otherwise directed pursuant to the governing instrument by specific reference to the tax imposed by this chapter, the tax imposed by this chapter on a generation-skipping transfer shall be charged to the property constituting such transfer.
For provisions making estate and gift tax provisions with respect to transferee liability, liens, and related matters applicable to the tax imposed by section 2601, see section 2661.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1986—Pub. L. 99–514 amended section generally, substituting tax liability provisions consisting of language placing liability, under different circumstances, on the transferee, the trustee, or the transferor, the source of the tax, and a cross reference to section 2661 for former provisions which covered the question of liability for tax with language covering the trustee and the distributee, the limitation on personal liability of the trustee who relied on certain information furnished by the Secretary, the limitation on personal liability of distributee, and the lien on property transferred until the tax was paid in full or became unenforceable by reason of lapse of time.
Effective Date of 1986 Amendment
Section applicable to generation-skipping transfers (within the meaning of section 2611 of this title) made after Oct. 22, 1986, except as otherwise provided, see section 1433 of Pub. L. 99–514, set out as a note under section 2601 of this title.