26 U.S.C. § 3403
Section 3403 · Liability for tax
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 125 court decisions — leading case Bright v. Bechtel Petroleum, Inc. (1986)
Most recently applied in Faisal Ahmed v. Commissioner of IRS (April 2023)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 26 U.S.C. § 3402 · 26 U.S.C. § 6672 · 26 U.S.C. § 7421
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 employer shall be liable for the payment of the tax required to be deducted and withheld under this chapter, and shall not be liable to any person for the amount of any such payment.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1983—Pub. L. 98–67 repealed amendments made by Pub. L. 97–248. See 1982 Amendment note below.
1982—Pub. L. 97–248 provided that, applicable to payments of interest, dividends, and patronage dividends paid or credited after June 30, 1983, this section is amended by striking out “this chapter” and inserting in lieu thereof “this subchapter”. Section 102(a), (b) of Pub. L. 98–67, title I, Aug. 5, 1983, 97 Stat. 369, repealed subtitle A (§§301–308) of title III of Pub. L. 97–248 as of the close of June 30, 1983, and provided that the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 [now 1986] [this title] shall be applied and administered (subject to certain exceptions) as if such subtitle A (and the amendments made by such subtitle A) had not been enacted.
Cross References
Refund or credit to employer for overpayment of tax imposed by this chapter, see section 6414 of this title.
Willful failure to collect or pay one's tax, punishment for, see section 7202 of this title.