26 U.S.C. § 6065
Section 6065 · Verification of returns
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 61 court decisions — leading case Couch v. United States (1973)
Most recently applied in Nelson v. Nelson (March 2022)
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.
Except as otherwise provided by the Secretary, any return, declaration, statement, or other document required to be made under any provision of the internal revenue laws or regulations shall contain or be verified by a written declaration that it is made under the penalties of perjury.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
The internal revenue laws, referred to in text, are classified generally to this title.
Amendments
1976—Pub. L. 94–455, §1906(a)(6), struck out provisions relating to the authority of the Secretary or his delegate to require that any return, statement, or other document to be made under provision of the internal revenue laws or regulations shall be verified by an oath.
Pub. L. 94–455, §1906(b)(13)(A), struck out “or his delegate” after “Secretary”.
Effective Date of 1976 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 94–455 effective on first day of first month which begins more than ninety days after Oct. 4, 1976, see section 1906(d)(1) of Pub. L. 94–455, set out as a note under section 6013 of this title.
Cross References
Fraud and false statements, punishment for, see section 7206 of this title.
Individuals—
Income tax of, see section 6012 of this title.
Joint income tax by husband and wife, see section 6013 of this title.
Perjury, punishment for, see section 1621 of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure.
Subornation of perjury, punishment for, see section 1622 of Title 18.