26 U.S.C. § 6657
Section 6657 · Bad checks
Amended 5 times on record
Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case 908 F. Supp. 1004 - United States v. Brennick (1995)
Most recently applied in 238 F. Supp. 2d 435 - PARCC Health Care, Inc. v. United States (June 2002)
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.
If any instrument in payment, by any commercially acceptable means, of any amount receivable under this title is not duly paid, in addition to any other penalties provided by law, there shall be paid as a penalty by the person who tendered such instrument, upon notice and demand by the Secretary, in the same manner as tax, an amount equal to 2 percent of the amount of such instrument, except that if the amount of such instrument is less than $1,250, the penalty under this section shall be $25 or the amount of such instrument, whichever is the lesser. This section shall not apply if the person tendered such instrument in good faith and with reasonable cause to believe that it would be duly paid.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
2010—Pub. L. 111–198, §3(a)(2), substituted “such instrument” for “such check” wherever appearing.
Pub. L. 111–198, §3(a)(1), substituted “If any instrument in payment, by any commercially acceptable means, of any amount” for “If any check or money order in payment of any amount”.
2007—Pub. L. 110–28 substituted “$1,250” for “$750” and “$25” for “$15”.
1988—Pub. L. 100–647 substituted “2” for “1”, “$750” for “$500”, and “$15” for “$5”.
1976—Pub. L. 94–455 struck out “or his delegate” after “Secretary”.
Effective Date of 2010 Amendment
Pub. L. 111–198, §3(b), July 2, 2010, 124 Stat. 1356, provided that: “The amendments made by this section [amending this section] shall apply to instruments tendered after the date of the enactment of this Act [July 2, 2010].”
Effective Date of 2007 Amendment
Pub. L. 110–28, title VIII, §8245(b), May 25, 2007, 121 Stat. 200, provided that: “The amendments made by this section [amending this section] apply to checks or money orders received after the date of the enactment of this Act [May 25, 2007].”
Effective Date of 1988 Amendment
Section 5071(b) of Pub. L. 100–647 provided that: “The amendment made by subsection (a) [amending this section] shall apply to checks or money orders received after the date of the enactment of this Act [Nov. 10, 1988].”