26 U.S.C. § 7441
Section 7441 · Status
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 46 court decisions — leading case Freytag v. Commissioner (1991)
Most recently applied in John Crim v. Cmsnr. IRS (May 2023)
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.
There is hereby established, under article I of the Constitution of the United States, a court of record to be known as the United States Tax Court. The members of the Tax Court shall be the chief judge and the judges of the Tax Court. The Tax Court is not an agency of, and shall be independent of, the executive branch of the Government.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
2015—Pub. L. 114–113 inserted at end “The Tax Court is not an agency of, and shall be independent of, the executive branch of the Government.”
1969—Pub. L. 91–172 substituted provisions establishing Tax Court as a Constitutional court, and enumerating the members that comprise its bench, for provisions continuing the Board of Tax Appeals, known as the Tax Court, as an independent agency in the Executive Branch of Government and enumerating the members that comprise its bench.
Effective Date of 1969 Amendment
Pub. L. 91–172, title IX, § 962(a), Dec. 30, 1969, 83 Stat. 736, provided that: “The amendments made by sections 951, 953, 954(c) and (e), 955, 956, 958, and 960(c), (d), (e), (g), and (j) [amending this section and sections 7443, 7447, 7448, 7456, 7471, and 7701 of this title] shall take effect on the date of enactment of this Act [Dec. 30, 1969].”
Report on Inventory of Cases in Tax Court
Pub. L. 99–514, title XV, § 1552(c), Oct. 22, 1986, 100 Stat. 2753, provided that: “The Secretary of the Treasury or his delegate and the Tax Court shall each prepare a report for 1987 and for each 2-calendar year period thereafter on the inventory of cases in the Tax Court and the measures to close cases more efficiently. Such reports shall be submitted to the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate.”
Continuation of Status
Pub. L. 91–172, title IX, § 961, Dec. 30, 1969, 83 Stat. 735, provided that: “The United States Tax Court established under the amendment made by section 951 [amending this section] is a continuation of the Tax Court of the United States as it existed prior to the date of enactment of this Act [Dec. 30, 1969], the judges of the Tax Court of the United States immediately prior to the date of enactment of this Act [Dec. 30, 1969] shall become the judges of the United States Tax Court upon the enactment of this Act, and no loss of rights or powers, interruption of jurisdiction, or prejudice to matters pending in the Tax Court of the United States before the date of enactment of this Act [Dec. 30, 1969] shall result from the enactment of this Act.”