28 U.S.C. § 960
Section 960 · Tax liability
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 77 court decisions — leading case Michigan Employment Security Commission v. Wolverine Radio Co. (1991)
Most recently applied in Myers v. United States (May 2019)
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.
(a) Any officers and agents conducting any business under authority of a United States court shall be subject to all Federal, State and local taxes applicable to such business to the same extent as if it were conducted by an individual or corporation.
(b) A tax under subsection (a) shall be paid on or before the due date of the tax under applicable nonbankruptcy law, unless—
(1) the tax is a property tax secured by a lien against property that is abandoned under section 554 of title 11, within a reasonable period of time after the lien attaches, by the trustee in a case under title 11; or
(2) payment of the tax is excused under a specific provision of title 11.
(c) In a case pending under chapter 7 of title 11, payment of a tax may be deferred until final distribution is made under section 726 of title 11, if—
(1) the tax was not incurred by a trustee duly appointed or elected under chapter 7 of title 11; or
(2) before the due date of the tax, an order of the court makes a finding of probable insufficiency of funds of the estate to pay in full the administrative expenses allowed under section 503(b) of title 11 that have the same priority in distribution under section 726(b) of title 11 as the priority of that tax.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §124a (June 18, 1934, ch. 585, 48 Stat. 993).
A proviso in section 124a of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., relating to taxes accruing prior to the effective date of the 1934 act, was omitted as obsolete.
References in section 124a of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., to specific officers was omitted as covered by the words “Any officers.”
Word “Federal” was added before “State” in recognition of the liability of such officers for Federal taxes under the revenue laws.
Changes in phraseology were made.
Amendments
2005—Pub. L. 109–8 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a) and added subsecs. (b) and (c).
Effective Date of 2005 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 109–8 effective 180 days after Apr. 20, 2005, and not applicable with respect to cases commenced under Title 11, Bankruptcy, before such effective date, except as otherwise provided, see section 1501 of Pub. L. 109–8, set out as a note under section 101 of Title 11.