(a) The tax deducted and withheld at the source upon wages under chapter 24 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (or in the case of amounts withheld in 1954, under subchapter D, chapter 9 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939) is allowable as a credit against the tax imposed by Subtitle A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, upon the recipient of the income. If the tax has actually been withheld at the source, credit or refund shall be made to the recipient of the income even though such tax has not been paid over to the Government by the employer. For the purpose of the credit, the recipient of the income is the person subject to tax imposed under Subtitle A upon the wages from which the tax was withheld. For instance, if a husband and wife domiciled in a State recognized as a community property State for Federal tax purposes make separate returns, each reporting for income tax purposes one- half of the wages received by the husband, each spouse is entitled to one-half of the credit allowable for the tax withheld at source with respect to such wages.
(b) The tax withheld during any calendar year shall be allowed as a credit against the tax imposed by Subtitle A for the taxable year of the recipient of the income which begins in that calendar year. If such recipient has more than one taxable year beginning in that calendar year, the credit shall be allowed against the tax for the last taxable year so beginning.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
19
cases (
1 in the last 5 years), 1970–2025 · leading case:
McLaine v. Comm'r, 138 T.C. 228 (Tax Ct. 2012).
McLaine v. Comm'r, 138 T.C. 228 (Tax Ct. 2012).
· cites it 12× “Section 31 Credit Issue On the assumption that VarTec paid the nonwithheld taxes in 2004 or 2005, petitioner contends (and respondent disagrees) that he is entitled to a credit under section 31 and section 1.31-1(a), Income Tax Regs. The parties also dispute the effect of Whalen…”
United States v. John Heard, Jr., 709 F.3d 413 (5th Cir. 2013).
“See 26 C.F.R. § 1.31-1 (a) (“If the tax has actually been withheld at the source, credit or refund shall be made to the recipient of the income even though such tax has not been paid over to the Government by the employer.”
Whalen v. Comm'r, 2009 T.C. Memo. 37 (Tax Ct. 2009).
· cites it 2× “Regarding the second condition, the recipient of the section 31 credit is the person subject to the income tax imposed upon the wages from which the tax was withheld. Sec.”
Chatterji v. Comm'r, 54 T.C. 1402 (Tax Ct. 1970).
· cites it 2× “31(b) of the 1954 Code, we believe that respondent intended to refer petitioner to sec.”
Fitzpatrick v. Comm'r, 2016 T.C. Memo. 199 (Tax Ct. 2016).
· cites it 2× “Employees generally are allowed a credit against their tax liability for the amount of taxes withheld from their wages, regardless of whether the employer actually remits the funds to the Government. Sec. 31(a) ; sec. 1.31-1(a), Income Tax Regs.”
Goins v. Comm'r, 1997 T.C. Memo. 521 (Tax Ct. 1997).
· cites it 2× “Section 31(a) allows an employee to take a credit for amounts withheld by his employer and apply it to his tax due.”
Dixon v. Comm'r, 2013 T.C. Memo. 207 (Tax Ct. 2013).
· cites it 4× “This rule makes sense—most employees have no control over what their employer does with the money that it is supposed to hold in trust and pay to the government.”
United States v. Creamer, 370 F. Supp. 2d 715 (N.D. Ill. 2005).
· cites it 2× “26 C.F.R. 1.31-1 (“If the tax has actually been withheld at the source, credit or refund shall be made to the recipient of the income even though such tax has not been paid over to the Government by the employer.”
Porter v. Comm'r, 1996 T.C. Memo. 475 (Tax Ct. 1996).
· cites it 2× “The regulations explain further that if a husband and wife domiciled in a community property State make separate returns, and each reports for income tax purposes one-half of the wages received by the husband, each spouse is entitled to one-half of the credit allowable for the…”
Whitler v. Comm'r, 40 T.C.M. 503 (Tax Ct. 1980).
· cites it 2× “Petitioner argues that some credit should be given for the amounts of income taxes withheld by Spalding and paid to respondent out of the fictitious employees' *395 gross paychecks. Whatever the theoretical merits of this proposition, see generally sec.”
Shaffran v. Comm'r, 2017 T.C. Memo. 35 (Tax Ct. 2017).
· cites it 2× “Employees generally are allowed credits against their tax liabilities for the amounts of taxes withheld from their wages, regardless of whether the employer actually remits the funds to the Government.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.