Title 26Internal Revenue CodeRelease 119-73

§1312 Circumstances of adjustment

Title 26 › Subtitle Subtitle A— - Income Taxes › Chapter CHAPTER 1— - NORMAL TAXES AND SURTAXES › Subchapter Subchapter Q— - Readjustment of Tax Between Years and Special Limitations › Part PART II— - MITIGATION OF EFFECT OF LIMITATIONS AND OTHER PROVISIONS › § 1312

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The IRS can make an adjustment when an official tax decision causes income, deductions, credits, or a property basis to be wrong for one year or for a related taxpayer. An adjustment is allowed when the decision means an item must be included in income that was mistakenly reported in another year or by a related taxpayer, or when it allows or denies a deduction or credit that was wrongly allowed or denied for another year or a related taxpayer. Adjustments also cover wrong exclusions or omissions of income (whether tax was paid or not), special estate or trust items (see subparts A–E, secs. 641 and following), corporate deductions or credits tied to a related taxpayer (see section 1313(c)(7)), and errors that affect the basis of property. Basis errors include wrong income inclusion or omission, wrong recognition of gain or loss, or wrong treatment between capital items and deductible items. The related taxpayer may be the same person, someone who sold or transferred the property to them, or someone from whom they got the property by gift (see section 1015(a)).

Full Legal Text

Title 26, §1312

Internal Revenue Code — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The circumstances under which the adjustment provided in section 1311 is authorized are as follows:
(1)The determination requires the inclusion in gross income of an item which was erroneously included in the gross income of the taxpayer for another taxable year or in the gross income of a related taxpayer.
(2)The determination allows a deduction or credit which was erroneously allowed to the taxpayer for another taxable year or to a related taxpayer.
(3)(A)The determination requires the exclusion from gross income of an item included in a return filed by the taxpayer or with respect to which tax was paid and which was erroneously excluded or omitted from the gross income of the taxpayer for another taxable year, or from the gross income of a related taxpayer; or
(B)The determination requires the exclusion from gross income of an item not included in a return filed by the taxpayer and with respect to which the tax was not paid but which is includible in the gross income of the taxpayer for another taxable year or in the gross income of a related taxpayer.
(4)The determination disallows a deduction or credit which should have been allowed to, but was not allowed to, the taxpayer for another taxable year, or to a related taxpayer.
(5)The determination allows or disallows any of the additional deductions allowable in computing the taxable income of estates or trusts, or requires or denies any of the inclusions in the computation of taxable income of beneficiaries, heirs, or legatees, specified in subparts A to E, inclusive (secs. 641 and following, relating to estates, trusts, and beneficiaries) of part I of subchapter J of this chapter, or corresponding provisions of prior internal revenue laws, and the correlative inclusion or deduction, as the case may be, has been erroneously excluded, omitted, or included, or disallowed, omitted, or allowed, as the case may be, in respect of the related taxpayer.
(6)The determination allows or disallows a deduction (including a credit) in computing the taxable income (or, as the case may be, net income, normal tax net income, or surtax net income) of a corporation, and a correlative deduction or credit has been erroneously allowed, omitted, or disallowed, as the case may be, in respect of a related taxpayer described in section 1313(c)(7).
(7)(A)The determination determines the basis of property, and in respect of any transaction on which such basis depends, or in respect of any transaction which was erroneously treated as affecting such basis, there occurred, with respect to a taxpayer described in subparagraph (B) of this paragraph, any of the errors described in subparagraph (C) of this paragraph.
(B)The taxpayer with respect to whom the erroneous treatment occurred must be—
(i)the taxpayer with respect to whom the determination is made,
(ii)a taxpayer who acquired title to the property in the transaction and from whom, mediately or immediately, the taxpayer with respect to whom the determination is made derived title, or
(iii)a taxpayer who had title to the property at the time of the transaction and from whom, mediately or immediately, the taxpayer with respect to whom the determination is made derived title, if the basis of the property in the hands of the taxpayer with respect to whom the determination is made is determined under section 1015(a) (relating to the basis of property acquired by gift).
(C)With respect to a taxpayer described in subparagraph (B) of this paragraph—
(i)there was an erroneous inclusion in, or omission from, gross income,
(ii)there was an erroneous recognition, or nonrecognition, of gain or loss, or
(iii)there was an erroneous deduction of an item properly chargeable to capital account or an erroneous charge to capital account of an item properly deductible.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1958—Pars. (6), (7). Pub. L. 85–866 added par. (6) and redesignated former par. (6) as (7).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1958 Amendment Pub. L. 85–866, title I, § 59(c), Sept. 2, 1958, 72 Stat. 1647, provided that: “The

Amendments

made by subsections (a) and (b) [amending this section and section 1314 of this title] shall apply to determinations (as defined in section 1313(a)) made after November 14, 1954.”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

26 U.S.C. § 1312

Title 26Internal Revenue Code

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73