Title 26Internal Revenue CodeRelease 119-73

§5241 Authority to denature

Title 26 › Subtitle Subtitle E— - Alcohol, Tobacco, and Certain Other Excise Taxes › Chapter CHAPTER 51— - DISTILLED SPIRITS, WINES, AND BEER › Subchapter Subchapter C— - Operation of Distilled Spirits Plants › Part PART II— - OPERATIONS ON BONDED PREMISES › Subpart Subpart D— - Denaturation › § 5241

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary can make rules that let qualified bonded distilleries denature certain spirits on site. Those denatured spirits, at the kind and proof the Secretary requires, may be used there to make any product.

Full Legal Text

Title 26, §5241

Internal Revenue Code — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Under such regulations as the Secretary shall prescribe, distilled spirits may be denatured on the bonded premises of a distilled spirits plant qualified for the processing of distilled spirits. Distilled spirits to be denatured under this section shall be of such kind and such degree of proof as the Secretary shall by regulations prescribe. Distilled spirits denatured under this section may be used on the bonded premises of a distilled spirits plant in the manufacture of any article.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

A prior section 5241, act Aug. 16, 1954, ch. 736, 68A Stat. 644, related to supervision of operations of internal revenue bonded warehouses, prior to the general revision of this chapter by Pub. L. 85–859. See section 5201(a), 5202 (a), (c), (d), and 7803 of this title and section 22 of former Title 5, Executive Departments and Government Officers and Employees. Provisions similar to those comprising this section were contained in prior section 5194(c), 5303, 5310(a), 5331(a)(1), act Aug. 16, 1954, ch. 736, 68A Stat. 635, 655, 658, 661, prior to the general revision of this chapter by Pub. L. 85–859.

Amendments

1979—Pub. L. 96–39 substituted “a distilled spirits plant qualified for the processing of distilled spirits” for “any distilled spirits plant operated by a proprietor who is authorized to produce distilled spirits at such plant or on other bonded premises”, struck out provision that any other person operating bonded premises may, at the discretion of the Secretary and under such

Regulations

as he may prescribe, be authorized to denature distilled spirits on such bonded premises, and inserted provision that distilled spirits denatured under this section may be used on the bonded premises of a distilled spirits plant in the manufacture of any article. 1976—Pub. L. 94–455 struck out “or his delegate” after “Secretary” wherever appearing.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1979 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 96–39 effective Jan. 1, 1980, see section 810 of Pub. L. 96–39, set out as a note under section 5001 of this title.

Effective Date

Section effective July 1, 1959, see section 210(a)(1) of Pub. L. 85–859, set out as a note under section 5001 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

26 U.S.C. § 5241

Title 26Internal Revenue Code

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73