Title 26, Internal Revenue CodeRelease 119-102
§5242 Denaturing Materials
Title 26 › Subtitle E — Alcohol, Tobacco, and Certain Other Excise Taxes › CHAPTER 51 — DISTILLED SPIRITS, WINES, AND BEER › Subchapter C — Operation of Distilled Spirits Plants › PART II — OPERATIONS ON BONDED PREMISES › Subpart D — Denaturation › § 5242
Summary
Methanol or other suitable denaturants must make distilled spirits unfit to drink or use internally. The Secretary decides which denaturants and how much to use by regulation.
Full Legal Text
Title 26, §5242
Internal Revenue Code, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Methanol or other denaturing materials suitable to the use for which the denatured distilled spirits are intended to be withdrawn shall be used for the denaturation of distilled spirits. Denaturing materials shall be such as to render the spirits with which they are admixed unfit for beverage or internal human medicinal use. The character and the quantity of denaturing materials used shall be as prescribed by the Secretary by regulations.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Prior Provisions
A prior section 5242, acts Aug. 16, 1954, ch. 736, 68A Stat. 645; Sept. 2, 1958, Pub. L. 85–859, title II, § 206(e), 72 Stat. 1431, related to deposit of spirits in warehouses, prior to the general revision of this chapter by Pub. L. 85–859. Provisions similar to those comprising this section were contained in prior section 5303, 5310(a) and 5331(a)(1), (2), act Aug. 16, 1954, ch. 736, 68A Stat. 655, 658, 661, prior to the general revision of this chapter by Pub. L. 85–859.
Amendments
1976—Pub. L. 94–455 struck out “or his delegate” after “Secretary”.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
26 U.S.C. § 5242
Title 26, Internal Revenue Code
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102