Title 26 — Internal Revenue CodeRelease 119-73

§6521 Mitigation of Effect of Limitation in Case of Related Taxes Under Different Chapters

Title 26 › Subtitle Subtitle F— Procedure and Administration › Chapter 66— LIMITATIONS › Subchapter C— Mitigation of Effect of Period of Limitations › § 6521

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Sometimes an amount is mistakenly treated as self-employment income when it was really wages, or the other way around. Fixing the mistake would require assessing one tax (self-employment tax or the employee Social Security tax) and refunding the other. If the law's time limits allow correcting one tax but block correcting the other, this rule eases the effect of that time limit so the error can still be evened out.

Full Legal Text

Title 26, §6521

Internal Revenue Code — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In the case of the tax imposed by chapter 2 (relating to tax on self-employment income) and the tax imposed by section 3101 (relating to tax on employees under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act)—

(1)If an amount is erroneously treated as self-employment income, or if an amount is erroneously treated as wages, and

(2)If the correction of the error would require an assessment of one such tax and the refund or credit of the other tax, and

(3)If at any time the correction of the error is authorized as to one such tax but is prevented as to the other tax by any law or rule of law (other than section 7122, relating to compromises),

(b)For purposes of subsection (a), the terms “self-employment income” and “wages” shall have the same meaning as when used in section 1402(b).

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Federal Insurance Contributions Act, referred to in subsec. (a), is act Aug. 16, 1954, ch. 736, §§ 3101, 3102, 3111, 3112, 3121 to 3128, 68A Stat. 415, which is classified generally to chapter 21 (§ 3101 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 3128 of this title and Tables.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

26 U.S.C. § 6521

Title 26 — Internal Revenue Code

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73