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Title 26, Internal Revenue CodeRelease 119-110

§9004 Entitlement of Eligible Candidates to Payments

Title 26 › Subtitle H — Financing of Presidential Election Campaigns › CHAPTER 95 — PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN FUND › § 9004

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

Eligible presidential candidates can get public payments under section 9006. Major party candidates get equal payments, but the total cannot be more than the spending limit in section 315(b)(1)(B) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971. Minor party payments are based on a ratio of their popular vote to the average popular vote for the major parties. If a minor party’s prior presidential candidate got at least 5% but less than 25% in the last election, and the candidates meet the rules in section 9003(a) and (c), they may be treated as eligible and get payments computed from those past votes. If a minor or new party’s current presidential candidate gets 5% or more of the vote, the party can get payments based on the current vote share, but only up to any amount that exceeds what they already got under the prior-vote rule. Payments to a minor or new party under these rules cannot be more than the smaller of two amounts: the party’s qualified campaign expenses minus contributions that paid or were kept for those expenses, or the total paid to major parties (also reduced by such contributions). The money can only pay qualified campaign costs, repay loans used for those costs, or restore other non-contribution funds used for those costs. To receive any payment, a candidate for President (and personal spending by a Vice Presidential candidate counts too) must certify under penalty of perjury that they and their immediate family will not knowingly spend more than $50,000 of personal funds on the campaign. “Immediate family” means the spouse, children, parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters (including half-siblings), and the spouses of those relatives.

Full Legal Text

Title 26, §9004

Internal Revenue Code, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In general
Subject to the provisions of this chapter—
(1)The eligible candidates of each major party in a presidential election shall be entitled to equal payments under section 9006 in an amount which, in the aggregate, shall not exceed the expenditure limitations applicable to such candidates under section 315(b)(1)(B) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971.
(2)(A)The eligible candidates of a minor party in a presidential election shall be entitled to payments under section 9006 equal in the aggregate to an amount which bears the same ratio to the amount allowed under paragraph (1) for a major party as the number of popular votes received by the candidate for President of the minor party, as such candidate, in the preceding presidential election bears to the average number of popular votes received by the candidates for President of the major parties in the preceding presidential election.
(B)If the candidate of one or more political parties (not including a major party) for the office of President was a candidate for such office in the preceding presidential election and received 5 percent or more but less than 25 percent of the total number of popular votes received by all candidates for such office, such candidate and his running mate for the office of Vice President, upon compliance with the provisions of section 9003(a) and (c), shall be treated as eligible candidates entitled to payments under section 9006 in an amount computed as provided in subparagraph (A) by taking into account all the popular votes received by such candidate for the office of President in the preceding presidential election. If eligible candidates of a minor party are entitled to payments under this subparagraph, such entitlement shall be reduced by the amount of the entitlement allowed under subparagraph (A).
(3)The eligible candidates of a minor party or a new party in a presidential election whose candidate for President in such election receives, as such candidate, 5 percent or more of the total number of popular votes cast for the office of President in such election shall be entitled to payments under section 9006 equal in the aggregate to an amount which bears the same ratio to the amount allowed under paragraph (1) for a major party as the number of popular votes received by such candidate in such election bears to the average number of popular votes received in such election by the candidates for President of the major parties. In the case of eligible candidates entitled to payments under paragraph (2), the amount allowable under this paragraph shall be limited to the amount, if any, by which the entitlement under the preceding sentence exceeds the amount of the entitlement under paragraph (2).
(b)Limitations
The aggregate payments to which the eligible candidates of a political party shall be entitled under subsections (a)(2) and (3) with respect to a presidential election shall not exceed an amount equal to the lower of— (1)
(2)the aggregate payments to which the eligible candidates of a major party are entitled under subsection (a)(1), reduced by the amount of contributions described in paragraph (1) of this subsection.
(c)Restrictions
The eligible candidates of a political party shall be entitled to payments under subsection (a) only—
(1)to defray qualified campaign expenses incurred by such eligible candidates or their authorized committees, or
(2)to repay loans the proceeds of which were used to defray such qualified campaign expenses, or otherwise to restore funds (other than contributions to defray qualified campaign expenses received and expended by such candidates or such committees) used to defray such qualified campaign expenses.
(d)Expenditures from personal funds
In order to be eligible to receive any payment under section 9006, the candidate of a major, minor, or new party in an election for the office of President shall certify to the Commission, under penalty of perjury, that such candidate will not knowingly make expenditures from his personal funds, or the personal funds of his immediate family, in connection with his campaign for election to the office of President in excess of, in the aggregate, $50,000. For purposes of this subsection, expenditures from personal funds made by a candidate of a major, minor, or new party for the office of Vice President shall be considered to be expenditures by the candidate of such party for the office of President.
(e)Definition of immediate family
For purposes of subsection (d), the term “immediate family” means a candidate’s spouse, and any child, parent, grandparent, brother, half-brother, sister, or half-sister of the candidate, and the spouses of such persons.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

section 315(b)(1)(B) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, referred to in subsec. (a)(1), is classified to section 30116(b)(1)(B) of Title 52, Voting and Elections.

Amendments

2007—Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 110–172 substituted “section 315(b)(1)(B)” for “section 320(b)(1)(B)”. 1976—Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 94–283, § 307(d), substituted “section 320(b)(1)(B) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971” for “section 608(c)(1)(B) of title 18, United States Code”. Subsecs. (d), (e). Pub. L. 94–283, § 301(a), added subsecs. (d) and (e). 1974—Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 93–443, § 404(a), substituted provision which limited aggregate amount of payments to eligible candidates to an amount not exceeding the expenditure limitations applicable to such candidates under section 608(c)(1)(B) of title 18 for prior provision which determined the amount by multiplying 15 cents by the total number of residents within the United States who attained the age of 18, determined by the Bureau of the Census, as of the first day of June of the year preceding the year of the presidential election. Subsec. (a)(2)(A). Pub. L. 93–443, § 404(b)(1), substituted “allowed” for “computed”. Subsec. (a)(3). Pub. L. 93–443, § 404(b)(2), substituted “allowed” for “computed” in first sentence.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1976 Amendment Pub. L. 94–283, title III, § 301(b),
May 11, 1976, 90 Stat. 498, as amended by Pub. L. 99–514, § 2, Oct. 22, 1986, 100 Stat. 2095, provided that: “For purposes of applying section 9004(d) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 [formerly I.R.C. 1954], as added by subsection (a), expenditures made by an individual after
January 29, 1976, and before the date of the enactment of this Act [
May 11, 1976] shall not be taken into account.”

Effective Date

of 1974 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 93–443 applicable with respect to taxable years beginning after Dec. 31, 1974, see section 410(c)(1) of Pub. L. 93–443, set out as a note under section 30101 of Title 52, Voting and Elections.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

26 U.S.C. § 9004

Title 26, Internal Revenue Code

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110