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26 U.S.C. § 279

Interest on indebtedness incurred by corporation to acquire stock or assets of another corporation

United States · Title 26 — INTERNAL REVENUE CODE · Status: effective

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26 U.S.C. § 279, Interest on indebtedness incurred by corporation to acquire stock or assets of another corporation, United States, version 1 as recorded 2026-07-09, yourstate.us, https://yourstate.us/provision/462349
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No deduction shall be allowed for any interest paid or incurred by a corporation during the taxable year with respect to its corporate acquisition indebtedness to the extent that such interest exceeds— For purposes of this section, the term “corporate acquisition indebtedness” means any obligation evidenced by a bond, debenture, note, or certificate or other evidence of indebtedness issued by a corporation (hereinafter in this section referred to as “issuing corporation”) if— such obligation is issued to provide consideration for the acquisition of— such obligation is either— the bond or other evidence of indebtedness is either— as of a day determined under subsection (c)(1), either— For purposes of subsection (b)(4)— Determinations are to be made as of the last day of any taxable year of the issuing corporation in which it issues any obligation to provide consideration for an acquisition described in subsection (b)(1) of stock in, or assets of, the acquired corporation. The term “ratio of debt to equity” means the ratio which the total indebtedness of the issuing corporation bears to the sum of its money and all its other assets (in an amount equal to their adjusted basis for determining gain) less such total indebtedness. The term “projected earnings” means the “average annual earnings” (as defined in subparagraph (B)) of— The average annual earnings referred to in subparagraph (A) is, for any corporation, the amount of its earnings and profits for any 3-year period ending with the last day of a taxable year of the issuing corporation described in paragraph (1), computed without reduction for— The term “annual interest to be paid or incurred” means— With respect to any corporation which is a bank (as defined in section 581) or is primarily engaged in a lending or finance business— In applying this section— The deduction of interest on any obligation shall not be disallowed under subsection (a) before the first taxable year of the issuing corporation as of the last day of which the application of either subparagraph (A) or subparagraph (B) of subsection (b)(4) results in such obligation being corporate acquisition indebtedness. Except as provided in paragraphs (3), (4), and (5), if an obligation is determined to be corporate acquisition indebtedness as of the last day of any taxable year of the issuing corporation, it shall be corporate acquisition indebtedness for such taxable year and all subsequent taxable years. If an obligation is determined to be corporate acquisition indebtedness as of the close of a taxable year of the issuing corporation in which clause (i) of subsection (c)(3)(A) applied, but would not be corporate acquisition indebtedness if the determination were made as of the close of the first taxable year of such corporation thereafter in which clause (ii) of subsection (c)(3)(A) could apply, such obligation shall be considered not to be corporate acquisition indebtedness for such later taxable year and all taxable years thereafter. If an obligation which has been determined to be corporate acquisition indebtedness for any taxable year would not be such indebtedness for each of any 3 consecutive taxable years thereafter if subsection (b)(4) were applied as of the close of each of such 3 years, then such obligation shall not be corporate acquisition indebtedness for all taxable years after such 3 consecutive taxable years. In the case of obligations issued to provide consideration for the acquisition of stock in another corporation, such obligations shall be corporate acquisition indebtedness for a taxable year only if at some time before the close of such year the issuing corporation owns 5 percent or more of the total combined voting power of all classes of stock entitled to vote of such other corporation. An acquisition of stock of a corporation of which the issuing corporation is in control (as defined in section 368(c)) in a transaction in which gain or loss is not recognized shall be deemed an acquisition described in paragraph (1) of subsection (b) only if immediately before such transaction (1) the acquired corporation was in existence, and (2) the issuing corporation was not in control (as defined in section 368(c)) of such corporation. For purposes of this section, the term “corporate acquisition indebtedness” does not include any indebtedness issued to any person to provide consideration for the acquisition of stock in, or assets of, any foreign corporation substantially all of the income of which, for the 3-year period ending with the date of such acquisition or for such part of such period as the foreign corporation was in existence, is from sources without the United States. In any case in which the issuing corporation is a member of an affiliated group, the application of this section shall be determined, pursuant to regulations prescribed by the Secretary, by treating all of the members of the affiliated group in the aggregate as the issuing corporation, except that the ratio of debt to equity of, projected earnings of, and annual interest to be paid or incurred by any corporation (other than the issuing corporation determined without regard to this subsection) shall be included in the determinations required under subparagraphs (A) and (B) of subsection (b)(4) as of any day only if such corporation is a member of the affiliated group on such day, and, in determining projected earnings of such corporation under subsection (c)(3), there shall be taken into account only the earnings and profits of such corporation for the period during which it was a member of the affiliated group. For purposes of the preceding sentence, the term “affiliated group” has the meaning assigned to such term by section 1504(a), except that all corporations other than the acquired corporation shall be treated as includible corporations (without any exclusion under section 1504(b)) and the acquired corporation shall not be treated as an includible corporation. For purposes of this section— No inference shall be drawn from any provision in this section that any instrument designated as a bond, debenture, note, or certificate or other evidence of indebtedness by its issuer represents an obligation or indebtedness of such issuer in applying any other provision of this title.

Legislative history

The public laws that enacted or amended this section. Tallies are for the whole bill as it passed each chamber — often an omnibus covering far more than this provision — not a vote on this section alone. The law that originally enacted this section predates the public laws loaded here, so only later amendments are listed.

  • Amended byPub. L. 94-455(H.R. 10612)1976-10-04
    Tax Reform Act of 1976
    House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
  • Amended byPub. L. 94-514(H.R. 7929)1976-10-15
    A bill relating to the deduction of interest on certain corporate indebtedness to acquire stock or assets of another corporation.
    House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
  • Amended byPub. L. 113-295(H.R. 5771)2014-12-19
    Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014