26 U.S.C. § 1202
Partial exclusion for gain from certain small business stock
United States · Title 26 — INTERNAL REVENUE CODE · Status: effective
Cite this
- Citation
- 26 U.S.C. § 1202, Partial exclusion for gain from certain small business stock, United States, version 1 as recorded 2026-07-09, yourstate.us, https://yourstate.us/provision/462935
- Permanent ID
ys:prov:462935@1- SHA-256
e8aad956e16531a7910da093e881cd4802013cfec5acfbbaee6e93f70a5b197e
The hash is SHA-256 of this version's text, with every run of whitespace collapsed to a single space and the ends trimmed. The ID always leads back here, and checking it says whether the text you cited is still the current version.
Full text
In the case of a taxpayer other than a corporation, gross income shall not include—
In the case of qualified small business stock acquired after the date of the enactment of this paragraph in a corporation which is a qualified business entity (as defined in section 1397C(b)) during substantially all of the taxpayer’s holding period for such stock, paragraph (1) shall be applied by substituting “60 percent” for “50 percent”.
Rules similar to the rules of paragraphs (5) and (7) of section 1400B(b) (as in effect before its repeal) shall apply for purposes of this paragraph.
Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to gain attributable to periods after December 31, 2018.
The District of Columbia Enterprise Zone shall not be treated as an empowerment zone for purposes of this paragraph.
In the case of qualified small business stock acquired after the date of the enactment of this paragraph and on or before the date of the enactment of the Creating Small Business Jobs Act of 2010—
In the case of qualified small business stock acquired after the date of the enactment of the Creating Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 and on or before the applicable date—
The applicable percentage under paragraph (1) shall be determined under the following table: Years stock held:Applicablepercentage: 3 years50% 4 years75% 5 years or more100%
For purposes of this section—
The term “applicable date” means the date of the enactment of this paragraph.
In the case of any stock which would (but for this paragraph) be treated as having been acquired before, on, or after the applicable date, whichever is applicable, the acquisition date for purposes of this section shall be the first day on which such stock was held by the taxpayer determined after the application of section 1223.
If the taxpayer has eligible gain for the taxable year from 1 or more dispositions of stock issued by any corporation, the aggregate amount of such gain from dispositions of stock issued by such corporation which may be taken into account under subsection (a) for the taxable year shall not exceed the greater of—
For purposes of this subsection, the term “eligible gain” means any gain from the sale or exchange of qualified small business stock held for at least 3 years (more than 5 years in the case of stock acquired on or before the applicable date).
In the case of a separate return by a married individual for any taxable year—
In the case of any joint return, the amount of gain taken into account under subsection (a) shall be allocated equally between the spouses for purposes of applying this subsection to subsequent taxable years.
For purposes of this subsection, marital status shall be determined under section 7703.
For purposes of paragraph (1)(A), the applicable dollar limit for any taxable year with respect to eligible gain from 1 or more dispositions by a taxpayer of qualified business stock of a corporation is—
if such stock was acquired by the taxpayer after the applicable date, $15,000,000, reduced by the sum of—
In the case of any taxable year beginning after 2026, the $15,000,000 amount in paragraph (4)(B) shall be increased by an amount equal to—
If, for any taxable year, the eligible gain attributable to dispositions of stock issued by a corporation and acquired by the taxpayer after the applicable date exceeds the applicable dollar limit, then notwithstanding any increase under subparagraph (A) for any subsequent taxable year, the applicable dollar limit for such subsequent taxable year shall be zero.
In the case of any taxable year beginning after 2026, the $75,000,000 amounts in paragraphs (1)(A) and (1)(B) shall each be increased by an amount equal to—
For purposes of this section—
Except as otherwise provided in this section, the term “qualified small business stock” means any stock in a C corporation which is originally issued after the date of the enactment of the Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1993, if—
except as provided in subsections (f) and (h), such stock is acquired by the taxpayer at its original issue (directly or through an underwriter)—
Stock in a corporation shall not be treated as qualified small business stock unless, during substantially all of the taxpayer’s holding period for such stock, such corporation meets the active business requirements of subsection (e) and such corporation is a C corporation.
Notwithstanding any provision of subsection (e), a corporation shall be treated as meeting the active business requirements of such subsection for any period during which such corporation qualifies as a specialized small business investment company.
For purposes of clause (i), the term “specialized small business investment company” means any eligible corporation (as defined in subsection (e)(4)) which is licensed to operate under section 301(d) of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (as in effect on May 13, 1993).
Stock acquired by the taxpayer shall not be treated as qualified small business stock if, at any time during the 4-year period beginning on the date 2 years before the issuance of such stock, the corporation issuing such stock purchased (directly or indirectly) any of its stock from the taxpayer or from a person related (within the meaning of section 267(b) or 707(b)) to the taxpayer.
Stock issued by a corporation shall not be treated as qualified business stock if, during the 2-year period beginning on the date 1 year before the issuance of such stock, such corporation made 1 or more purchases of its stock with an aggregate value (as of the time of the respective purchases) exceeding 5 percent of the aggregate value of all of its stock as of the beginning of such 2-year period.
If any transaction is treated under section 304(a) as a distribution in redemption of the stock of any corporation, for purposes of subparagraphs (A) and (B), such corporation shall be treated as purchasing an amount of its stock equal to the amount treated as such a distribution under section 304(a).
For purposes of this section—
The term “qualified small business” means any domestic corporation which is a C corporation if—
For purposes of paragraph (1), the term “aggregate gross assets” means the amount of cash and the aggregate adjusted bases of other property held by the corporation.
For purposes of subparagraph (A), the adjusted basis of any property contributed to the corporation (or other property with a basis determined in whole or in part by reference to the adjusted basis of property so contributed) shall be determined as if the basis of the property contributed to the corporation (immediately after such contribution) were equal to its fair market value as of the time of such contribution.
All corporations which are members of the same parent-subsidiary controlled group shall be treated as 1 corporation for purposes of this subsection.
For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term “parent-subsidiary controlled group” means any controlled group of corporations as defined in section 1563(a)(1), except that—
For purposes of subsection (c)(2), the requirements of this subsection are met by a corporation for any period if during such period—
For purposes of paragraph (1), if, in connection with any future qualified trade or business, a corporation is engaged in—
For purposes of this subsection, the term “qualified trade or business” means any trade or business other than—
For purposes of this subsection, the term “eligible corporation” means any domestic corporation; except that such term shall not include—
For purposes of this subsection, stock and debt in any subsidiary corporation shall be disregarded and the parent corporation shall be deemed to own its ratable share of the subsidiary’s assets, and to conduct its ratable share of the subsidiary’s activities.
A corporation shall be treated as failing to meet the requirements of paragraph (1) for any period during which more than 10 percent of the value of its assets (in excess of liabilities) consists of stock or securities in other corporations which are not subsidiaries of such corporation (other than assets described in paragraph (6)).
For purposes of this paragraph, a corporation shall be considered a subsidiary if the parent owns more than 50 percent of the combined voting power of all classes of stock entitled to vote, or more than 50 percent in value of all outstanding stock, of such corporation.
For purposes of paragraph (1)(A), any assets which—
A corporation shall not be treated as meeting the requirements of paragraph (1) for any period during which more than 10 percent of the total value of its assets consists of real property which is not used in the active conduct of a qualified trade or business. For purposes of the preceding sentence, the ownership of, dealing in, or renting of real property shall not be treated as the active conduct of a qualified trade or business.
For purposes of paragraph (1), rights to computer software which produces active business computer software royalties (within the meaning of section 543(d)(1)) shall be treated as an asset used in the active conduct of a trade or business.
If any stock in a corporation is acquired solely through the conversion of other stock in such corporation which is qualified small business stock in the hands of the taxpayer—
If any amount included in gross income by reason of holding an interest in a pass-thru entity meets the requirements of paragraph (2)—
An amount meets the requirements of this paragraph if—
Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any amount to the extent such amount exceeds the amount to which paragraph (1) would have applied if such amount were determined by reference to the interest the taxpayer held in the pass-thru entity on the date the qualified small business stock was acquired.
For purposes of this subsection, the term “pass-thru entity” means—
For purposes of this section—
In the case of a transfer described in paragraph (2), the transferee shall be treated as—
A transfer is described in this subsection if such transfer is—
Rules similar to the rules of section 1244(d)(2) shall apply for purposes of this section.
In the case of a transaction described in section 351 or a reorganization described in section 368, if qualified small business stock is exchanged for other stock which would not qualify as qualified small business stock but for this subparagraph, such other stock shall be treated as qualified small business stock acquired on the date on which the exchanged stock was acquired.
This section shall apply to gain from the sale or exchange of stock treated as qualified small business stock by reason of subparagraph (A) only to the extent of the gain which would have been recognized at the time of the transfer described in subparagraph (A) if section 351 or 368 had not applied at such time. The preceding sentence shall not apply if the stock which is treated as qualified small business stock by reason of subparagraph (A) is issued by a corporation which (as of the time of the transfer described in subparagraph (A)) is a qualified small business.
For purposes of this paragraph, stock treated as qualified small business stock under subparagraph (A) shall be so treated for subsequent transactions or reorganizations, except that the limitation of subparagraph (B) shall be applied as of the time of the first transfer to which such limitation applied (determined after the application of the second sentence of subparagraph (B)).
In the case of a transaction described in section 351, this paragraph shall apply only if, immediately after the transaction, the corporation issuing the stock owns directly or indirectly stock representing control (within the meaning of section 368(c)) of the corporation whose stock was exchanged.
For purposes of this section—
In the case where the taxpayer transfers property (other than money or stock) to a corporation in exchange for stock in such corporation—
If the adjusted basis of any qualified small business stock is adjusted by reason of any contribution to capital after the date on which such stock was originally issued, in determining the amount of the adjustment by reason of such contribution, the basis of the contributed property shall in no event be treated as less than its fair market value on the date of the contribution.
If the taxpayer has an offsetting short position with respect to any qualified small business stock, subsection (a) shall not apply to any gain from the sale or exchange of such stock unless—
For purposes of paragraph (1), the taxpayer shall be treated as having an offsetting short position with respect to any qualified small business stock if—
The Secretary shall prescribe such regulations as may be appropriate to carry out the purposes of this section, including regulations to prevent the avoidance of the purposes of this section through split-ups, shell corporations, partnerships, or otherwise.
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.
- Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993
- Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996
- Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2001
- American Jobs Creation Act of 2004
- American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
- Small Business Jobs Act of 2010
- Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010House: 277–148Senate: no recorded tally
- American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012
- Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014
- Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016
- Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018House: 256–167Senate: no recorded tally
- An act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H. Con. Res. 14.