26 U.S.C. § 262 (2024)

This is the official text of 26 U.S.C. § 262 (2024), part of Federal (US Code)’s United States Code — the codified general and permanent federal statutes of the United States, organized into more than 50 numbered titles by subject.

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Personal, living, and family expenses

Official statutory text

(a) General rule

Except as otherwise expressly provided in this chapter, no deduction shall be allowed for personal, living, or family expenses.

(b) Treatment of certain phone expenses

For purposes of subsection (a), in the case of an individual, any charge (including taxes thereon) for basic local telephone service with respect to the 1st telephone line provided to any residence of the taxpayer shall be treated as a personal expense.

(Aug. 16, 1954, ch. 736, 68A Stat. 76; Pub. L. 100–647, title V, §5073(a), Nov. 10, 1988, 102 Stat. 3682.)

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1988—Pub. L. 100–647 amended section generally. Prior to amendment, section read as follows: "Except as otherwise expressly provided in this chapter, no deduction shall be allowed for personal, living, or family expenses."

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date of 1988 Amendment

Pub. L. 100–647, title V, §5073(b), Nov. 10, 1988, 102 Stat. 3682, provided that: "The amendment made by subsection (a) [amending this section] shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 1988."

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.