Subchapter V. Taxes and Public Lands
50 U.S.C. § 4000: Deferring Income Tax Until 180 Days After Service
Official heading: Income taxes
In one line
Defers collection of federal, state, or local income tax that fell due before or during service, if service materially affects your ability to pay, once you notify the tax authority. No interest or penalty accrues during the deferral.
- Deferral runs up to 180 days after termination of or release from military service
- The collection statute of limitations is suspended for the period of service plus 270 days
- Does not apply to the employee FICA tax under 26 U.S.C. § 3101
Text checked October 9, 2026
What § 4000 does to your money
Section 4000 is a payment deferral, not a tax break. If military service materially affects your ability to pay income tax that came due before or during service, notice to the IRS or to the state or local tax authority defers collection until up to 180 days after you leave service.
No interest or penalty accrues on the deferred amount for the deferral period, which is where the money is: on a large balance, months of interest and failure-to-pay penalties never get added. The government’s deadline to collect is suspended for your service plus 270 days, so the debt does not expire while it is deferred.
It does not reach the Social Security and Medicare tax withheld from wages (the tax under 26 U.S.C. § 3101), and it requires that material effect, so a servicemember whose pay rose on active duty may not qualify. Combat-zone filing and payment extensions are a separate benefit under the tax code. Send the notice in writing with a copy of your orders and a short statement of how service changed your income, and keep proof that it was delivered.
Guides on this site that apply § 4000
- Military State Income Tax: The SCRA Election, Deferral & Tax Sales
A service member and spouse can each elect the member's home state, the spouse's, or the duty station for state tax (§ 4001). Plus SCRA tax deferrals.
- SCRA Eligibility: Who Qualifies, When It Starts & Ends
Who qualifies for the SCRA under 50 U.S.C. § 3911: active duty, Guard, Reserve, spouses, veterans, and which debts count. Status table, start and end dates.
- SCRA Tolling: Your Legal Deadlines Pause During Service
50 U.S.C. § 3936 freezes the statute of limitations during military service, for claims by AND against you. Automatic, no material-effect test. One exception.
- What Is the SCRA? The Military Law Worth Thousands a Year
The SCRA (Servicemembers Civil Relief Act) caps pre-service debt at 6%, ends leases on orders, and blocks foreclosure without a court order. How it works.
The full text of 50 U.S.C. § 4000
From the United States Code, 2024 Edition, current through January 6, 2025, as published by the U.S. Government Publishing Office on GovInfo (retrieved October 10, 2026). No amendment enacted after the edition cutoff was found on Cornell LII or in GovInfo’s compiled SCRA (amended through Pub. L. 118-159, Dec. 23, 2024). House style: the Code’s em dashes before a list are shown as colons, and en dashes as hyphens or “to”; no word of the text is changed.
(a) Deferral of tax
Upon notice to the Internal Revenue Service or the tax authority of a State or a political subdivision of a State, the collection of income tax on the income of a servicemember falling due before or during military service shall be deferred for a period not more than 180 days after termination of or release from military service, if a servicemember's ability to pay such income tax is materially affected by military service.
(b) Accrual of interest or penalty
No interest or penalty shall accrue for the period of deferment by reason of nonpayment on any amount of tax deferred under this section.
(c) Statute of limitations
The running of a statute of limitations against the collection of tax deferred under this section, by seizure or otherwise, shall be suspended for the period of military service of the servicemember and for an additional period of 270 days thereafter.
(d) Application limitation
This section shall not apply to the tax imposed on employees by section 3101 of title 26.
Enacted and amended by: (Oct. 17, 1940, ch. 888, title V, §510, as added Pub. L. 108-189, §1, Dec. 19, 2003, 117 Stat. 2858.)
Effective date: Section applicable to any case not final before Dec. 19, 2003, see section 3 of Pub. L. 108-189, set out as a note under section 3901 of this title.
Every section of the Act, including the short administrative ones without their own page, is on the section-by-section index.
Heads up: SCRA Saver publishes general information, not legal or financial advice. Laws change and every situation differs. Confirm details with your installation legal assistance office (free for service members) or a licensed professional.