Federal · Title 26 — Internal Revenue Code

26 U.S.C. § 139F: Certain amounts received by wrongfully incarcerated individuals

Civil

What this law says, in plain English

Monetary awards received by wrongfully incarcerated individuals—including civil damages and restitution related to their wrongful incarceration—are excluded from their gross income for tax purposes.

Read the full statutory text
In the case of any wrongfully incarcerated individual, gross income shall not include any civil damages, restitution, or other monetary award (including compensatory or statutory damages and restitution imposed in a criminal matter) relating to the incarceration of such individual for the covered offense for which such individual was convicted. who was convicted of a covered offense, who served all or part of a sentence of imprisonment relating to that covered offense, and who was pardoned, granted clemency, or granted amnesty for that covered offense because that individual was innocent of that covered offense, or for whom the judgment of conviction for that covered offense was reversed or vacated, and for whom the indictment, information, or other accusatory instrument for that covered offense was dismissed or who was found not guilty at a new trial after the judgment of conviction for that covered offense was reversed or vacated. For purposes of this section, the term “covered offense” means any criminal offense under Federal or State law, and includes any criminal offense arising from the same course of conduct as that criminal offense.

Verify at the official source: Federal legislative text

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This page is legal information, not legal advice. Code text is sourced from official publications and may lag amendments — always confirm at the official source linked above. Plain-English summaries and relationship data are AI-derived and reviewed on an ongoing basis; verify with a licensed attorney before acting.