Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 68A.djvu/194

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154

INTERNAL REVENUE CODE OF 1954

(e) DEFINITIONS.^—For purposes of this section— (1) PREPAID INCOME.—The term "prepaid income" means any amount (includible in gross income) which is received in connection with, and is directly attributable to, a liability which extends beyond the close of the taxable year in which such amount is received. Such term does not include any income treated as gain from the sale or other disposition of a capital asset. (2) LIABILITY TO RENDER SERVICES, ETC.—The term "liability" means a liability to render services, furnish goods or other property, or allow the use of property. (3) K E C E I P T OF PREPAID INCOME.—Prepaid income shall be treated as received during the taxable year for which it is includible in gross income under section 451 (without regard to this section). SEC. 453. INSTALLMENT METHOD. (a) D E A L E R S IN PERSONAL PROPERTY.—Under regulations pre-

scribed by the Secretary or his delegate, a person who regularly sells or otherwise disposes of personal property on the installment plan may return as income therefrom in any taxable year that proportion of the installment payments actually received in that year which the gross profit, realized or to be realized when payment is completed, bears to the total contract price. (b)

SALES OF REALTY AND CASUAL SALES OF PERSONALTY.—

(1) GENERAL RULE.—Income from— (A) a sale or other disposition of real property, or (B) a casual sale or other casual disposition of personal property (other than property of a kind which would properly be included in the inventory of the taxpayer if on hand at the close of the taxable year) for a price exceeding $1,000, may (under regulations prescribed by the Secretary or his delegate) be returned on the basis and in the manner prescribed in subsection (a). (2) LIMITATION.—Paragraph (1) shall appl^— (A) In the case of a sale or other disposition during a taxable year beginning after December 31, 1953 (whether or not such taxable year ends after the date of enactment of this title), only if in the taxable year of the sale or other disposition— (i) there are no payments, or (ii) the payments (exclusive of evidences of indebtedness of the purchaser) do not exceed 30 percent of the selling price. •(B) In the case of a sale or other disposition during a taxable year beginning before January 1, 1954, only if the income was (by reason of section 44(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939) returnable on the basis and in the manner prescribed in section 44 (a) of such code. (c) CHANGE FROM ACCRUAL TO INSTALLMENT B A S I S. —

(1) GENERAL RULE.—If a taxpayer entitled to the benefits of subsection (a) elects for any taxable year to report his taxable income on the installment basis, then in computing his taxable income for such year (referred to in this subsection as "year of change") or for any subsequent year— (A) installment payments actually received during any such year on account of sales or other dispositions of property made § 452(e)