Internal Revenue Service

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Contact Information Internal Revenue Service 1111 Constitution Ave. NW Washington, DC 20224 DC Tel. 202-622-5000 Fax 202-622-4355

Type: Government Agency
On the web: http://www.irs.gov

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is ready to help Americans pay their taxes, whether they want to or not. A bureau in the Department of the Treasury, the IRS is responsible for tax collection and tax law enforcement in its numerous forms. The agency collects 93% of the revenues that fund the US federal government. With an annual budget of about $13.6 billion, the IRS strives to fulfill its mission by helping taxpayers understand their obligations and by consistently and fairly enforcing tax laws. The agency is structured into four primary divisions: Wage and Investment, Large and International Business, Small Business and Self-Employed, and Tax-Exempt and Government Entities.

Officers:
Commissioner: Douglas H. Shulman
Deputy Commissioner Operations Support: Mark A. Ernst
CFO: Alison Doone

An agency of the federal government that is responsible for the administration and collection of federal income taxes. The IRS prints and distributes tax forms and audits tax returns.


Addresses:

Regional Offices

• Andover, MA 05501

• Atlanta, GA 31101

• Austin, TX 73301

• Cincinnati, OH 45999

• Fresno, CA 93888

• Holtsville, NY 00501

• Kansas City, MO 64999

• Memphis, TN 37501

• Ogden, UT 84201

• Philadelphia, PA 19255

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(www.irs.gov) branch of the federal government in charge of collecting most types of taxes, such as personal, corporate, gift, estate, and excise. Some taxes are collected by other agencies, such as custom duties, tobacco, and alcohol. The IRS administers tax rules and regulations, and investigates tax improprieties.
Criminal prosecution may be made by the IRS for tax fraud through the U.S. Tax Court. Examinations of tax returns can involve: (1) simple matters that are resolved by mail; (2) IRS office examination concentrating on additional verification by the taxpayer of selected items; or (3) field examination at the taxpayer's office or representative's office. A field audit is typically broader in scope than an office audit, covering many items on a tax return, and often for more than one year.

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The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the agency of the U.S. Department of the Treasury responsible for collecting income taxes from individuals and businesses within the country. In addition to tax on income, the IRS collects several other kinds of taxes for the government, including Social Security, estate, excise, and gift taxes (they are not responsible for collecting revenue derived from the sale of alcohol, tobacco, or firearms). The agency's other responsibilities include enforcement of U.S. tax laws, distribution of forms and instructions necessary for the filing of tax returns, and provision of counseling for businesses and individuals subject to its regulations.

The IRS, which is a part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, was first created by Congress in 1862. In the first years of the IRS, its money-gathering activities were very modest. Until the Civil War, the United States gathered approximately as much money from customs duties as it did from taxation, and the federal government's financial needs were slight because it offered few programs for its citizens. In 1913 IRS responsibilities increased with the introduction of the federal income tax system. Since that time, the government has imposed steadily higher taxes on its citizenry to pay for national defense, social programs, transportation and other infrastructure, and other aspects of modern American society. As internal revenue gathering increased in scope during the past century, the Internal Revenue Service saw similar growth. The IRS, which employed approximately 86, 000 workers in the mid-1990s, was reorganized in 2000 into four operating divisions: wage and investment; small business and self-employed; large and mid-size business (those with assets greater than $5 million); and tax exempt and governmental entities. Further information on these divisions can be found on the official IRS web site (www.irs.gov).

The Internal Revenue Service processes more than 180 million tax returns on an annual basis. On a small percentage of these returns, the IRS performs a more detailed tax return examination called an "audit." If an individual or business is audited, the IRS representative conducting the examination typically asks for proof of the various deductions and exemptions claimed on the tax return. Depending on how the audit unfolds, the IRS agent may ultimately decide that additional taxes are owed (or, less frequently, that the taxpayer actually paid too much). Taxpayers who object to these audit findings have the option of appealing to an independent division within the IRS specifically created to deal with such cases. If negotiations still do not satisfy the taxpayer, appeals can be filed in U.S. Tax Court or other federal courts, depending on the nature of the case.

Small Business and the Irs

The Internal Revenue Service sponsors several different programs designed to help entrepreneurs and small business owners fulfill their revenue reporting and taxpaying obligations. These include the Small Business Tax Education Program (STEP), which is designed to help small business owners maneuver through the plethora of business tax issues that they face.

Other recent IRS initiatives have met with opposition from small business groups, however. For example, IRS regulations requiring businesses that paid more than $50, 000 in employment taxes in 1995 to file federal payments electronically—and implementing heavy penalties for those not in compliance—deeply angered many small business owners. The IRS's new Market Segment Specialization Program (MSSP) has also been a subject of some controversy within the small business community. The MSSP is described as a research initiative intended to provide the IRS with a greater understanding of the typical structure and operation of several dozen kinds of small businesses. The initiative, which arose as a result of studies that indicated that independent business owners had a relatively high rate of noncompliance with tax laws, is designed to ultimately provide auditors with greater understanding of how each business is conducted and the compliance problems that they sometimes have. While supporters argue that the MSSP will give the IRS greater insights into the tax difficulties that small businesses face, critics contend that the program could ultimately result in tougher audits for small businesses.

The Changing Irs

The rapidly changing face of technology and communications has presented small businesses and multinational corporations alike with a wide array of challenges. The Internal Revenue Service has not been immune to these changes. Indeed, the agency has struggled to modernize its operations, especially in the realm of computers. The IRS recently announced that it is considering outsourcing its tax-return data entry after replacing some aging computers. According to Computerworld, IRS priorities now include finding an interim solution to the data input situation and solving remittance processing problems.

Further Reading:

Faulkner, Crystal. "IRS Expanding 'Customer Service' to Businesses." Business Courier-Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky. August 18, 2000.

Griffin, Cynthia E. "Audit Alert: The Key to Surviving an IRS Audit, Know the Rules." Entrepreneur. July 1997.

Guttman, George. "IRS Finishing Up New Strategic Plan." Tax Notes. November 27, 2000.

Hodges, Susan. "Getting Wired for the IRS." Nation's Business. October 1996.

Machlis, Sharon. "Newly Candid IRS Has Year 2000 Fix, Mulls Outsourcing." Computerworld. February 10, 1997.

Stern, Linda. "The IRS's New Focus on Small Business." Home Office Computing. April 1994.

Tax Guide for Small Business. Washington: Internal Revenue Service, n.d.

In 1798 Congress assessed its first direct tax on the American people, a $2 million sum apportioned among the states on the basis of the most current census. The federal government used direct taxation during the early years of the country to support war efforts and other administrative expenditures, but it was not until the Tax Act of 1862 that the government first levied an income tax and founded the Bureau of Internal Revenue to collect it. President Abraham Lincoln passed this tax act with rates of 3 to 5 percent to finance the Civil War, and people responded favorably, eager to help the war effort.

In 1895 in the case of Pollack v. Farmers Loan and Trust, the Supreme Court found income taxation unconstitutional, putting the Bureau of Internal Revenue in jeopardy. However, with the passage of the 16th Amendment in 1913, legalizing the taxation of income, the bureau's existence was insured. In the 1920s, in addition to collecting taxes, the bureau was responsible for enforcing the Prohibition amendment. It continued enforcing similar alcohol and tobacco legislation until 1972, when it passed on these duties to the newly formed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

In 1953 the Bureau of Internal Revenue was reorganized as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Responsible for determining, assessing, and collecting internal revenue, the IRS remains the largest of the Treasury's branches. Revenue collected consists of personal and corporate income taxes; excise, estate, and gift taxes; as well as employment taxes for the nation's Social Security system.

Smilin' Tax Man

The IRS began to levy and collect income taxes on this date in 1913. Income tax had originally been collected in the U.S. from 1864-1872; Britain adopted a permanent income tax in 1874, and other European countries adopted regular income taxes in the late 1800s.

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From our Archives: Today's Highlights, March 8, 2005

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Among the most visible arms of the U.S. federal government is the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). As most Americans know, the IRS is an office in the Treasury Department responsible for collecting all individual and corporate taxes. Although dealings with the IRS are sometimes dreaded by taxpayers, it is nevertheless a necessary component of operating the world's only superpower, and the money it collects—more than $2 billion in 2001—serves to fund operations ranging from the war on terrorism to research into the development of non-petroleum-burning engines. Among the most important components of the IRS is its Criminal Investigation (CI) division, which tracks down tax evaders and helps the federal government in its war on drug trafficking, money laundering, and terrorism.

History

The history of American taxation is inexorably tied with the history of American military activity. For the better part of a century, the federal government funded its operations through customs tariffs, but in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln created the Office of Internal Revenue to pay expenses associated with the Civil War. A decade later, the income tax was repealed, but it reappeared a half-century later in the beginnings of its modern form, with the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1913.

The amendment gave Congress the power to levy an income tax, which was collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). The latter had been created in 1877 to collect the few types of taxes that existed at the time, and as America entered World War I, its level of activity increased dramatically. In 1918, the top income tax rate reached a staggering 77 percent, but dropped again to 24 percent in 1929, only to rise again during the Great Depression. The coming of the Second World War brought with it the system of payroll withholding still in place today.

Formation and Operations. In 1952, the BIR became the IRS. Up to that time, the agency was staffed by appointees associated with the current presidential administration. Thenceforth, only the IRS commissioner and chief counsel were selected by the President and confirmed by the Senate, with the rest of the IRS run by professionals. Half a century later, the IRS went through a massive program of reform spurred by taxpayer dissatisfaction with the agency, which gained a voice in Washington after Republicans won a majority in Congress in 1994. The result was the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, which created provisions to protect taxpayers' rights.

By 2003, the IRS had some 100,000 employees and a budget of $9.9 billion. It consisted of four major operating divisions: wage and investment, which dealt with 116 million taxpayers who filed individual and joint tax returns; small business and self-employment, which involved some 45 million small businesses and self-employed taxpayers; large and mid-sized business, concerned with corporations possessing assets of more than $10 million; and tax exempt and government entities, which also served employee benefit plans. Other areas included the appeals, chief counsel, communications and liaison, and criminal investigation divisions.

Criminal investigation. The roots of CI go back to the BIR's Intelligence Unit, created in 1919 and staffed by six U.S. Post Office inspectors. In the 1930s, the unit succeeded in securing the conviction of gangster Al Capone, and assisted in solving the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby. In July 1978, it assumed its present name. Over the course of its history, CI has had a conviction rate of 90 percent or better, a record unmatched among federal law enforcement agencies.

Staffed by some 2,900 special agents, CI enforces tax and money laundering laws, as well as the Bank Secrecy Act. Its agents are trained in accounting and forensic computer technology, necessary for recovering financial data that may have been encrypted or otherwise hidden by electronic means. In addition to its investigative work, CI serves as an information clearinghouse regarding taxpayer obligations, as well as tax scams. For example, an IRS advisory released in January 2002, warned of slavery reparation scams whereby unscrupulous companies charge African Americans fees to learn how they can receive tax exemption for their ancestors' enslavement. (There is no such exemption.)

The top investigative priorities of CI are legal tax crimes (that is, evasion of taxes on legal income), illegal source financial crimes, and narcotics-related financial crimes. IRS efforts against terrorists fall under the last of these categories, and include operations alongside other federal agencies in a number of multiagency programs such as the Joint Terrorism Task Force and Operation Green Quest. The Strategic Information Operations Center at Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters in Washington, D.C., coordinates all these efforts.

Further Reading

Books

Burnham, David. A Law unto Itself: Power, Politics, and the IRS. New York: Random House, 1989.

Davis, Shelley L. Unbridled Power: Inside the Secret Culture of the IRS. New York: Harper Business, 1997.

Periodicals

Leader, Stefan. "Cash for Carnage: Funding the Modern Terrorist." Jane's Intelligence Review. (May 1, 1998): 36.

"Victory in the War on Terrorism Will Not Be Won on the Defensive." New York Times. (September 10, 2002): A19.

Electronic

Internal Revenue Service. <http://www.irs.gov/> (April 4, 2003).

This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

The federal agency responsible for administering and enforcing all internal revenue laws in the United States, except those relating to alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives, which are the responsibility of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the largest agency in the Treasury Department. By the mid-1990s it had approximately 110,000 employees, 650 office locations in the United States, and twelve offices abroad. The agency processes approximately 205 million tax returns and collects more than $1.2 trillion each year.

The U.S. tax system, which the IRS oversees and administers, is based on the principle of voluntary compliance. According to the IRS, this means "that taxpayers are expected to comply with the law without being compelled to do so by action of a federal agent; it does not mean that the taxpayer is free to decide whether or not to comply with the law."

Duties and Powers

The IRS is responsible for enforcing the Internal Revenue Code (U.S.C.A. tit. 26), which codifies all U.S. tax laws. Basic IRS activities include serving and educating taxpayers; determining, assessing, and collecting taxes; investigating individuals and organizations that violate tax laws; determining pension plan qualifications and exempt organization status; and issuing rulings and regulations to supplement the Internal Revenue Code.

Historically, Congress has given the IRS unique and wide-ranging powers for administering the U.S. tax system and enforcing its laws. For example, while in a criminal proceeding the government has the burden to prove that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, in a tax proceeding the burden is on the taxpayer to prove that he or she does not owe the amount claimed by the IRS. The IRS also has the power to impose civil penalties for any of a number of violations of tax law. These penalties are seldom employed, however, and with respect to penalties, the IRS bears the burden of proving that the penalty is justified.

The IRS has the power to collect large amounts of information on U.S. citizens, companies, and other institutions. The most obvious example of this power is that each year all taxpayers must file tax returns containing detailed financial and personal information. Many organizations are also required to notify the IRS of any payments they make to individuals; the IRS receives approximately 1 billion of these third-party reports annually. The IRS also has the legal authority to order banks, employers, and other institutions to provide information about a taxpayer without having to obtain a warrant from a judge; other law enforcement agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and local police forces, must obtain a warrant in such situations.

Another crucial power of the IRS is the ability to withhold taxes automatically from employee paychecks. The IRS was given this authority in 1943, when Congress passed legislation requiring employers to withhold from employees' paychecks the income taxes owed to the government. This withholding requirement was one of several actions taken by the government to increase revenue so that it could meet the huge financial requirements for fighting World War II. Today, automatic withholding accounts for the majority of tax dollars paid to the government, with only a small portion sent in with tax returns by April 15, the IRS's annual tax deadline. Automatic withholding is important to the government because it enables it to receive a steady stream of tax revenue. It is also useful for enforcing voluntary compliance from taxpayers, because the individual's tax burden seems less onerous when taxes owed are subtracted from a paycheck before the check is received.

Organization

The IRS is led by a commissioner, who works in the IRS National Office located in Washington, D.C. The commissioner and his or her chief counsel are appointed by the president and must be approved by the Senate. The chief counsel serves as the chief legal adviser to the IRS. At the next level are regional commissioners, who oversee IRS operations in the four regions into which the country is divided: the Northeast, Southeast, Midstates, and Western Regions. Within the four regions are thirty-three district offices, which are responsible for collecting revenue, examining returns, and pursuing criminal investigations within their geographic area. Also located across the country are ten service centers, five submission processing centers, two computing centers, and twenty-three customer service centers.

In addition to its geographic divisions, the IRS is organized into programs focusing on specific administrative tasks. Several of these, including the Taxpayer Services and Problem Resolution programs, focus on taxpayer assistance and education. Others, including the Examination, Collection, and Criminal Investigation divisions, focus on ensuring taxpayer compliance. Additional IRS programs include Appeals, which attempts to resolve tax controversies without litigation; Statistics of Income, which compiles and publishes data relating to the operation of the Internal Revenue Code; and Tax Practitioner Conduct, which enforces tax laws applying to attorneys, accountants, and taxpayer agents.

History

The IRS was created in 1952, though it was preceded by various other U.S. tax-collecting offices. The IRS's earliest incarnation, the Office of the Commissioner of Revenue, was established by Congress in 1792 in response to Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton's request that various tariffs and taxes be created to raise money to pay off the United States' Revolutionary War debt. Trench Coxe, of Pennsylvania, was the first person to hold the office. By creating the Office of the Commissioner of Revenue, Congress delegated its constitutional power to "lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises" to the Treasury Department, which has retained the power ever since (art. 1, § 8, U.S. Constitution).

By the time Thomas Jefferson became president in 1801, the internal revenue program had grown to employ four hundred revenue officials, who enforced a wide variety of tax regulations, including taxes on distilled spirits, land, houses, and slaves. Jefferson, a Democrat who fiercely opposed Hamilton and his Federalist party programs, abolished the entire system and relied instead on taxes assessed on imported items for government revenue. When the War of 1812 increased the government's needs for funds, taxes were reimposed on items such as sugar, carriages, liquor, furniture, and luxury items. At the war's end, all internal taxes and collection offices were abolished, and customs duties again became the primary source for government revenue.

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, President Abraham Lincoln faced a financial crisis because the government needed much more money to finance the war effort than could be raised through customs duties. To address this problem, Congress passed sweeping new tax measures, including the Civil War Revenue Act of August 5, 1861, which authorized the country's first income tax and imposed a direct tax of $20 million apportioned among the states. The Revenue Act of July 1, 1862, created a wide variety of new taxes. To oversee their collection, Congress created the Bureau of Internal Revenue under the secretary of the treasury. This office, which represents the first form of the modern internal revenue collection system, administered the tax system by dividing the country into 185 collection districts. The commissioner was given the power to enforce tax laws through both seizure and prosecution. George S. Boutwell, of Massachusetts, was the first commissioner of internal revenue. Boutwell was initially assisted by three clerks. By January 1863 the office had grown to employ nearly four thousand people, most of whom worked in the field as revenue collectors or property assessors.

When the Civil War ended in 1865, the government's need for revenue was greatly reduced. Taxes were scaled back, the income tax was eliminated, and customs duties again became a sufficient source for federal funds. With the subsequent rise of industrialism and growth of populist political ideas, however, many citizens wanted the government to take a more active role and therefore lobbied for a reestablishment of the income tax to provide greater revenue. Most of the support for an income tax came from southern and western states. Most of the opposition came from the wealthier states whose citizens would be most affected by an income tax — Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.

After many attempts Congress finally passed a modest income tax in 1894. The Supreme Court quickly ruled it unconstitutional on the ground that it violated the constitutional provision requiring that federal taxes be apportioned equally among the various states. Supporters of the income tax overcame this hurdle in 1913, when Wyoming became the thirty-sixth state to pass the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution, giving Congress the power to collect taxes without regard to state apportionment. That same year Congress enacted the first income tax act under the amendment, and the income tax became a permanent feature of the U.S. tax system.

The passage of the Sixteenth Amendment marked the beginning of an era of significant expansion for the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The establishment of the Personal Income Tax Division greatly increased bureau staff, and many new taxes were imposed to finance World War I, thus requiring new bureau divisions and programs. As the bureau's responsibilities continued to multiply, operations became more inefficient and disorganized. In the 1920s, for example, the national office of the bureau was housed in a dozen different buildings located all around the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area. Tax returns became backlogged, tax fraud and evasion were rampant, and an extensive patronage system enabled politically appointed collectors to operate unchecked, outraging their civil service staffs. Beginning in 1945 Congress and the Treasury Department began efforts to overhaul the whole tax collection system. In 1952 the Bureau of Internal Revenue was reorganized and given a new name: the Internal Revenue Service. This new moniker was intended to emphasize the agency's focus on providing service to taxpayers. Patronage was eliminated, and power was decentralized, with the states being divided into seven regional districts through which all return processing, auditing, billing, and refunding would be administered.

Since 1952 the IRS has continued to undergo major changes and reorganizations. Advancements in technology have had a tremendous effect on IRS operations, beginning with the opening of the automatic data processing system in Martinsburg, West Virginia, in 1962. This system revolutionized the collection and audit process by enabling the IRS to maintain a master file of every taxpayer's account. More recent technological applications have changed the way taxpayers interact with the IRS. In 1995, for example, more than 14 million individuals and businesses used the IRS's electronic filing program to submit their tax returns. Another approximately 685,000 taxpayers in ten states filed their tax return using their touch-tone telephone. Taxes were also paid electronically, with more than forty-one thousand businesses making more than $232 billion in federal tax deposits by electronic funds transfer.

Over the years the IRS has faced continuing pressure from Congress and the public to adopt more reasonable enforcement policies, to provide better service to taxpayers, and to protect private information more carefully. In an attempt to protect taxpayers' rights, Congress in 1988 passed the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (Pub. L. No. 100-647, tit. VI, §§ 6226-6247, 102 Stat. 3730-3752 [Nov. 10, 1988]), which outlines the rights and protections a taxpayer has when dealing with the IRS. Included are the right to waive penalties if the taxpayer follows incorrect advice given by the IRS, the right to request relief when tax laws result in significant hardship, and the right to attorneys' fees in cases where IRS employees violate the Internal Revenue Code to the detriment of the taxpayer.

In 1995 the IRS's administrative structure underwent a major reorganization. The seven regions that had been established in 1952 were reduced to four, and management was consolidated, decreasing the number of districts within those regions from sixty-three to thirty-three.

See: Estate and Gift Taxes; Taxation; Tax Court; Tax Evasion.

A federal agency, part of the Department of the Treasury, that collects most federal taxes, including income and Social Security taxes.

A United States government agency that is responsible for the collection and enforcement of taxes. The IRS was established in 1862 by President Lincoln and operates under the authority of the United States Department of the Treasury. It is primarily engaged in the collection of individual income taxes and employment taxes, but also handles corporate, gift, excise and estate taxes.

The IRS is sometimes referred to as the "tax man".

Investopedia Says:
The IRS is headquartered in Washington, D.C. It is an expansive organization that services the taxation of all Americans. In 2006, the IRS processed about 133 million personal income tax returns and almost six million corporate income tax returns, bringing in trillions of dollars of tax revenue.

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Part of the United States Department of the Treasury. The IRS is responsible for the collection of all federal taxes, except customs duties.

For a list of words related to Internal Revenue Service, see:

• Income Tax - Internal Revenue Service: IRS; tax-collecting agency of U.S. government

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