Internal Revenue Service

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is an agency in the U.S. Department of the Treasury responsible for administering the United States tax code.^[1] The current IRS commissioner is Billy Long.^[2]

The Internal Revenue Service employed 90,516 people in the U.S. in 2024.^[3]

History[edit]

The commissioner of Internal Revenue was formed by Abraham Lincoln in 1862 to collect the newly passed income tax intended to fund the Civil War. The income tax was repealed ten years later, but it was revived in 1894. The Supreme Court then ruled the income tax unconstitutional in 1895. With the ratification of the 16th Amendment in 1913, the ability to collect income taxes was authorized.^[4]

The first 1040 income tax form in 1913

The first income tax rates were 1 percent on incomes above $3,000 and a 6 percent surtax on incomes over $500,000. The rates and types of taxes changed depending on circumstances, reaching as high as 77 percent in the highest bracket during World War I. Payroll withholding tax and quarterly tax payments were implemented during World War II.^[4] During Prohibition, the commissioner of Internal Revenue was charged with enforcing the ban on alcohol. In 1931, the IRS Intelligence Unit arrested noted gangster Al Capone on charges of tax evasion for which he was sentenced to 11 years in prison.^[5]

In 1952, President Harry Truman reorganized the IRS to replace the patronage system with a career civil service system with the commissioner and chief counsel appointed by the president and confirmed by the United States Senate. President Dwight D. Eisenhower changed the name of the organization from the Bureau of Internal Revenue to the Internal Revenue Service in 1953. In 1954, the income tax filing date was changed from March 15 to April 15 of each year.^[5]

The Tax Reform Act was passed during the Ronald Reagan administration, changing 300 provisions in the tax code. The IRS was reorganized in 1998 with the passage of the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act. The reorganization was completed in 2000 with the formation of four main divisions: Wage and Investment, Small Business/Self-Employed, Large and Mid-Size Business, and Tax Exempt and Government Entities.^[5]

Structure[edit]

Administrative State
Read more about the administrative state on Ballotpedia.

Mission[edit]

The official mission statement of the IRS is as follows:

Leadership[edit]

The current commissioner of the IRS is Billy Long.

Note: Votes marked "N/A" represent voice votes or unrecorded votes.

Organizational chart[edit]

Click here to view the IRS' organizational chart.

Noteworthy events[edit]

See also: Federal policy on taxes, 2017-2018 and Significant regulatory action

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury released a memorandum of understanding on April 12, 2018, granting the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)—an office within OMB responsible for reviewing and coordinating what it deems all significant regulatory actions made by federal agencies—the authority to review proposed major tax regulations issued by the IRS.^[7][8]

The memorandum of understanding ended an IRS exemption from OIRA's regulatory review process that had been in place since 1983. The Trump administration had sought to bring major IRS regulations under OIRA's regulatory review process since the passage of the administration's tax legislation, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, in December 2017.^[7]

The memorandum of understanding subjected the following types of IRS regulations to OIRA's regulatory review process:^[8]

See also[edit]

• Federal policy on taxes, 2017-2018
• IRS Form 990
• IRS code, section 501

External links[edit]

• Official Internal Revenue Service website
• Search Google News for this topic

Footnotes[edit]

v • e U.S. Executive Branch Elected offices President Donald Trump • Vice President J.D. Vance Executive departments Department of Defense • Department of State • Department of Homeland Security • Department of Justice • Department of Commerce • Department of Education • Department of the Treasury • Department of Agriculture • Department of Energy • Department of Labor • Department of Transportation • Department of the Interior • Department of Health and Human Services • Department of Veterans Affairs • Department of Housing and Urban Development Cabinet-level offices Environmental Protection Agency • Office of Management and Budget • U.S. Mission to the United Nations • Council of Economic Advisors • Small Business Administration • White House Chief of Staff Federally appointed offices Federal Reserve System • National Security Advisor • White House Press Secretary • U.S. Postmaster General • Central Intelligence Agency • Federal Bureau of Investigation • Internal Revenue Service • Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives • National Security Agency • Congressional Budget Office • Federal Election Commission • Transportation Security Administration • Drug Enforcement Administration • Federal Communications Commission • United States Postal Service Glossary Appointment confirmation process • United States Constitution • Electoral College • Deferred action • Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) • Deferred Action for Parents of U.S. Citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) • Impeachment of federal officials • Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) • North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) • P5+1 and E3+3 • Trade adjustment assistance (TAA) • Trade promotion authority (TPA)

v • e The Administrative State Main The Administrative State Project main page • Administrative State Project Index • Glossary of administrative state terms • Quotes about the administrative state • Administrative state • Rulemaking • Deference • Adjudication • Nondelegation doctrine • Ballotpedia's administrative state legislation tracker Pillars Agency control • Executive control • Judicial control • Legislative control • Public control Reporting Changes to the Federal Register • Completed OIRA review of federal administrative agency rules • Federal agency rules repealed under the Congressional Review Act • Historical additions to the Federal Register, 1936-2016 Laws Administrative Procedure Act • Antiquities Act • Civil Service Reform Act • Clayton Antitrust Act • Communications Act of 1934 • Congressional Review Act • Electronic Freedom of Information Act • Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938 • Federal Housekeeping Statute • Federal Reserve Act • Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 • Freedom of Information Act • Government in the Sunshine Act • Independent Offices Appropriations Act of 1952 • Information Quality Act • Interstate Commerce Act • National Labor Relations Act • Paperwork Reduction Act • Pendleton Act • Privacy Act of 1974 • Regulatory Flexibility Act • REINS Act • REINS Act (Wisconsin) • Securities Act of 1933 • Securities Exchange Act of 1934 • Sherman Antitrust Act • Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act • Truth in Regulating Act • Unfunded Mandates Reform Act Cases Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner • A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States • Association of Data Processing Service Organizations v. Camp • Auer v. Robbins • Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council • Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe • Federal Trade Commission (FTC) v. Standard Oil Company of California • Field v. Clark • Food and Drug Administration v. Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation • Humphrey's Executor v. United States • Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) v. Chadha • J.W. Hampton Jr. & Company v. United States • Lucia v. SEC • Marshall v. Barlow's • Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency • Mistretta v. United States • National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) v. Sebelius • National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning Company • National Labor Relations Board v. Sears, Roebuck & Co. • Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan • Securities and Exchange Commission v. Chenery Corporation • Skidmore v. Swift & Co. • United States v. Lopez • United States v. Western Pacific Railroad Co. • Universal Camera Corporation v. National Labor Relations Board • Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council • Wayman v. Southard • Weyerhaeuser Company v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service • Whitman v. American Trucking Associations • Wickard v. Filburn • Wiener v. United States Terms Adjudication (administrative state) • Administrative judge • Administrative law • Administrative law judge • Administrative state • Arbitrary-or-capricious test • Auer deference • Barrier to entry • Bootleggers and Baptists • Chevron deference (doctrine) • Civil servant • Civil service • Code of Federal Regulations • Codify (administrative state) • Comment period • Compliance costs • Congressional Record • Coordination (administrative state) • Deference (administrative state) • Direct and indirect costs (administrative state) • Enabling statute • Ex parte communication (administrative state) • Executive agency • Federal law • Federal Register • Federalism • Final rule • Formal rulemaking • Formalism (law) • Functionalism (law) • Guidance (administrative state) • Hybrid rulemaking • Incorporation by reference • Independent federal agency • Informal rulemaking • Joint resolution of disapproval (administrative state) • Major rule • Negotiated rulemaking • Nondelegation doctrine • OIRA prompt letter • Organic statute • Pragmatism (law) • Precautionary principle • Promulgate • Proposed rule • Publication rulemaking • Regulatory budget • Regulatory capture • Regulatory dark matter • Regulatory impact analysis • Regulatory policy officer • Regulatory reform officer • Regulatory review • Rent seeking • Retrospective regulatory review • Risk assessment (administrative state) • Rulemaking • Separation of powers • Significant regulatory action • Skidmore deference • Statutory authority • Substantive law and procedural law • Sue and settle • Sunset provision • Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions • United States Code • United States Statutes at Large Bibliography "Administrative Law - The 20th Century Bequeaths an 'Illegitimate Exotic' in Full and Terrifying Flower" by Stephen P. Dresch (2000) "Confronting the Administrative Threat" by Philip Hamburger and Tony Mills (2017) "Constitutionalism after the New Deal" by Cass R. Sunstein (1987) Federalist No. 23 by Alexander Hamilton (1787) "From Administrative State to Constitutional Government" by Joseph Postell (2012) "Interring the Nondelegation Doctrine" by Eric A. Posner and Adrian Vermeule (2002) "Rulemaking as Legislating" by Kathryn Watts (2015) "The Checks & Balances of the Regulatory State" by Paul R. Verkuil (2016) "The Myth of the Nondelegation Doctrine" by Keith E. Whittington and Jason Iuliano (2017) "The Progressive Origins of the Administrative State: Wilson, Goodnow, and Landis" by Ronald J. Pestritto (2007) "The Rise and Rise of the Administrative State" by Gary Lawson (1994) "The Study of Administration" by Woodrow Wilson (1887) "The Threat to Liberty" by Steven F. Hayward (2017) "Why the Modern Administrative State Is Inconsistent with the Rule of Law" by Richard A. Epstein (2008) Agencies Administrative Conference of the United States • United States Civil Service Commission • U.S. Government Accountability Office • U.S. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs • U.S. Office of Management and Budget