|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
HistoryBureau of Internal RevenueIn 1862, during the Civil War, President Lincoln and Congress created the office of Commissioner of Internal Revenue and enacted an income tax to pay war expenses (see Revenue Act of 1862). The position of Commissioner exists today and he is the head of the Internal Revenue Service.
The IRS has its National Capital offices in the greater Washington, DC area, and in particular does most of its computer programming in Maryland. It operates various service centers around the country (currently ten; these are the locations to which taxpayers mail their returns); these centers do the actual tax processing (by running the computer programs written by the National Office); different types of tax processing take place in various centers (such as the distinction between individual and business tax processing). It also operates three computer centers in different locations around the country. Name change and reorganizationIn the 1950s, career professional employees replaced the patronage system. Currently, only the IRS Commissioner and Chief Counsel are selected by the President and confirmed by the Senate. As early as the year 1929, the Bureau of Internal Revenue began using the name "Internal Revenue Service" on at least one tax form.[2] In 1953 the name change to the "Internal Revenue Service" was formalized in Treasury Decision 6038.[3] Reorganization of the late 1990sAs a by-product of hearings on abusive conduct by IRS employees, Congress enacted the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998.[4] As a result of that Act the IRS now functions under four major operating divisions: Large & Mid-Size Business (LMSB), Small Business / Self-Employed (SB/SE), Wage and Investment (W&I), and Tax Exempt & Government Entities (TE/GE). The IRS also includes a criminal law enforcement division. Flooding at IRS headquarters buildingImage:IRS building on constitution avenue in DC.jpg IRS building on Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C..
On December 8th, 2006, the IRS said in a press release that "the phased move-in of more than 2,000 IRS employees" had begun.[6] Most staff would have returned by December 19th but "a small number of employees will return after Jan. 1." This IRS press release estimated the total cost of repairs at $25 million, adding that although the building is ready to be reopened now, some repair work will continue until April 2007. CommissionerThe current Commissioner of Internal Revenue is Mark W. Everson, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 1, 2003. Tax collection statisticsSummary of Collections before Refunds by Type of Return, Fiscal Year 2003:
In fiscal year 2004, the IRS collected $43.1 billion in enforcement revenue. This is an increase of $5.5 billion (15 percent) from fiscal year 2003. Recently, the IRS has altered its policies. The current Service plus Enforcement equals Compliance motto has led to more investigations of abusive tax schemes. As of 2007, the agency estimates it is owed $300 billion more than it collects.[7] Outsourcing collectionsIn September 2006, the IRS started to outsource the collection of taxpayers debts to private debt collection agencies. Opponents to this change note that the IRS will be handing over personal information to these debt collection agencies, who are being paid between twenty-two and twenty-four percent of the amount collected. Opponents are also worried about the agencies' being paid on percent collected because it will encourage the collectors to use pressure tactics to collect the maximum amount. IRS spokesman Terry Lemons responds to these critics saying the new system "is a sound, balanced program that respects taxpayers' rights and taxpayer privacy." Other state and local agencies also use private collection agencies.[8]
Administrative functionsIn addition to collection of revenue and pursuing tax cheaters, the IRS issues administrative rulings such as revenue rulings and private letter rulings. In addition the Service publishes the Internal Revenue Bulletin containing the various IRS pronouncements. The controlling authority of regulations and revenue rulings allows taxpayers to rely on them. A private letter ruling is good for the taxpayer to whom it is issued, and gives some explanation of the Service's position on a particular tax issue. As is the case with all administrative pronouncements, taxpayers sometimes litigate the validity of the pronouncements, and courts sometimes determine a particular rule to be invalid where the agency has exceeded its grant of authority. The IRS also issues formal pronouncements called Revenue Procedures that among other things tell taxpayers how to correct prior tax errors. More formal rulemaking to give the Service's interpretation of a statute or when the statute itself directs that the Secretary of the Treasury shall provide, IRS undergoes the formal regulation process with an NPRM (Notice of proposed rulemaking) published in the Federal Register announcing the proposed regulation, the date of the in person hearing and the process for interested parties to have their views heard either in person at the hearing in Washington, D.C., or by mail. Following the statutory period provided in the Administrative Procedure Act (an abiding interest of Justice Scalia's dissenting opinions) the Service decides on the final regulations "as is," or as reflecting changes, or sometimes withdraws the proposed regulations. Generally, taxpayers may rely on proposed regulations until final regulations become effective. For example, human resource professionals are relying on the October 4, 2005 Proposed Regulations (citation 70 F.R. 57930-57984)[9] for the Section 409A on deferred compensation (the so-called Enron rules on deferred compensation to add teeth to the old rules) because regulations have not been finalized. CriticismLegal status and authority
Many tax protesters claim that because the IRS itself was not created by statute and because the IRS has no legal capacity to sue or be sued,[10] the IRS is not a federal government agency. Some claim it is a Puerto Rican trust.[11] The courts have uniformly rejected such arguments as a basis for not filing a tax return or paying tax. In another argument, tax protesters claim that IRS employees do not have the authority to assert penalties — basing the argument on Internal Revenue Code section 6020(b)(1) which states:
Some protesters contend that this provision shows that IRS agents have no authority to impose penalties unless they have a delegation from the Secretary of the Treasury, although the logic of the argument is unclear given that the function of imposing penalties is a separate function from that of preparing section 6020(b) returns. However, the court has rejected the argument, and ruled that an IRS Revenue Agent "plainly falls" within the cited Treasury regulation. Conspiracy theories and allegationsThe IRS is often featured in various conspiracy theories. One of the prominent allegation of IRS's insidious conduct is the the movie America: From Freedom to Fascism, directed by Libertarian filmmaker Aaron Russo, that explores the possible plot making United States to become a police state which IRS is allegedly taking part. See also Tax protester conspiracy arguments and Milton William Cooper. See also
Notes
Further reading
|
Sites |
Searched sites for "Internal Revenue Service" |
|
No sites found. |
Sorry, no matching site records were found. |
Want your site listed here?
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Submit
your site |
|
Relevant quality search results and fast easy navigation throughout the
different sections of the site, make Americola.com |