Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the largest bureau within the U.S. Department of the Treasury and is responsible for enforcing federal statutes relating to the reporting and remission of income and other taxes by individuals and organizations through the promulgation of treasury regulations to interpret and apply these statutes, and through the administration of procedures collecting taxes and transferring them to the U.S. Treasury.

Predecessor Institutions to the IRS

On August 5, 1861, the Revenue Act of 1861 imposed an apportioned real property tax, and the first federal income tax, to finance the prosecution of the Civil War. The income tax portion was a flat tax, but the federal government did not establish the infrastructure to collect it before July 1, 1862, when the Revenue Act ...

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