The Internal Revenue Service, commonly referred to by its acronym IRS, is the United States government agency, under the Department of Treasury, responsible for the collection of taxes (including individual income taxes, employment taxes, corporate taxes, excise taxes, gift and estate taxes) and enforcement of tax laws.
In fiscal year 2021, the IRS collected nearly $2.3 Trillion in individual income taxes from approximately 167 Million individual tax returns, over $1.2 Trillion in employment taxes from nearly 44 Million returns, approximately $419 Billion in corporate taxes from over 2 Million corporate tax returns, over $58 Billion in excise taxes from over 1.2 Million returns, $4.6 Billion in gift taxes from over 282 Thousand returns and over $54 Billion in estate taxes from over 3 Million returns, representing a gross collection in excess of $44 Trillion.
The IRS mission is to “Provide America's taxpayers top-quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and enforce the law with integrity and fairness to all.”
The IRS describes its mission statement as setting out the agency's role and the public’s expectation about how the IRS should perform that role, with the three core tenants:
1. In the United States, the Congress passes tax laws and requires taxpayers to comply.
2. The taxpayer’s role is to understand and meet their tax obligations.
3. The IRS's role is to help compliant taxpayers understand the tax law, while ensuring that the minority who are unwilling to comply pay their fair share of taxes.
The statutory authority for the IRS emanates from the Internal Revenue Code. The IRS is organized to carry out the responsibilities of the Secretary of the Treasury under section 7801 of the Internal Revenue Code. The Secretary has full authority to administer and enforce the internal revenue laws and has the power to create an agency to enforce these laws. The IRS was created based on this legislative grant.
Section 7803 of the Internal Revenue Code provides for the appointment of a commissioner of Internal Revenue to administer and supervise the execution and application of the internal revenue laws.
The IRS structure is divided into two primary organizations: the Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement (DCSE) and the Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support (DCOS).
The Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement, the largest organization, oversees the following four primary operating divisions responsible for the major customer segments and other taxpayer-facing functions.
I. Wage and Investment.
II. Small Business/Self-Employed.
III. Large Business and International .
IV. Tax Exempt and Government Entities.
V. Criminal Investigation.
VI. Office of Professional Responsibility.
VII. Whistleblower Office.
VIII. Return Preparer Office.
IX. Online Services.
The Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support oversees the IRS's integrated support functions, facilitating economy of scale efficiencies and better business practices. The functions under the Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support include:
I. Information Technology.
II. Chief Financial Office.
III. Facilities Management and Security Services.
IV. Human Capital Office.
V. Privacy, Government Liaison and Disclosure.
VI. Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
VII. Office of the Chief Risk Office.
VIII. Procurement .
IX. Research Applied Analytics and Statistics.
#irs #taxes #incometax
