Editing Conspiracy BBS Archive/inc-tax (section)

==TITLE(s):Internal Revenue Service==
The U.S. government's tax collecting agency, the Internal Revenue Service, was created in 1862. 
 
However, it did not assume its present shape until the federal power to tax incomes was sanctioned by the [[The Constitution Of The United States of America #Sixteenth Amendment |16TH AMENDMENT]] (1913) and revenues increased enormously after World War II. The [[[[IRS]]]], a division of the Department of the Treasury, administers all of the internal revenue laws except those relating to alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives;its most important assignments are to collect personal and corporate INCOME TAXES,SOCIAL SECURITY taxes, and excise, estate, and gift taxes. 

The [[IRS]] seeks to obtain voluntary compliance with the tax laws as far as possible.To this end it stresses communication with taxpayers by providing assistance and information for those who need it. Most of the approximately 118,000 employees of the [[IRS]] work in field offices throughout the country. There are 7 regions, each headed by a regional commissioner, and 64 district  administered by district directors.Tax returns are processed in separate tax service centers. The national office in Washington, D.C., develops policies and supervises the field organization.

By the early 1980s the [[IRS]] was confronting increasing tax evasion and taxpayer resistance, fueled by perceptions that the tax laws were unfair and administered unfairly. The [[IRS]] must interpret the tax laws through the regulations it issues, although the [[IRS]] is not responsible for writing the laws themselves. Despite a massive overhaul of the tax system in 1986, the [[IRS]]'s interpretations are regularly challenged in cases brought to the U.S. TAX COURT;and, in adjudication, [[IRS]] tax assessments are sometimes rejected. It is, however, often possible for businesses and individuals to negotiate settlements directly with the [[IRS]]. 

Another source of taxpayer unhappiness is the complexity of many of the tax forms. They are often so cumbersome and difficult to understand that ordinary taxpayers may require the services of an accountant merely to file a tax return.

In its efforts to discover tax evaders, the [[IRS]] has invested in computerized systems that allow it to '''''gather information from many different sources and match it with data in its own files''''', in order to root out, for example, individuals whose life-styles indicate larger incomes than their tax returns list. Thus, the [[IRS]] can '''''collect information from the 50 states on automobile and boat registration, professional licenses issued, and business activities''''' that require state permits. It has also attempted to buy computerized lists from private marketing organizations. Such activities have raised questions relating to the issue of invasion of privacy.

[[IRS]] information has been used by other state and government agencies. In most cases--the enforcement of child-support laws, for example, or the attempt to find those who have defaulted on student loans--the disclosure of information has been '''authorized by Congress'''. 

Bibliography:Burnham, David: A Law unto Itself: Power, Politics, and the [[IRS]] (1990);Saltzman, Michael, [[IRS]] Practice and Procedures (1981);  Shafiroff, I., Internal Revenue Service Practice and Procedure Deskbook, 2d ed. (1989).