Does the Internal Revenue Service Have Any Authority?

Posted on December 27 2012 by admin

Here’s one where some argue that the IRS is not an agency of the United States but rather a private corporation, because it was not created by positive law (i.e., an act of Congress) and that, therefore, the IRS does not have the authority to enforce the Internal Revenue Code.

Like many of these frivolous tax arguments, the counter arguments are way too much to overcome.  There is numerous constitutional and statutory authority establishing that the IRS is an agency of the United States.  Even the United States Supreme Court has stated that “the Internal Revenue Service is organized to carry out the broad responsibilities of the Secretary of the Treasury under section 7801(a) of the 1954 Code for the administration and enforcement of the internal revenue laws”.

Section 7801 includes provisions that state the Secretary of the Treasury has full authority to administer and enforce the internal revenue laws and also the power to create an agency to enforce such laws.  It was based upon this legislative grant that the IRS was created.  Thus, the IRS is a body established by “positive law” because it was created through a congressionally mandated power.  Moreover, section 7803(a) explicitly provides that there shall be a Commissioner of Internal Revenue who shall administer and supervise the execution and application of the internal revenue laws.

A bit of history of the IRS name…….as early as 1918, the Bureau of Internal Revenue began using the name “Internal Revenue Service” on at least one tax form.  In 1953, the name change to “Internal Revenue Service” was formalized in Treasury Decision 6038.

Dale F. Jensen, CPA