Internal Revenue Service - Fact Sheet

• The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is a bureau of the United States Treasury Department in charge of administering the tax laws of the United States as passed by Congress. This includes collecting and refunding taxes to both individuals and businesses. During fiscal year 2008, the IRS collected more than $2.3 trillion in taxes and processed more than 250 million returns. More than 101 million returns were filed electronically. The IRS spent an average of 41 cents to collect each $100 of tax revenue in fiscal year 2008. Source: CCH Group
• Divisions of the IRS Most daily operations are carried out in the district offices and service centers located throughout the United States. As a result of the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, the operations of the IRS are divided into the following departments: 
• Wage and Investment Division, 
• Small Business / Self-Employed Division, 
• Large and Mid-Size Business Division, 
• tax-exempt and Government Entities Division, 
• Appeals Division, and 
• Criminal Investigations. 
• Each of these different departments serves different types of taxpayers. 
• The Wage and Investment division is responsible for dealing with approximately 116 million taxpayers who file individual and joint tax returns. 
• The Small Business / Self Employment Division handle about 45 million small businesses and self-employed taxpayers. 
• The Large and Mid-Size Business division serves corporations with assets of more than 10 millions dollars. 
• The tax-exempt and Government Entities division deals with employee benefit plans, tax-exempt organizations (charities, social welfare groups), and governmental entities. 
• The Appeals Division deals with people or businesses disputing tax bills, and finally, 
• The Criminal Investigation Division works with tax fraud. 
When the IRS reorganized in 1998, it was the biggest form of modernization in the organization in over 50 years. Because tax laws are changed frequently, this organization is constantly enacting new policies, procedures, and regulations so as to better serve the American people.

• ave a Tax Problem? If the Appeals division or normal tax channels cannot resolve your tax problems, there is an independent system available specifically for the fair administration of taxing problems. 
• Each state has at least one local Taxpayer advocate, independent of the IRS, who reports directly to a National Taxpayer Advocate. The goals of this service are to protect individual and business taxpayer rights and to reduce taxpayer burden. If your tax problems are not being handled correctly, contacting this office through the IRS should be your next course of action. 
• The Mission of the IRS The website for the IRS is one of the most comprehensive websites available through the United States Government. In addition to providing answers to many tax questions, the site also provides: downloadable links for all tax forms, information on the district offices and servicing centers, and background information on the organization. 
• The IRS Mission can also be found there. It specifically states that the mission of the IRS is to "Provide America's taxpayers top quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and by applying the tax law with integrity and fairness to all."  Knowing this, tax help is readily available to anyone by simply clicking on the IRS website IRS.gov. 

Contributor: Jamie Ward