Internal Revenue Service

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the U.S. federal agency responsible for collecting taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code. It traces its roots to 1862, when President Lincoln and Congress created the Office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue to fund the Civil War through income taxes, a tax that was repealed in 1872. The modern income tax returned in 1913 after the 16th Amendment was ratified, and the agency was formally renamed the Internal Revenue Service in 1953. Today, the IRS operates under the Department of the Treasury and handles trillions of dollars in tax revenue each year.

The agency's work touches nearly every American. It processes individual and business tax returns, issues refunds, provides taxpayer assistance through phone lines and in-person offices, and enforces tax laws through audits and collections. The IRS also administers tax credits like the Advanced Manufacturing Credit for renewable energy projects, and recently introduced automatic penalty relief programs that forgive late-filing penalties for taxpayers with clean records. Its official mobile app, IRS2Go, lets users check refund status, make payments, and find free tax preparation help.

The IRS has faced significant challenges in recent years. Staffing cuts during the Trump administration in 2025 hurt filing season performance, according to a Brookings Institution analysis. A July 2026 Mother Jones report described the agency as "imploding" amid claims of doing more with less. Legal battles continue, including a lawsuit by Texas workers trying to void wage withholding regulations, and a CREW lawsuit seeking communications about Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. Meanwhile, the Taxpayer Advocate Service has called automatic penalty relief a "long-awaited taxpayer win." [edit]