What is Internal Revenue Service?
[[File:Logo of the Internal Revenue Service.svg|thumb|right|250px|{{Center|[[Logo]] of the Internal Revenue Service}}]] The '''Internal Revenue Service''' ('''IRS''') is the part of the [[Federal government of the United States]] responsible for [[wikt:collect|collect]]ing [[tax]]es and [[wikt:enforcing|enforcing]] [[Taxation in the United States|tax laws]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/irs.asp |title=Internal Revenue Service - IRS |publisher=Investopedia, LLC |access-date=22 May 2016}}</ref> The IRS decides how much tax is [[wikt:owe|owe]]d and collects the [[revenue]] on a regular basis.<ref name=allgovIRS>{{cite web |url=http://www.allgov.com/departments/department-of-the-treasury/internal-revenue-service-irs?agencyid=7262 |title=Internal Revenue Service (IRS) |publisher=AllGov.com |access-date=22 May 2016}}</ref> The IRS is the largest [[Government agency|bureau]] in the [[United States Department of the Treasury]]. It is one of the [[world]]'s most [[wikt:efficient|efficient]] tax collection agencies.<ref name=allgovIRS/> The IRS [[process]]ed over 224 [[million]] [[tax form]]s and collected over $2 [[trillion]] in revenue in 2004.<ref name=allgovIRS/> The IRS collects taxes in advance by withholding them through [[employers]]. Individuals who overpay through [[tax withholding]] are issued [[refund]]s after they file their [[income tax return]]. In 2006 the [[Seattle Times]] reported that up to 11.6 million refunds were not paid back because the IRS suspected [[fraud]]. According to the Seattle Times the affected taxpayers were not informed of the reason for not getting their refund. Many or most of the people who were not issued refunds were [[low-income]] individuals<ref>https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/irs-held-upst-refunds-of-120000/{{Dead link|date=September 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> == History == Beginning in 1791, the federal government was supported by taxes on [[distilled beverage]]s, [[tobacco]], [[sugar]], [[corporate bond]]s a