International Taxpayer Advocate:
To request Taxpayer Advocate help, call:

Worldwide: Puerto Rico office:
Tel: (Spanish) 787-622-8930, (English) 787-622-8940
FAX: 787-622-8933

Many believe that they are required to pay an "income tax" to a branch of the United States government called "The Internal Revenue Service". The origins and history of the IRS shows just how in error these beliefs are. Not only is there no law that requires most Americans to file an individual tax return, but the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) wasn't even created by an act of Congress.

By consulting the index for Chapter 3, Title 31 of the United States Code, one finds that IRS and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are not listed as agencies of the United States Department of the Treasury. The fact that Congress never created a "Bureau of Internal Revenue" is confirmed by publication in the Federal Register at 36 F.R. 849-890 [C.B. 1971 - 1,698], 36 F.R. 11946 [C.B. 1971 - 2,577], and 37 F.R. 489-490; and in Internal Revenue Manual 1100 at 1111.2.