See a timeline of the IRS's history, including the introduction of standard deductions and the digitization of the filing process

On July 1, 1862, the agency now known as the Internal Revenue Service was established and named the Bureau of Internal Revenue

It was created to collect the first-ever US income tax, which was created to help pay for the Civil War. After gaining their independence from Britain, Americans were skeptical about giving the federal government absolute power to collect federal income taxes. As a result, early US tax laws dictated that direct taxes, like income taxes, had to be directly apportioned to a state's population. The nation went back and forth on its federal tax laws multiple times. For instance, in 1872, the income tax from the Civil War was repealed. But it was revived in 1894, and then repealed again in 1895. In 1913, Congress passed the 16th Amendment, giving Congress the power to levy income taxes on individuals and corporations without apportioning the burden among the states in line with population, once and for all.

Read more about how the IRS is organized

The Internal Revenue Service is led by a commissioner, who leads the IRS for a five-year term after being selected by the president of the United States. Under the commissioner, the IRS has multiple subdivisions that work on different tax groups, such as the Wage and Investment Division to handle individual wage earners.

Created in 1862, the IRS has a scandalous history

From Al Capone's tax evasion to corruption and bribery within the IRS, the government agency has had its fair share of scandals. This article details many of them, outlining corruption that reveals this seemingly boring agency as anything but.

In addition to collecting taxes, issuing tax refunds, and performing audits, the IRS is tasked with enforcing the laws listed in the Internal Revenue Code

The Internal Revenue Code is also known as Title 26 of the US Code. It was enacted in 1925 and outlines income, estate, sales, payroll, and excise tax laws.

Hear why the IRS has been a frequent victim of arson

This podcast episode takes a lighthearted dive into the history of the IRS, from when the agency was founded and called the Bureau of Internal Revenue, to that one time it had to enforce a national ban on alcohol.

It cost the IRS $0.36 to collect $100 in 2024

It costs the IRS a significant amount of money to do part of its job—collecting money. For instance, the Internal Revenue Service spent $16.1B to collect $4.7T in taxes in 2023.

The IRS already has much of the data it asks Americans to report when filing their taxes

Americans spend more than 7.9 billion hours per year doing their taxes: It's notoriously time-consuming, requiring forms, deductions, and often third-party help. But here's the twist: The IRS already has much of the data it asks you to report. Americans still have to do the work themselves partly due to big tax prep companies that lobby to keep the status quo.

Charting where federal revenue comes from

About 50 percent of federal revenue comes from individual income taxes, 7 percent from corporate income taxes, and another 36 percent from payroll taxes that fund social insurance programs. See breakdown in charts here.

Check out a list of 15 red flags that might result in an IRS audit

The Internal Revenue Service has audited less than 1% of all individual tax returns. If you're still worried about being audited, know that some people are more likely to be audited than others, such as people who make a lot of money and those who take large charitable deductions.

Roth IRAs were first introduced in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997

The Roth IRA is one of the most popular retirement accounts in the US. Nearly a quarter of Americans contributed to a Roth IRA in 2023. But this type of financial account hasn’t been around for that long.

Half of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of the IRS, while 38% have a favorable view

From July 1 to July 7, 2024, Pew Research Center conducted a survey of 9,424 adults to gauge the public's attitudes about the federal government, including government agencies and departments. Of 13 agencies, 10 had net favorable ratings of 15 percentage points or more. Topping the list were the National Park Service (76% favorable), the US Postal Service (72%) and NASA (67%).

See how the federal estate tax has changed in the 21st century

In 2001, the government passed an act to completely repeal the tax. It was overturned in 2010. In 2017, the government increased the exemption threshold so fewer people would have to pay into the tax. In 2025, the exemption threshold was permanently set to $15M.

The Secret Service was originally formed to combat counterfeiting

By the 1860s, an estimated one-third of US currency in circulation was counterfeit. In 1865, the Secret Service was created specifically to combat the country's serious counterfeiting problem, which had led to widespread financial instability. This was partly due to the lack of federal currency standardization in the country at the time.

The Depression-era Social Security program assigned every US citizen an account number

Many of the Social Security functions we know today are the result of multiple amendments to the Social Security Act that have been passed in the years since the act’s initial creation in 1935. As Social Security as we know it today was being conceptualized, Democrats opted to make it an insurance program rather than a welfare one to assuage Republicans.

Read about what happened when one woman started filing income taxes again

Even though she was 35 and had a 14-year-old son, Gabriela Gallegos's mother had claimed her as a dependent on her tax forms for roughly a decade. After that particularly tumultuous ten-year span of Gallegos's life came to a close, she decided to file income taxes again.

Most Americans take the standard tax deduction

A tax deductible is an expense that a taxpayer or business can subtract from adjusted gross income, reducing their taxable income and therefore reducing the amount of taxes owed. Governments often use tax deductibles as a way to reward people who do things that are considered beneficial to society, like charitable donations.

A primer on USAID under the Trump Administration

The Congressional Research Service is a nonpartisan group dedicated solely to responding to questions and providing deeply researched explanations to members of Congress and their staff. The overview lays out the establishment of the US Agency for International Development in 1961, legal restrictions on its elimination, and options to restructure or fold USAID into other departments.

Calculate how much of your tax dollars go to each federal program based on your income, filing status, and number of children

US marshals conducted the national census for nearly a century

From 1790 to 1870, US marshals handled the national census, gathering population data from every district. The responsibility was gradually transferred to a separate federal office that would officially become the Census Bureau in 1902.

ICE was created in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks

Created by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 following 9/11, ICE enforces federal immigration, customs, and trade laws under DHS. With over 20,000 staff across 400 global offices and an $8B budget, it focuses on detention, deportation, and cross-border criminal investigations.

See a timeline of the Declaration's creation

This National Archives timeline walks through the Declaration’s creation step by step—from early calls for independence to drafting, approval, and final signatures—highlighting the key moments that led to the Colonies’ break from Britain.

See a timeline of American Express' history

Since its founding in 1850, American Express has evolved from a mail delivery service to a multinational financial services company. Small additions to the company over time, such as taking money orders and inventing traveler's cheques, were key drivers of the company's transformation.

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

Track the changes in US immigration law throughout history

This interactive timeline tracks the development of US immigration law, overlaid with time-series data on percentages of the foreign-born population. Explore how each major policy development correlated with immigration levels, revealing the relationship between legislation and demographic change.

Why the SEC was started

The Securities and Exchange Commission was created during the Great Depression to restore public trust in financial markets after the 1929 crash. Established in 1934, it enforces transparency, investigates fraud, and protects investors by requiring companies to disclose accurate information and holding violators accountable.

See a visual history of the State of the Union

This gallery offers a visual archive of the State of the Union, featuring photographs from each president's address, beginning with Franklin D. Roosevelt. Explore decades of presidential moments, settings, and historical context tied to the annual speech.

See a timeline of commercial radio history

Radio, as we know it, began in the 1910s. This FCC timeline traces the evolution of the medium over the century that followed, highlighting groundbreaking broadcasts, speeches, and technological breakthroughs.

Meet the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence—most of whom didn't put pen to paper until August 2, 1776—and see their original signatures.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

Sears sold DIY house kits starting at $600 in its famous catalog from 1908 through the 1940s, resulting in roughly 10,000 'Sears and Roebuck houses' being built.

Despite being favored by 87% of Americans, Congress does not have term limits.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

See how each of the more than two million known species relates to each other—and to common ancestors—in this zoomable tree of life.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,' a work by American painter Thomas Moran, inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park.

Watch a 1934 short film starring jazz legend Cab Calloway, a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance's music scene

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

The first line of 'immortal' human cells, which can divide indefinitely and are used in scientific research, was nonconsensually taken from a Black woman.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.