IRS Districts
4/11/2001
In the last few days the Department of the Treasury posted Treasury
Order 150-02 to the department web page. The order and organizational
chart can be downloaded at http://www.ustreas.gov/regs/td00-02.htm
So far as I can tell, this is the first significant Treasury Order
relating to the Internal Revenue Service executed by Paul H. O'Niell,
the Secretary of the Treasury under Mr. Bush. Its date of execution
was March 9th. It was presumably published in the Federal Register but
no publication date is provided on the Dept. of the Treasury web site.
T.O. 150-02 prescribes basic Internal Revenue Service structure under
the IRS reform and restructuring act of 1998. Per paragraph 18, it
cancels T.O. 150-01.
This aspect of the new T.O. is interesting as there is no pretense of
the new order establishing internal revenue districts under authority
of 26 U.S.C. § 7621 & Executive Order 10289, as amended. The former
T.O. 150-01 colorably established IRS district and regional offices,
which by appearance might constitute internal revenue districts.
Some time ago I explored the subject of internal revenue districts by
tracking 26 U.S.C. § 7601, Executive Order 10289, as amended, 3 U.S.C.
§ 301, 26 CFR § 301.7621-1, etc., through the Parallel Table of
Authorities and Rules (Index volume of the Code of Federal
Regulations) to demonstrate that the only thing remotely relating to
internal revenue districts is the establishment of U.S. Customs
districts under 19 CFR § 101. This was tracked back to the original
order, T.O. 150-42, which vested the Commissioner of Internal Revenue
with jurisdiction in insular possessions and colorably U.S. maritime
jurisdiction. At any rate, abandonment of the 26 U.S.C. § 7621 & E.O.
10289 authority in the new T.O. 150-02 simplifies at least one
Internal Revenue Service-related mazes.
Paragraph 6 relating to the Chief Counsel is also interesting:
"The Chief Counsel is the chief law officer for the Internal Revenue
Service and an Assistant General Counsel for the Treasury, with duties
and responsibilities prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury and
by law. The Chief Counsel is responsible for advising the Commissioner
on legal matters and ensuring that the Office of Chief Counsel
provides top-quality legal support to all offices within the IRS. The
relationship of the Secretary, Commissioner, General Counsel, Chief
Counsel, and Chief Counsel staff is further defined in 31 U.S.C. §
301(f)(2); IRC § 7803(b); in Treasury Orders 107-04, "The General
Counsel," dated July 25, 1989; 107-07, "Personnel Authority over
Personnel Employment by the Office of Chief Counsel, Internal Revenue
Service," dated May 4, 1999; 150-10, "Delegation -- Responsibility for
the Internal Revenue Laws," dated April 22, 1982; and by implementing
Orders of the General Counsel."
Researchers should have a heyday with authorities cited in paragraph
6.
The first item that should come to memory is that
for the Internal Revenue Service is an office in the
Treasury. It is the only office relating to the
Service acknowledged in Chapter 3 of Title 31, the
Treasury organization chapter.
the Chief Counsel
Department of the
Internal Revenue
Department of the
I've been trying to formulate how to state this so it gets the proper
notion across: The Internal Revenue Service is subservient to but is
not part of the Department of the Treasury of the United States. On
the Department of the Treasury web page, IRS and other related
entities, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, are
classified as Bureaus of the Department of the Treasury. However, IRS
and BATF are not part of the Department of the Treasury of the United
States -- BATF was separated from IRS in the 1970s.
T.O. 150-02 establishes the national office, specific positions in
the national office, and various lines of authority by classification.
Responsibilities within IRS are now more vertical by function than
geographical in nature. Through various probes we've learned that
former district offices are now territorial offices and former
regional offices are now campuses. The office of the district director
has vanished. In fact, the former Arkansas-Oklahoma district director,
Richard Auby, is now director of the Austin service center.
One of the curious authorities in paragraph 6, which is the chief
authority IRS hangs its hat on, is T.O. 150-10, which in 1982
succeeded 150-37. Neither of these basic delegations of authority were
ever published in the Federal Register in compliance with requirements
of 44 U.S.C. § 1505(a). Therefore, application is limited to
government under authority of 5 U.S.C. § 301 and territorial
jurisdiction
in
insular
possessions,
maritime
and
treaty
jurisdictions, the latter three exempt from Federal Register Act
publishing requirements.
To date we still haven't located anything that gives a comprehensive
account of operations at former district and regional offices. It
appears that former regional service centers are simply service
centers.
Dan Meador