Commissioner of Internal Revenue

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The Commissioner of Internal Revenue (or IRS Commissioner) is the head of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), an agency within the United States Department of the Treasury.

The office of Commissioner was created by Congress by the Revenue Act of 1862. The Commissioner is appointed by the President, with the consent of the Senate, for a five-year term.

The acting commissioner is David Kautter.

Video Commissioner of Internal Revenue

Responsibilities

The Commissioner's duties include administering, managing, conducting, directing, and supervising "the execution and application of the internal revenue laws or related statutes and tax conventions to which the United States is a party" and advising the President on the appointment and removal of a Chief Counsel of the IRS. Treasury Order 150-10 states in relevant part: "The Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall be responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Internal Revenue laws." The Commissioner reports to the Secretary of the Treasury through the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury.

One of the Commissioner's most important responsibilities with respect to the internal revenue laws involves prescribing Treasury Regulations administered by the IRS. The U.S. Treasury Regulations provide (in part):

(a) Issuance. --The Commissioner, with the approval of the United States Secretary of the Treasury, or his delegate, shall prescribe all needful rules and all rules and regulations as may be necessary by reason of any alteration of law in relation to internal revenue.

However, the General Counsel of the Department of the Treasury has "the authority to approve all regulations pertaining to the internal revenue laws, including the authority to ratify and approve, where necessary, any such regulations previously issued."

By law, the Commissioner is also part of the "Federal law enforcement community."