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Posted by Elliot Kravitz, ATP

What is the Internal Revenue Code (Title 26)

What is the Internal Revenue Code (Title 26)

The Internal Revenue Code (IRC) talks about Title 26 of the U.S. Code. It is commonly called IRS Code or IRS tax code with laws enforced by the Internal Revenue Service. The United States Code came up first in 1926 by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Title 26 takes care of all essential rules that have to do with income, estate, gift, sales, excise, and other payroll taxes. There are many subcategories under the Internal Revenue Code:

  • Income taxes

  • Employment taxes

  • Miscellaneous excise taxes

  • estate and gift taxes

  • procedure and administration

  • trust fund code

  • The joint committee on taxation

  • tobacco, alcohol and other excise taxes

  • group health plan requirements

  • coal industry health benefits 

Where did the Internal Revenue Code Originate From?

A committee was established in 1999 from the U.S. House of Representatives to start a campaign to re-codify the U.S. Statues. they completed this in 1926, and the complete version was released in 1926.

One of Congress's abilities is to make a yearly adjustment to foster an annual adjustment to the tax code every year. In 2017, for instance, Congress passed the Tax Cut and Jobs Acts, which triggered significant changes in the tax code, influencing firms, and individuals.

The Internal Revenue Service is in charge of governing the code in Title 26. Established in 1862, it is based in Washington, D.C, and is charged with collecting taxes. They also have the power to issue fines and punish anyone that breaks the Internal Revenue Code.

The effort to Get Rid of the Code

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), established in 2017, made changes to the previous law. There have been efforts to change the entire system. These are the two most recent bills:

The House of Representative Bill H.R. 29 in 2017 filled the Tax Code Termination Act in a bid to remove the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 by Dec 2021. With this H.R. 29 bill, Congress will need to enact and approve a new tax system for the Federal Government by July 4, 2021, before getting rid of the current system.

The Fair Tax Act of 2017, Bill H.R. 25, came to Congress on January 3, 2017. The bill came up with making a national sales tax compulsory when using or consuming taxable property in the U.S. This was meant to stand in place of corporate or personal income tax, self-employment, and employment tax, estate, and gift taxes. This proposed sales tax rate was 23% in 2019, and the rate of several years ago was adjusted. This bill, however, did not include tax used for intangible property, service, and property purchased for business, investment, or export purposes and for state government functions.

According to the Fair Tax Act, American residents will get access to a monthly sales tax rebate. This is a factor of income and household size. Also, all the states will be in charge of collecting, administering, and giving sales tax back to the federal government. Also, the bill will get rid of national sales tax provided the sixteenth Amendment, which gives the federal income tax authority, is not repealed in seven years following the bill's passing.

Since the introduction of the Fair Tax Act, there has been little progress. Another factor that made the future of the Fair Tax Act bloom is the passage of TCJA. This is due to the significant changes it made to the current tax system, even though reaffirming the basic structure.


Elliot Kravitz, ATP
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