Which US government agency began in 1862 as the Bureau of Internal Revenue?

The Internal Revenue Service began in 1862 as the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

President Abraham Lincoln and Congress created the agency during the American Civil War, when the federal government needed new revenue. The Bureau administered the first federal income tax and other internal taxes introduced to help finance the Union war effort.

The early income tax was temporary, and the Bureau’s responsibilities changed as federal tax laws changed. The Supreme Court later invalidated an income tax in 1895, while Congress continued to use other forms of federal taxation.

The agency became the Bureau of Internal Revenue in 1913 after the federal income tax returned under the Sixteenth Amendment. In 1953, it was renamed the Internal Revenue Service. Today it operates within the US Department of the Treasury and administers federal tax laws.