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Fwd: Subject: NEW TREASURY ORDER 150-02
Date: 4/11/01 10:15:49 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Subject: NEW TREASURY ORDER 150-02

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

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
maze.

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 the
Chief Counsel for the Internal Revenue Service is an
office in the Department of the Treasury. It is the
only office relating to the Internal Revenue Service
acknowledged in Chapter 3 of Title 31, the Department
of the Treasury organization chapter.

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