Internal Revenue Code
A term to know.
These statutes are found in Title 26 of the United States Code, which contains substantially all of the federal tax laws enacted by Congress.
Prior to 1874, U.S. statutes were not codified or unified, in the sense of being separately organized and published in volumes based on the subject matter (such as taxation). Finally, tax statutes were re-codified by an Act of Congress on February 10, 1939 as the "Internal Revenue Code" (later known as the "Internal Revenue Code of 1939"). The 1939 Code was published as volume 53, Part I, of the United States Statutes at Large and as title 26 of the United States Code.
On August 16, 1954, in connection with a general overhaul of IRS, the Code was significantly reorganized by the 83rd Congress (Pub.L. 83-591). To prevent confusion, the new Code was referred to as the "Internal Revenue Code of 1954" and the prior version as the "Internal Revenue Code of 1939." The 1954 Code replaced the 1939 Code as title 26 of the United States Code.
On October 22, 1986, the 1954 Code was renamed the "Internal Revenue Code of 1986" by section 2 of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (Pub.L. 99–514). The 1986 Act contained substantial amendments, but no formal re-codification. The 1986 Code, as amended from time to time (and still published as title 26 of the United States Code), retains the basic structure of the 1954 Code.