Seal of the United States Department of Justice | |
| Division overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1934; 91 years ago (1934) |
| Jurisdiction | Federal government of the United States |
| Headquarters | Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building 950Pennsylvania AvenueNW Washington, D.C., United States |
| Division executive |
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| Parent department | U.S. Department of Justice |
| Website | Official website |
TheUnited States Department of Justice Tax Division is responsible for the prosecution of bothcivil andcriminal cases arising under theInternal Revenue Code and othertax laws of the United States. The Division began operation in 1934, underUnited States attorney generalHomer Stille Cummings, who charged it with primary responsibility for supervising all federal litigation involving internal revenue (following anexecutive order fromPresidentFranklin Delano Roosevelt).
The Tax Division works closely with public schools and corporations of the state and theCriminal Investigation Division and other units of theInternal Revenue Service to develop and coordinate federal tax policy. Among the Division's duties are:
In August 2013, the Justice Department announced their Swiss bank program, which "provides Swiss banks an opportunity to come forward, cooperate, disclose their illegal conduct, and be eligible for non-prosecution agreements -- or in egregious cases, deferred prosecution agreements."[1]
The offshore voluntary disclosure program is for individual taxpayers to come forward and pay owed taxes on undisclosed income.[1] However, National Taxpayer AdvocateNina E. Olson advocated changes to this program to encourage account holders of accounts with small balances to come forward.[1]
The current Acting Assistant Attorney General is David A. Hubbert, the division's incumbent Deputy Assistant Attorney General (DAAG) for Civil Trial Matters.[2]
On February 4, 2020, PresidentDonald Trump nominated Richard E. Zuckerman as Assistant Attorney General to head the Tax Division,[3] a post that requires Senate confirmation. Zuckerman left the post on January 20, 2021. He was previously appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Matters of the Tax Division on December 18, 2017. He succeeded Caroline D. Ciraolo, former Acting Assistant Attorney General, who left the Tax Division in January 2017.
The head of the Tax Division is an Assistant Attorney General, who is appointed by thePresident of the United States. The Assistant Attorney General is assisted by four Deputy Assistant Attorneys General, who are each career attorneys, who each oversee a different branch of the Tax Division's sections.[4]