INTRODUCTION 
This compilation contains the internal revenue law in force April 
1, 1927, taken from the Revised Statutes and Statutes at Large of 
‘he United States, together with prior internal revenue law to and 
including the Revenue Act of 1918, and, in the cases of certain 
taxes, as far as such taxes are still in the process of adjudication and 
adjustment or the usefulness of the prior acts and authoritative deci- 
sions based thereon, in the interpretation of current law, seemed to 
warrant. In addition, there is an Appendix containing laws of a 
ceneral nature and miscellaneous provisions applicable to the ad- 
ministration of internal revenue law or of interest to officers and 
amployees of the Bureau. 
Former compilations, the latest of which was published in 1920, 
followed largely the sequence of the Revised Statutes as modified 
and extended by subsequent legislation, and included in the Appen- 
dix such prior revenue law as had not become obsolete. Since the 
last compilation, however, the public general laws of the United 
States have been codified in the United States Code and a great deal 
»f the internal revenue law has been repealed and reenacted several 
times in the successive Revenue Acts, making a new arrangement of 
the book very desirable both for the purpose of harmonizing it as 
nearly as possible with the scheme of the Code and to bring together 
the current and prior law on each specific subject of internal-revenue 
taxation, 
CONCORDANCE WITH UNITED STATES CODE 
The United States Code, containing the public general laws of the 
{Tnited States in force December 7, 1925, 1s presumed to be the law 
antil shown to the contrary and may be so cited in any of the Fed- 
oral courts. Furthermore, it is likely to be adopted sooner or later 
as the law, after some correction, and the orderly arrangement 
herein established will likely supersede the sequence of the Revised 
Statutes for all practical purposes. For this reason it seemed desir- 
able to arrange the present compilation of internal revenue laws to 
concord as far as possible with the Code. The 23 chapters of the 
body of this book correspond in name and number to the 23 chapters 
of Title 26, “ Internal Revenue,” of the Code, and the sections of the 
law within each chapter are, as far as practicable, arranged in the 
exact sequence of the sections of the Code based thereon, and are so 
indicated by black-face Code section numbers in the margin. Code 
section numbers out of sequence are in parentheses, with adequate 
ross reference thereto from their proper numerical location. In 
those chapters where the current law was enacted subsequent to the 
sffective date of the Code, or for other reasons which will readily 
appear in each case it was impossible or impracticable to preserve 
the Code sequence, an index at the head of the chapter refers directly 
io the pages upon which the Code section numbers will be found. 
[n all cases a note at the head of each chapter explains the method 
nf concordance followed therein.