IRS

1. 1
   proper nounUSinitialism

   Initialism of Internal Revenue Service.

   The IRS audited the company's returns from the previous three years.

   Taxpayers must file their returns with the IRS by mid-April.

   Note

   The name is spoken letter by letter and nearly always takes the definite article: "the IRS views such services as a significant medical benefit." Internal carries its political meaning here, concerned with a nation's domestic affairs, so the name describes revenue raised at home. In Indian usage the same three letters name India's own revenue service, and context decides which agency a writer means.

2. 2
   proper nounIndiainitialism

   Initialism of Indian Revenue Service.

   He spent twenty years in the IRS before retiring as a senior commissioner.

   The IRS oversees the collection of income tax across the country.

   Note

   The Indian counterpart of the American tax agency. Indian here is the everyday adjective, "of or relating to India," with none of its older East Indies or Americas senses. Outside Indian writing, readers seeing the bare letters will usually think of the American body. When writing for an international audience, spell out Indian Revenue Service on first mention.

3. 3
   nouninitialism

   Initialism of interest rate swap.

   The treasury desk used an IRS to hedge the company's exposure to rising rates.

   Both parties entered into an IRS with a ten-year term.

   Note

   In derivatives work, the letters name a contract in which one party typically trades a variable interest rate for a fixed one. Doing so removes its exposure to moving rates, and it pays a premium on the fixed rate as the price of that insurance. The two rates can even be in different currencies. In tax writing about swaps, spell both terms out, since there the letters could also mean the agency.

4. 4
   nouncountable or uncountableinitialism

   Initialism of inertial reference system.

   The aircraft's IRS aligns during the minutes before departure.

   Engineers traced the navigation error to a failing IRS.

   Note

   Avionics shorthand for the onboard unit that works out an aircraft's attitude, heading and position from its own gyroscopes and accelerometers, without outside signals. An inertial reference system is simply another name for an inertial navigation system. Unlike the tax agency, it is an ordinary countable noun: one aircraft carries an IRS, a fleet carries IRSs.

5. 5
   nouncountable or uncountableinitialism

   Initialism of instant replay system.

   Officials turned to the IRS to determine whether the foul occurred before the buzzer.

   The league installed an IRS at every arena this season.

   Note

   In basketball, officials use video review to recheck a close or disputed call from several angles and in slow motion, then confirm or change their original ruling. The noun works two ways. It is countable for the installed equipment (an IRS at every arena). It is uncountable for the review procedure itself, as when officials go to the IRS to settle a call at the buzzer.

6. 6
   nouncountable or uncountableinitialism

   Initialism of Interface Requirements Specification.

   The contractor delivered the IRS along with the preliminary design package.

   Any change to the connector pinout requires a revision to the IRS.

   Note

   Here the letters name a document rather than a device. On an engineering project it is the controlled specification setting out what each side of a connection between subsystems must provide. Interface carries its systems meaning, the point where two subsystems meet, not a screen a user touches. Like any deliverable it is issued, revised and signed off, and it collocates with those verbs.

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