Everson was appointed by President George W. Bush to a five-year term as Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the head of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 1, 2003 as its 46th commissioner. Areas of focus during his tenure with the IRS included combating abusive tax shelters and the development of more productive enforcement relationships with counterpart tax authorities in other countries. Everson left the IRS effective May 4, 2007, before the end of his term to join the American Red Cross as its new CEO.