March 13, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Taxing jobs: tax examiners, revenue agents, and collectors

In 1998, median annual earnings for all tax examiners, revenue agents, and collectors were $39,540. They held about 62,200 jobs at all levels of government.

[Chart data—TXT]

While tax examiners, revenue agents, and collectors all work toward a common goal, each has distinct responsibilities.

Tax examiners usually deal with the simplest tax returns; they review these returns for accuracy and determine whether tax credits and deductions are allowed by law. Revenue agents handle complicated income, sales, and excise tax returns of businesses and large corporations. Collectors deal with delinquent accounts; they work with taxpayers on how to settle the debts.

These data are a product of the Occupational Employment Statistics program. For additional information, see "Tax examiners, revenue agents, and collectors" by Kevin M. McCarron in the Occupational Outlook Quarterly, Spring 2001 edition. Note about the chart: deciles divide the dataset into 10 equal-size groups and quartiles divide the dataset into 4 equal-size groups.