Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents

Summary

Tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents review tax returns, conduct audits, identify taxes owed, and collect overdue tax payments.

Quick Facts: Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents
2010 Median Pay	$49,360 per year $23.73 per hour
Entry-Level Education	Bachelor’s degree
Work Experience in a Related Occupation	None
On-the-job Training	Moderate-term on-the-job training
Number of Jobs, 2010	74,500
Job Outlook, 2010-20	7% (Slower than average)
Employment Change, 2010-20	5,500

What Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents Do

Tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents ensure that governments get their tax money from businesses and citizens. They review tax returns, conduct audits, identify taxes owed, and collect overdue tax payments.

Work Environment

Tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents work for federal, state, and local governments. Many work primarily in an office. Others spend most of their time doing field audits in taxpayers’ homes or places of business.

How to Become a Tax Examiner or Collector, or Revenue Agent

Many tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents have a bachelor’s degree. Field of study and work experience requirements vary by level of government.

Pay

The median annual wage of tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents was $49,360 in May 2010.

Job Outlook

Employment of tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents is expected to grow 7 percent from 2010 to 2020, slower than the average for all occupations. Demand for tax enforcement is expected to increase, particularly at the federal level.

Similar Occupations

Compare the job duties, education, job growth, and pay of tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents with similar occupations.

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Contacts for More Information

Learn more about tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents by contacting these additional resources.

What Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents Do About this section

Tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents are responsible for ensuring that individuals and businesses pay the taxes they owe.

Tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents ensure that governments get their tax money from businesses and citizens. They review tax returns, conduct audits, identify taxes owed, and collect overdue tax payments.

Duties

Tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents typically do the following:

• Review filed tax returns to determine whether tax credits and deductions claimed are allowed by law
• Contact taxpayers by mail or telephone to address problems and to request supporting documentation
• Conduct field audits and investigations of income tax returns to verify information or to update tax liabilities
• Evaluate financial information, using their familiarity with accounting procedures and knowledge of changes to tax laws and regulations
• Keep records on each case they deal with, including contacts, telephone numbers, and actions taken
• Notify taxpayers of any overpayment or underpayment, and either issue a refund or request further payment

Tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents are responsible for ensuring that individuals and businesses pay the taxes they owe. They ensure that tax returns are filed properly, and they follow up with taxpayers whose returns are questionable or who owe more than they have paid.

Different levels of government collect different types of taxes. The federal government deals primarily with personal and business income taxes. State governments collect income and sales taxes. Local governments collect sales and property taxes.

Because many states assess individual income taxes based on the taxpayer's reported federal adjusted gross income, tax examiners working for the federal government report to the states any adjustments or corrections they make. State tax examiners then determine whether the adjustments affect how much the taxpayer owes the state.

Tax examiners, collectors, and revenue agents have different duties and responsibilities:

Tax examiners usually deal with the simplest tax returns—those filed by individual taxpayers with few deductions and those filed by small businesses. At the entry level, many tax examiners do clerical tasks, such as reviewing tax returns and entering them into a computer system for processing. If there is a problem, tax examiners may contact the taxpayer to try to resolve it.

Much of a tax examiner's job involves making sure that tax credits and deductions claimed by taxpayers are lawful. If a taxpayer owes additional taxes, tax examiners adjust the total amount by assessing fees, interest, and penalties and then notify the taxpayer of the total amount owed.

Revenue agents specialize in tax-related accounting for the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and for equivalent agencies in state and local governments. Like tax examiners, they review returns for accuracy. However, revenue agents handle complicated tax returns of businesses and large corporations.

Many experienced revenue agents specialize in specific areas. For example, they may focus exclusively on multinational businesses. Regardless of their specialty, revenue agents must keep up to date with changes in the lengthy and complex tax laws and regulations.

Collectors, also called revenue officers in the IRS, deal with overdue accounts. The process of collecting an overdue payment starts with the revenue agent or tax examiner sending a report to the taxpayer. If the taxpayer makes no effort to pay, the case is assigned to a collector.

When a collector takes a case, he or she first sends the taxpayer a notice. The collector then works with the taxpayer to settle the debt. Settlement may involve setting up a plan in which the amount owed is paid back in small amounts over time.

Collectors verify assertions that delinquent taxpayers cannot pay their taxes. They investigate these claims by researching information on mortgages or financial statements and by locating items of value through third parties, such as neighbors or local departments of motor vehicles. Ultimately, collectors must decide whether the IRS should take a lien—a claim on an asset such as a bank account, real estate, or an automobile—to settle a debt. Collectors also have the authority to garnish wages—that is, take a portion of earned wages—to collect taxes owed.

Work Environment About this section

Tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents work for federal, state, and local governments.

Tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents held about 74,500 jobs in 2010.

Tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents work for federal, state, and local governments. Many work primarily in an office; others spend most of their time conducting field audits by visiting taxpayers in their home or business. Some agents may be permanently stationed in offices of large corporations that have complicated tax structures, such as those that do business internationally.

The distribution of tax examiners and collectors and revenue agents across federal, state, and local government in 2010 was as follows:

Work Schedules

Tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents generally work full time, although some overtime might be needed during tax season.

How to Become a Tax Examiner or Collector, or Revenue Agent About this section

Many tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents have a bachelor’s degree.

Many tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents have a bachelor’s degree. Field of study and work experience requirements vary by level of government.

Education

Tax examiners need a bachelor's degree in accounting or a related discipline or a combination of relevant education and experience in accounting, auditing, or tax compliance work. Tax examiner candidates at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) must have a bachelor's degree or 1 year of full-time specialized experience, which could include work in accounting, bookkeeping, or tax analysis.

Revenue agents need a bachelor's degree in accounting, business administration, economics, or a related discipline, or a combination of relevant education and full-time business administration, accounting, or auditing work. Revenue agents with the IRS must have either a bachelor's degree or 30 semester hours of accounting coursework, along with specialized experience. Specialized experience includes work in accounting, bookkeeping, or tax analysis.

Collectors usually must have some combination of relevant college education and experience. The experience may be in collections, management, customer service, or tax compliance, or as a loan officer or credit manager. A bachelor's degree is required for employment as a collector with the IRS. No additional experience is required, and experience may not be substituted for the degree. Degrees in business, finance, accounting, and criminal justice are good backgrounds.

At the state and local level, a bachelor’s degree is not always required, although related work experience is desired.

Training

After they are hired, tax examiners get some formal training, which can last up to a year. In addition, tax examiners keep current with changes in the tax code and enforcement procedures.

Entry-level collectors get both formal training and on-the-job training under an instructor's guidance before working independently. Also, collectors are encouraged to continue their professional education by attending meetings to exchange information about how modifications to tax laws affect collection methods.

Work Experience

Work experience may serve as a qualification for employment in place of education for these workers, particularly at the state and local levels. Employers may hire tax examiners and revenue agents who have previous work experience in accounting, bookkeeping, or tax analysis. Employers also may hire collectors who have work experience in related areas, such as collections, customer service, or credit checking.

Advancement

Advancement potential in federal, state, and local agencies varies for tax examiners, revenue agents, and collectors. Tax examiners working on individual returns have the opportunity to advance to a revenue agent positions, working on more complex business returns. Advancement to a position supervising other examiners and revenue agents also is possible but generally requires previous experience in a supervisory or managerial position. Collectors who demonstrate leadership skills and a thorough knowledge of tax collection activities may advance to supervisory or managerial collector positions.

Important Qualities

Analytical skills. Tax examiners and revenue agents must be able to find questionable credits and deductions. Ultimately, they must be able to determine, on further review of financial documentation, if the credits or deductions are lawful.

Detail oriented. Tax examiners and revenue agents verify the accuracy of each entry on the tax returns they review. Therefore, it is crucial that they pay attention to detail.

Interpersonal skills. Collectors must be comfortable dealing with people, including speaking with them during confrontational situations. When pursuing overdue accounts, they should be firm and composed.

Organizational skills. Tax examiners and revenue agents often work with multiple returns and a variety of financial documentation. Keeping the various pieces of information organized is essential.

Pay About this section

The median annual wage of tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents was $49,360 in May 2010. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $29,540 and the top 10 percent earned more than $92,250.

The table below shows the May 2010 median annual wage for tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents in federal, state and local government.

Tax examiners, collectors, and revenue agents generally work full time, although some overtime might be needed during tax season.

Job Outlook About this section

Employment of tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents is expected to grow 7 percent from 2010 to 2020, slower than the average for all occupations. Historically, employment of these workers has increased with the overall economy, with growth in the number of businesses and individuals filing tax returns creating a need for more workers in tax enforcement.

In addition, demand for tax enforcement is expected to increase, particularly at the federal level. When government budgets are tight, these workers are more likely than other government employees to be kept on the job, because stronger tax enforcement and collection increases government budgets.

Accordingly, employment of these workers should increase, even if overall government spending and employment are reduced.

Governments also are expected to hire third-party collectors to work on special cases—for example, those that cross state lines. These collectors should work together with those employed directly by governments, not replace them.

Contacts for More Information About this section

For information about tax examiner and collector, and revenue agent careers at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), visit

 Internal Revenue Service