Example Career: Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents

Career Description

Determine tax liability or collect taxes from individuals or business firms according to prescribed laws and regulations.

What Job Titles Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents Might Have

• Revenue Agent
• Revenue Officer
• Tax Auditor
• Tax Examiner

What Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents Do

• Collect taxes from individuals or businesses according to prescribed laws and regulations.
• Maintain knowledge of tax code changes, and of accounting procedures and theory to properly evaluate financial information.
• Maintain records for each case, including contacts, telephone numbers, and actions taken.
• Contact taxpayers by mail or telephone to address discrepancies and to request supporting documentation.
• Send notices to taxpayers when accounts are delinquent.
• Check tax forms to verify that names and taxpayer identification numbers are correct, that computations have been performed correctly, or that amounts match those on supporting documentation.
• Answer questions from taxpayers and assist them in completing tax forms.
• Impose payment deadlines on delinquent taxpayers and monitor payments to ensure that deadlines are met.
• Notify taxpayers of any overpayment or underpayment, and either issue a refund or request further payment.
• Confer with taxpayers or their representatives to discuss the issues, laws, and regulations involved in returns, and to resolve problems with returns.
• Enter tax return information into computers for processing.
• Conduct independent field audits and investigations of income tax returns to verify information or to amend tax liabilities.
• Review selected tax returns to determine the nature and extent of audits to be performed on them.
• Investigate claims of inability to pay taxes by researching court information for the status of liens, mortgages, or financial statements, or by locating assets through third parties.
• Process individual and corporate income tax returns, and sales and excise tax returns.
• Recommend criminal prosecutions or civil penalties.
• Examine accounting systems and records to determine whether accounting methods used were appropriate and in compliance with statutory provisions.
• Review filed tax returns to determine whether claimed tax credits and deductions are allowed by law.
• Participate in informal appeals hearings on contested cases from other agents.
• Examine and analyze tax assets and liabilities to determine resolution of delinquent tax problems.
• Direct service of legal documents, such as subpoenas, warrants, notices of assessment, and garnishments.
• Secure a taxpayer's agreement to discharge a tax assessment or submit contested determinations to other administrative or judicial conferees for appeals hearings.
• Determine appropriate methods of debt settlement, such as offers of compromise, wage garnishment, or seizure and sale of property.
• Request that the state or federal revenue service prepare a return on a taxpayer's behalf in cases where taxes have not been filed.
• Prepare briefs and assist in searching and seizing records to prepare charges and documentation for court cases.

What Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents Should Be Good At

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

What Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents Should Be Interested In

• Conventional - Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.
• Enterprising - Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

What Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents Need to Learn

• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.