subject: Internal Revenue Jobs On The Rise [print this page] With the close of 2010 around the corner and 2011 on the horizon, the prospect for IRS career opportunities is looking better than ever. Even with the current economic slump, the IRS will be filling internal revenue jobs within the next months and years and that means more long-term IRS jobs. It appears the growth within the IRS will potentially out- pace most job markets in the U.S. What are the indications for this?
If you look at enforcement results and staffing numbers through 2009 the numbers are there. IRS tax enforcement is on the rise and this creates a demand for more IRS agents, which leads to more IRS career opportunities. During the year 2000 the total number of IRS agents for "Key Enforcement Occupations" was at 20,832. At the end of 2009, that number stood at 21,059, a small increase considering the more than a 100% increase in examinations over the 9-year period. In March of 2009, the deputy commissioner of the IRS, Linda Stiff, expressed a likely 10% increase to the total number of enforcement agents. She stated, "We cannot allow an environment to develop where wealthy individuals or companies can go offshore and avoid paying taxes with impunity." This current IRS hiring spree is no fad it has become a trend.
With the recent passage of the Health Care bill, oversight and enforcement of that legislation will increase the workload of IRS. Coupled with a desire to crack down on compliance across the board, this could lead to largest hiring of internal revenue jobs to date. A March 18 report from the house ways & means committee estimates the IRS will need to hire between 11,800 and 16,500 new agents to effectively enforce the new health care rules alone. Also in recent news is the new law governing oversight all paid tax return preparers. Under prior law, now competency tests or continuing education requirements were imposed on unenrolled tax preparers. This is about to change, and with an estimated total of 1.2 million paid return preparers in the United States, the role of the IRS in oversight of tax preparers is about to increase exponentially. With the new Health Care legislation, enforcement activities on the rise, crack-downs on Overseas Tax Havens , and the new paid preparer regulations, we are in an environment where IRS careers and internal revenue jobs will be plentiful.
It is a safe bet that IRS employment in general will see staggering growth in the coming years. As you might imagine, there is also a tremendous opportunity for those qualified to represents taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service. One such professional, the enrolled agent is also poised for tremendous growth. An enrolled agent is a tax specialist admitted to practice before the IRS. Enrolled agents receive the right to practice directly from the federal government and may represent taxpayers nationwide on federal tax matters before any office of the Internal Revenue Service.
