The IRS is currently looking to hire qualified individuals capable of carrying firearms for the tax collection agency’s Criminal Unit.
This comes as enforcement activities are set to increase, following a recent influx of funding.
The special agent position, the only role in the IRS where employees are allowed to carry firearms, requires candidates to apply their “accounting skills with law enforcement skills to investigate financial crimes,” according to an IRS website job posting. Applicants must be “legally allowed to carry a firearm” and maintain a fitness level that enables them to “effectively respond to life-threatening situations on the job.”
Individuals working for the Criminal Unit must also possess the ability to “use firearms in life-threatening situations,” even to the point of employing “deadly force.”
Approximately 360 vacancies for the position exist across 250 locations in all 50 states, with salaries ranging between $53,900 and $94,200.
This IRS job posting comes as the agency aims to double its workforce over the next decade, following the $80 billion windfall provided by the Inflation Reduction Act.
The IRS will continue hiring for this position, which requires staff to work a minimum of 50 hours per week and be available 24/7, until the end of the year.
Biden administration officials have claimed that the increased funding will help IRS staff better assist individuals and businesses with their tax filings.
However, a report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration revealed that the agency’s enforcement activities budget is set to increase by 69% over the next decade, while the taxpayer services budget will only see a 9% increase.
Although House Republicans successfully voted to eliminate the $80 billion allocation, the repeal is unlikely to pass in the evenly divided Senate and would almost certainly be vetoed by President Joe Biden.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has promised that the new resources will not be used to raise audit rates for households earning under $400,000 per year “relative to historical levels.”
However, she did not clarify that audit rates for Americans earning between $25,000 and $200,000 had decreased by 76% between 2010 and 2019, according to Government Accountability Office data.
The potential for increased audits for middle-income households comes as overall tax refunds are expected to drop from $222 billion last year to $199 billion this year.
Parents will no longer receive the advance child tax credit, and taxpayers who did not receive stimulus checks can no longer claim a recovery rebate credit.
Last month, the White House’s federal budget proposal included an additional $43 billion for the IRS.
Members of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative Republicans, initially threatened to make their vote on raising the debt ceiling contingent on repealing the $80 billion allocation granted to the agency last year.
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