Tax Jobs: 3 Different Jobs And Their Job Descriptions

Tax jobs are jobs that primarily touch on taxes in one way or the other. Taxes are such an integral society that someone once observed that death and taxes are two things in life that are certain. Governments the world over depend on taxes to function. As a result there are a number of jobs that pertain to tax. For instance there are revenue agent jobs tax examiner jobs and tax collector jobs. Persons holding these jobs are charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the government obtains revenue faithfully from both citizens and businesses. The job mandate in these types of jobs include carrying out audits tax returns reviews the collection of tax dollars that are overdue as well as the identification of any payable taxes.

Tax Examiners
Tax examiners are usually employed by the local state and federal governments. Their job description is largely uniform irrespective of the hiring authority. They are charged with the responsibility of reviewing tax returns that have already been filed. They review the accuracy of the tax returns and establish whether tax deductions and credits have been done in accordance with the law. Any correction or adjustment made on an individual’s income tax return form is communicated down to the states by federal government tax examiners. Tax examiners at the state level determine whether the adjustments and corrections affect the tax liability of the taxpayer within the state. Generally tax examiners are charged with determining the legitimacy of any tax deductions and credits as claimed by taxpayers.

Revenue Agents
These agents specifically deal with accounting work for the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS). They also work in a similar capacity at the lower levels of the government such as local and state governments. Their chief role is to establish the accuracy of tax returns through auditing. They mainly deal with large corporations and businesses. Due to the highly dynamic nature of the tax code revenue agents on the payroll of the federal government have to constantly keep themselves abreast with the new developments in this field. It is not unusual for revenue agents to specialize in certain business types. Revenue agents at the state level have similar roles to their Federal government counterparts. They use any IRS report for revenue adjustment to determine whether a particular taxpayer’s new status affects his or her tax obligations to the state.

Revenue Officers
Revenue officers or collectors deal with defaulting or delinquent accounts. Revenue agents initialize the process of delinquent account collection by notifying the taxpayer of the status of the account through an official report. If no effort is made at resolving the account that is in arrears the revenue agent assigns the case to a revenue officer or collector.

Collectors are also responsible for the verification of any claims made by the negligent taxpayers as to their inability to pay up their taxes. They impose deadlines on tax delinquents as well as following up on them at the federal level. Down at the states collectors have the powers to seize property and issue subpoenas to tax defaulters.

According to the Occupational Employment Statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) tax examiners collectors and revenue agents held 72700 jobs in 2008. 98 percent of them were employed by the government while 2 percent were in self employment. BLS gives the annual median wage for revenue agents collectors and tax examiners combined to be $48100 as at May 2008.

This however would vary depending on occupational specialty and the government level where you are serving. Tax jobs offer good career prospects for those who have strong time management organizational and analytical skills.