Internal Revenue Agent

Summary

WHAT IS Small Business/Self Employed (SBSE)?

A description of the business units can be found at:

• Position(s) are to be filled in following area(s):
  • SBSE EXAM, Exam Operations, Field Exam

REVIEW THE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BELOW FOR FURTHER DETAILS

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Duties

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The following are the duties of this position at the full working level. If this vacancy includes more than one grade and you are selected at a lower grade level, you will have the opportunity to learn to perform these duties and receive training to help you grow in this position.

• Conducts independent examinations and related investigations of the most complex income tax returns filed by individuals, small businesses, organizations, and other entities. May include those with diversified activities, multiple partners, and operations of national scope. Assignments require an integrated analysis of intricate and complex accounting systems, business activities, and financing.
• Conducts examinations of complex individual and business taxpayers involved in activities or transactions designed or structured to hide or conceal income such as offshore activities, multiple related entities, and other means using a wide range of financial and other investigative skills.
• Conducts package audits to determine that other required returns such as information, excise, or specialty returns are filed and conducts concurrent examinations of these and other returns when warranted. Recognizes the need for specialists and makes appropriate referrals.
• Evaluates the content of new and modified legislation and assesses the impact on the program.
• Identifies issues to be pursued based on large, unusual, or questionable items which produce significant tax or compliance effect; recognizes the impact; and utilizes the appropriate tax law and facts needed to resolve them. Recognizes indicators of fraudulent activity and develops appropriate referrals.

STANDARD POSITION DESCRIPTIONS (SPD): PD94816

Visit the IRS SPD Library to access the position descriptions.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• Probationary Period - A person who is required to go through a probationary period and then is transferred, promoted, demoted, or reassigned before he or she completes such period is required to complete the remainder of the probationary period in the new position.
• Government Credit Card - Obtain and use a Government-issued charge card for business-related travel.
• Tax Audit - The employment of any candidate, including a current employee or a new hire, selected for this position may be conditional upon classification and/or audit of federal tax returns. This audit may include up to 2 years of returns.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS SHOWN IN QUALIFICATIONS SECTION

Qualifications

Federal experience is not required. Experience may have been gained in the public sector, private sector or through Volunteer Service. One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-timework is considered on a prorated basis. To ensure full credit for your work experience, please indicate dates of employment by month/day/year, and indicate number of hours worked per week, on your resume.

You must meet the following requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

BASIC REQUIREMENTS All GRADES:

A Certificate as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or a bachelor's or higher degree in accounting that included at least 30 semester hours in accounting or 24 semester hours in accounting and an additional 6 semester hours in related subjects such as business law, economics, statistical/quantitative methods, computerized accounting or financial systems, financial management, or finance.

OR

A bachelor's or higher degree in a field other than accounting or a combination of education and experience equivalent to 4 years that included at least 30 semester hours in accounting or 24 semester hours in accounting and 6 semester hours in related subjects as described above.

AND

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE GS-13:

In addition to meeting the basic requirement, you must have 1 year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-12 grade level in the Federal service. Qualifying experience must have been in progressively responsible and diversified professional accounting or auditing work that required 1) knowledge of and skill in applying professional accounting principles, theory, and practices to analyze and interpret accounting books, records, or systems specifically to determine their effect on Federal tax liabilities and their adequacy for recording transactions affecting tax liabilities; 2) skill in interpreting and applying Federal tax law for individuals, business, and/or exempt organizations, partnerships, and corporations; 3) knowledge of business and trade practices to develop tax issues based on analysis and evaluation of overall business operations and financial condition; 4) knowledge of corporate financial transactions and financial management principles and practices; and 5) skill in interacting effectively with a broad range of individuals and in negotiating with specialists in accounting, legal, tax, and other similar business-related professions.

AND

Experience includes:

• Experience with the Internal Revenue Code, regulation, rulings, court decisions, agency policies, regulations, and practices to determine the correct tax liability and to conduct extensive research of legal questions in examining of tax returns.
• Experience with the principals and practices of accounting and tax auditing to detect taxpayers' accounting errors through accounting systems and records including computerized accounting and financial information systems that may be applicable to a specific industry.
• Experience with conducting package audits that may require additional returns to be filed, such as information, excise, specialty, or others as warranted.
• Experience with tax compliance programs relative to Federal tax examination, examples may include Fraud, Whistleblower (WBO), High Income/High Wealth (HI/HW), Research and Experimental (R&E) Credit, Abusive Transactions, Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA), and emerging issues.
• Experience with the examination of varied issues including reorganizations, complex fraud development, tax shelters, abusive trust promotions, or other business transactions.
• Experience cooperating with taxpayers and their representatives to communicate examination findings, including highly-complex interpretations of tax laws, regulations, etc..
• Experience influencing and persuading the taxpayer or a representative to comply with requirements to provide information to resolve outstanding problems and issues or to pay tax liability.

AND

You must also meet the following requirement(s):

• TIME AFTER COMPETITIVE APPOINTMENT (TACA): Current civilian employees must have completed at least 90 days of federal civilian service since their latest non-temporary appointment from a competitive referral certificate, known as time after competitive appointment. For this requirement, a competitive appointment is one where you applied to and were appointed from an announcement open to "All US Citizens".
• TIME IN GRADE (TIG): For positions above the GS-05,applicants must meet applicable time-in-grade requirements to be considered eligible. One year (52 weeks) at the next lower grade level is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the grade you are applying for. For positions at the GS-5, you cannot advance to the GS-05 if you have held a GS-02 in the past 52 weeks. There is no TIG restriction for GS-02, 03, or 04 positions.

For more information on qualifications please refer to OPM's Qualifications Standards .

Education

A college or university degree generally must be from an accredited (or pre-accredited) college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For a list of schools which meet these criteria, please refer to Department of Education Accreditation page.

FOREIGN EDUCATION: Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the requirements. You must show proof the education credentials have been deemed to be at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education program. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying. Click here (Section 3, Explanation of Terms) or here for Foreign Education Credentialing instructions.

We recommend choosing an evaluator from a member organization of one of the following national associations of credential evaluation services: National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) or Association of International Credentials Evaluators (AICE).

Additional information

• Consider each location carefully when applying. If you are selected for a location, that location will become your official post of duty.
• In the event that a building is closed due to rent management, new hires may be placed in a local commuting location.
• Additional jobs may be filled from this announcement or any other source to fill these vacancies.
• Alternative work schedule, staggered work hours may be available.
• Salary: General Schedule (GS) Locality Pay tables may be found under Salaries & Wages.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

Help

As a current IRS employee, you know the great benefits we offer. Should you have any questions about benefits, please contact the Employee Resource Center (ERC) at View phone number on click.appcast.io option #1 for ERC.

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