IRS Announces Plan to Recruit 5,582 Tax Enforcers in 2024; Limited Number Expected to Be Armed
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has recently made headlines with its announcement to hire 5,582 tax enforcers in 2024. This massive recruitment effort comes as a result of a significant funding boost of $78 billion for the agency. However, contrary to media reports, only a fraction of these new hires will be armed, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), who oversees the IRS.
The IRS received a substantial funding increase when President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 into law, granting them approximately $79.4 billion. Although Congress later clawed back around $1.4 billion, this still represented a remarkable 600-percent increase over the IRS’s previous year budget. Republicans expressed concerns at the time that this funding would be used to hire an overwhelming number of tax enforcers who would target ordinary Americans. However, the IRS and various Biden administration officials have pushed back against these claims, assuring the public that audits would not increase for individuals making less than $400,000 per year.
The TIGTA report sheds light on the IRS’s hiring plans for 2024, revealing that the agency aims to recruit 5,582 tax enforcers across three staffing categories: revenue officers, revenue agents, and special agents. Revenue officers, responsible for collecting delinquent taxes and securing delinquent returns, will see a hiring target of 517, bringing the total to 3,470 by the end of the fiscal year. The largest number of new hires will be revenue agents, who conduct face-to-face tax audits of more complex returns. The IRS plans to hire 4,663 revenue agents in 2024, bringing their total to 12,358. The smallest number of new hires will be armed special agents in the criminal division, with a hiring goal of 402, resulting in a total of 2,500 by the end of the fiscal year.
Overall, the IRS aims to reach a total of 18,328 tax enforcers by the end of 2024. This represents a significant increase from the agency’s staffing levels at the end of fiscal year 2023, which stood at 89,767. The IRS plans to further expand its workforce to 105,188 by the end of fiscal year 2025, thanks to the supplemental funding boost. As of December 31, 2023, the agency had already allocated around $1.8 billion of the new funding for labor costs.
The IRS’s increased focus on enforcement activities has raised eyebrows among Republicans. While acknowledging the need for some additional enforcement, critics argue that the heavy emphasis on hiring in this area seems disproportionate. During a Senate Finance Committee hearing in April last year, Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) highlighted that over half of the nearly $80 billion in new funding was designated for enforcement activities.
In September 2023, the IRS announced a “sweeping, historic” tax enforcement crackdown as part of its overall operational changes. Cutting-edge technologies, including artificial intelligence, are being employed to enhance the agency’s ability to detect tax evasion and identify compliance loopholes. The goal is to narrow the tax gap, which is the difference between what taxpayers owe and what they actually pay. The IRS estimates that taxpayers in America currently pay approximately 85 percent of their total tax obligations, leaving a significant tax gap.
To address this issue, the IRS has outlined specific groups of taxpayers who will face increased enforcement efforts. Those with total positive income exceeding $1 million and recognized tax debts over $250,000 will be prioritized for enforcement actions. In fiscal year 2024, the agency plans to contact around 1,600 taxpayers falling into this category, who collectively owe hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes. The IRS will also expand its auditing efforts by targeting an additional 60 large corporations with assets averaging over $24 billion, through its Large Business & International Division’s Large Corporate Compliance arm. Furthermore, the agency aims to crack down on the abuse of a corporate tax break that was repealed several years ago and target individual taxpayers earning over $1 million annually with recognized tax debts over $250,000.
The IRS’s recruitment of thousands of tax enforcers and its intensified focus on enforcement activities reflect a concerted effort to close the tax gap and maximize tax collections. As the agency continues to adapt to new technologies and challenges, it remains to be seen how effective these measures will be in achieving their goals.
