Career Center

WHAT IS THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION (CI) DIVISION?
A description of the business units can be found at: https://www.jobs.irs.gov/about/who/business-divisions

IRS-CI Special Agents (SAs) are duly sworn federal law enforcement officers throughout all 50 states and US territories including special agent attachés located in 11 countries. As a SA, you will combine your accounting skills with law enforcement skills to investigate financial crimes. SAs fill a unique niche in the federal law enforcement community due to IRS-CI's broad jurisdiction of Title 18 and Title 31 crimes, in addition to our primary tax enforcement mission. SAs are known for their financial investigative expertise in areas, such as, tax fraud, public corruption, cybercrimes, narcotics, terrorism, and much more. Today's sophisticated schemes demand the analytical ability of financial investigators to trace transactions through complex financial records.

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.

• The Special Agent plans and conducts investigations relative to criminal statutes of tax administration, financial crimes, and other related offenses, which vary in levels of complexity and scope. The majority of the time is spent on investigations involving most or all of the following characteristics:
  • Indirect accounting methods to establish evidence
  • Precedent setting legal or investigative questions
  • Highly complex or unusual accounting problems
  • Information obtained from diversified sources gathered over a wide section of the country
  • Interrelationship of facts and evidence that are difficult to identify because of numerous holding companies, entities, etc.
  • A mixture of legal and illegal activities
• Performs other investigative and enforcement duties such as:
  • Testifying as a Government witness
  • Assisting the U.S. Attorney during the preparation of case for trial
  • Conducting collateral inquiries
  • Providing protection to persons and property
• Obtains, evaluates, integrates, and recommends actions on information items to identify larger areas of noncompliance (e.g., major profession, occupation, industry, or wide geographic area).
• May serve as a team leader and/or expert consultant in the information gathering function.
• Conducts or participates in surveillance, armed escorts, dignitary protection, undercover operations, execution of search and arrest warrants, seizures, etc.
• Protects the government's interest in enforcement activities.
• Maintains good physical condition in order to conduct criminal investigations, surveillance, protective assignments, undercover assignments, etc.

Those who have additional questions and are interested in the South Florida area, please email [email protected].

Those who have additional questions and are interested in Northern and Central Florida and the rest of the United States, please email [email protected]. 

Conditions of Employment

• To ensure compliance with an applicable preliminary nationwide injunction, which may be supplemented, modified, or vacated, depending on the course of ongoing litigation, the Federal Government will take no action to implement/enforce the COVID-19 vaccination requirement pursuant to Executive Order 14043 on Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees. Federal agencies may request information regarding the vaccination status of selected applicants for the purposes of implementing other workplace safety protocols, such as protocols related to masking, physical distancing, testing, travel, and quarantine.
• If you are in a telework eligible position, you may be directed to temporarily telework on a full-time basis due to COVID 19. Employees must be within a 200-mile radius of their official assigned post-of-duty (POD) while in a telework status. Once normal operations resume, employees may be directed back to the office to perform the duties of their position. Telework eligibility does not guarantee telework; employees must meet and sustain IRS telework eligibility requirements and supervisor's approval to participate in the IRS Telework Program. As a reminder - If you are selected for a position, you are responsible for reporting to your designated POD (location) on the negotiated start date or as directed by management.
• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National and provide proof of U.S. Citizenship. (Birth certificate showing birth in the U.S; Unexpired U.S. Passport; Certificate of Citizenship or Naturalization; or Report of Birth Abroad of a U.S. Citizen (Form FS-240))
• Undergo an income tax verification and review of prior performance/conduct.
• Must successfully complete a background investigation, including a FBI criminal history record check (fingerprint check).
• Complete a Declaration for Federal Employment to determine your suitability for Federal employment, at the time requested by the agency.
• Go through a Personal Identity Verification (PIV) process that requires two forms of identification from the Form I-9. Federal law requires verification of the identity and employment eligibility of all new hires in the U.S. These documents must be unexpired original or certified copies.

Qualifications:

Federal experience is not required. The experience may have been gained in the public sector, private sector or 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/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:

GS-07 SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE:  Specialized experience for this position includes experience in or related to investigation of criminal violations that provided the specific knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the IRS Special Agent. Experience must have required:

(1) the exercise of tact, initiative, ingenuity, resourcefulness and judgment in collecting, assembling, and developing facts, evidence and other pertinent data through investigative techniques which included personal interview;

(2) the ability to make oral and written reports and presentations of personally conducted or personally directed investigations, examinations, or inspections; AND

(3) the ability to analyze and evaluate evidence and arrive at sound conclusions.

To be qualifying, this experience must have been acquired in investigative work related to the ACCOUNTING OR AUDITING OF BUSINESS OR COMMERCIAL PRACTICES OF SUBJECTS INVESTIGATED.
OR
EDUCATION: You may substitute education for specialized experience as follows:

• One full year of graduate level education which included or was supplemented by at least 15 semester/23 quarter hours in accounting plus an additional 9 semester/14 quarter hours from among the following fields: business law, economics, finance, tax law or money and banking. OR
• Superior Academic Achievement - A bachelor's degree, with one of the following: A GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale for all completed undergraduate courses or those completed in the last 2 years of study, or a GPA of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale for all courses in the major field of study or those courses in the major completed in the last 2 years of study, or rank in the upper one third of the class in the college, university, or major subdivision, or membership in a national scholastic honor society recognized by the Association of College Honor Societies.

NOTE: Superior Academic Achievement is credited only if you have completed all the requirements for a bachelor's degree which included or was supplemented by at least 15 semester/23 quarter hours in accounting plus an additional 9 semester/14 quarter hours from among the following fields: finance, economics, business law, tax law, or money and banking.

COMBINATION OF EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION: You may qualify by a combination of experience and education. Options for qualifying based on a combination will be identified in the online questions.