The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is set to hire armed tax agents across the country to strengthen its criminal investigations division, according to a report from The Epoch Times.
This move comes as the Biden administration dedicates $80 billion in new funding to enhance tax law enforcement.
During a House Ways and Means Committee hearing, IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel confirmed plans to hire additional staff authorized to carry firearms.
He addressed Rep. Adrian Smith’s (R-NE) query regarding the hiring of an estimated 360 armed agents per year for the next five years.
Werfel agreed that the estimate sounded “about right” but emphasized that the agents would not be conducting tax audits.
Werfel explained, “Our CI division or Criminal Investigation Division, they do not conduct audits. What they do is, they are investigating acute issues of fraud and tax evasion. And typically, they’re armed when they’re putting themselves in danger.”
Currently, the IRS-CI has around 2,100 agents, with plans to hire approximately 350 agents this fiscal year.
Carissa Cutrell, a public affairs officer at IRS-CI, stated that the division’s mission includes “investigating criminals for crimes they’ve committed but also deterring potential criminals from committing future crimes.”
Armed special agents, or “gun-toters,” within the IRS-CI unit will be responsible for enforcing the tax code where violations amount to crimes.
Job postings on USAJOBS.gov and the IRS Careers website indicate that criminal investigation special agents will be authorized to carry firearms and participate in arrests, execution of search warrants, and other high-risk assignments.
These special agents will receive Law Enforcement Availability Pay (LEAP), a 25% increase over the standard pay scale, to account for the long and irregular hours they may work.
The IRS plans to use the $80 billion in new funding to hire thousands of new employees, improve tax enforcement and customer service, and audit wealthy taxpayers and corporations.
