What does a revenue agent do?
A revenue agent typically works for government agencies where they are in charge of ensuring that businesses and citizens comply with their tax obligations. Their responsibilities include performing field audits and assessments, gathering and analyzing data, reviewing documents and procedures, and investigating tax delinquencies in adherence to the state and federal laws and regulations. They must also directly communicate with organizations and individuals to conduct assessments, collect information, respond to inquiries and concerns, and discuss their rights and obligations.
Revenue agent responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real revenue agent resumes:
- Review accounts as a part of due diligence and regular anti-money laundering (AML) monitoring.
- Audit individual, partnership, and corporate tax returns via face-to-face audits with the taxpayer, CPA, or attorney.
- Approve client advertising proposals to ensure compliance with company policy and FDA regulations.
- Assist in ensuring PayPal is in compliance with applicable federal AML laws and regulations.
- Create reviews during CIP training and ramp up times offering feedback for areas of improvement.
- Write a comprehensive and well organize case summary and route to fince BSA/AML for SAR filing.
- Audit financial statements with amend NYS individual, corporate, sales, withholding miscellaneous tax forms for appeal process.
- Document results using proprietary IRS forms and applications.
- Comply with IRS regulations and procedures on continuing education and activity tracking.
- Assist in completion of necessary applications for financial assistance, and refer qualifying patients to appropriate resources for financial guidance.
- Prepare and file SARs for unusual/suspicious activity detect at the agent location or during the consumer or agent transaction review.
- Freelance book keeping utilizing QuickBooks, check registry data entry.
- Start job by assisting TurboTax user's on how to enter information into the TurboTax program.
Revenue agent skills and personality traits
We calculated that 15% of Revenue Agents are proficient in Partnerships, CPA, and Financial Transactions. They’re also known for soft skills such as Computer skills, Detail oriented, and Interpersonal skills.
We break down the percentage of Revenue Agents that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Partnerships, 15%
Examined individual, corporate and partnership returns and assessed deficiencies based on standard examination techniques.
- CPA, 11%
Will be licensed in Utah as CPA when Master's Degree completed.
- Financial Transactions, 11%
Applied knowledge of corporate financial transactions and management operations and practices in order to complete comprehensive and accurate audits.
- Appeals, 10%
Participate in appeals and revocation hearings to ensure future compliance with Washington Administrative Code.
- Business Operations, 10%
Conduct initial interview of the principal stakeholder of the company to gain an understanding of the business operations and accounting procedures.
- Business Entities, 9%
Conferred and corresponded with individuals and business entities to present findings or give advice on accounting improvements.
"partnerships," "cpa," and "financial transactions" are among the most common skills that revenue agents use at work. You can find even more revenue agent responsibilities below, including:
Detail oriented. Another essential skill to perform revenue agent duties is detail oriented. Revenue agents responsibilities require that "tax examiners and revenue agents verify the accuracy of each entry on the tax returns they review." Revenue agents also use detail oriented in their role according to a real resume snippet: "functioned as team leader for a group of irs personnel detailed from all regions at project development worksite. "
Interpersonal skills. This is an important skill for revenue agents to perform their duties. For an example of how revenue agent responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "tax collectors must be comfortable interacting with people. when pursuing overdue accounts, tax collectors should be firm and composed." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a revenue agent: "displayed courtesy and strong interpersonal skills with all customer interactions. ".
Organizational skills. For certain revenue agent responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "organizational skills." The day-to-day duties of a revenue agent rely on this skill, as "tax examiners and revenue agents may work with multiple returns and a variety of financial documents." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what revenue agents do: "conduct independent investigations relating to income tax returns filed by individuals, businesses or organizational entities. "
Analytical skills. Another crucial skill for a revenue agent to carry out their responsibilities is "analytical skills." A big part of what revenue agents relies on this skill, since "tax examiners and revenue agents must be able to identify questionable claims for credits and deductions and determine if claims are lawful." How this skill relates to revenue agent duties can be seen in an example from a revenue agent resume snippet: "analyzed accounting books and records to determine appropriateness of accounting methods employed and compliance with statutory provisions. "
Communication skills. Lastly, "communication skills" is an important element of what a revenue agent does. Revenue agent responsibilities require this skill because "tax collectors must be able to clearly explain complex details, especially about sensitive information, in their work with the public." This resume example highlights how revenue agent duties rely on this skill: "handled written and verbal communication from customers and taking corrective actions to resolve billing issues. "
The three companies that hire the most revenue agents are:
- State of Georgia: Teachers Retirement System of Georgia4 revenue agents jobs
- The State of Oregon2 revenue agents jobs
- State of West Virginia1 revenue agents jobs
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Revenue agent vs. Customs examiner
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a revenue agent are more likely to require skills like "partnerships," "cpa," "financial transactions," and "appeals." On the other hand, a job as a customs examiner requires skills like "disability claims," "quality standards," "claims processing," and "cob." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Customs examiners tend to reach lower levels of education than revenue agents. In fact, customs examiners are 9.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.7% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Revenue agent vs. Tax examiner
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that revenue agent responsibilities requires skills like "partnerships," "cpa," "financial transactions," and "appeals." But a tax examiner might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "tax accounts," "technical assistance," "provide technical assistance," and "sound judgment."
On average, tax examiners earn a higher salary than revenue agents. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, tax examiners earn the most pay in the government industry with an average salary of $50,077. Whereas revenue agents have higher pay in the government industry, with an average salary of $55,113.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Tax examiners tend to reach similar levels of education than revenue agents. In fact, they're 2.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.7% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Revenue agent vs. Customs verifier
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, revenue agents are more likely to have skills like "partnerships," "cpa," "financial transactions," and "appeals." But a customs verifier is more likely to have skills like "customer service," "data entry," "insurance coverage," and "outbound calls."
Most customs verifiers achieve a lower degree level compared to revenue agents. For example, they're 9.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Revenue agent vs. Tax collector
Types of revenue agent
Updated January 8, 2025











