What does a revenue officer do?
Revenue officers are employees who work for government agencies such as the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or the Canada Revenue Agency that collect delinquent taxes and overdue tax returns from taxpayers. These officers are required to conduct interviews with taxpayers to obtain and analyze financial information to ensure that they can pay the tax bill. They must help those with tax overdue by designing payment plans; otherwise, they can seize personal property to pay off their delinquent taxes. Revenue officers must also initiate administrative and judicial actions against overdue taxes.
Revenue officer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real revenue officer resumes:
- Perform coding audits on vendors, physicians and coding staff in order to ensure adherence to ICD-9 and CMS coding guidelines.
- Prepared/Organize documentation to support IRS positions in appeals, fraud referrals, and litigation.
- Conduct independent field examinations and investigations of income tax returns of individuals, partnerships, and corporate entities.
- Submit adjustments/refunds & EOB to have pricing correct.
- Participate in annual charge master/ CPT / HCPCS review.
- Assist customers with W2g forms, and annual win-loss statements.
- Work appeals, denials, and make adjustments according to EOB.
- Verify that all work is turned in and accuracy according to MICS.
- Provide instructions and analyze complex or unusual issues present by taxpayers, practitioners and IRS employees.
- Work with taxpayers, accountants, CPA s and attorneys to obtain statements of financial condition.
- Direct service of legal documents, for example subpoenas, warrants, notices of assessment, and garnishments.
- Interact with taxpayers, tax attorneys, enroll agents, CPA's and other practitioners in conducting day to day operations.
- Secure taxpayer's agreement to discharge tax assessment or submit contest determination to other administrative or judicial parties for appeals hearings.
- Examine individual, corporate and partnership returns and assess deficiencies base on standard examination techniques.
- Recommend criminal prosecutions and civil penalties when necessary.
Revenue officer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 14% of Revenue Officers are proficient in Real Estate, Financial Analysis, and Financial Statements. They’re also known for soft skills such as Computer skills, Analytical skills, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Revenue Officers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Real Estate, 14%
Estimated commercial and noncommercial real estate
- Financial Analysis, 13%
Complete in-depth financial analysis of bank records and financial statements to verify or determine discrepancies in taxpayer reported data.
- Financial Statements, 12%
Analyze financial statements and financial records to determine taxpayers' ability to pay outstanding tax obligations and prevent future delinquencies.
- Business Tax Returns, 11%
Prepared both personal and business tax returns for individuals needing assistance.
- IRS, 10%
Investigated delinquent taxpayers and informed them of IRS regulations and collection procedures.
- IRC, 10%
Received nine months of extensive training on the Internal Revenue Code (IRC).
Most revenue officers use their skills in "real estate," "financial analysis," and "financial statements" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential revenue officer responsibilities here:
Analytical skills. Another essential skill to perform revenue officer duties is analytical skills. Revenue officers responsibilities require that "tax examiners and revenue agents must be able to identify questionable claims for credits and deductions and determine if claims are lawful." Revenue officers also use analytical skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "provide proper resolution by investigating financial data and finding solutions to determine ability to pay. "
Detail oriented. revenue officers are also known for detail oriented, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to revenue officer responsibilities, because "tax examiners and revenue agents verify the accuracy of each entry on the tax returns they review." A revenue officer resume example shows how detail oriented is used in the workplace: "job entails detailed collection, review, financial analysis. "
Organizational skills. revenue officer responsibilities often require "organizational skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "tax examiners and revenue agents may work with multiple returns and a variety of financial documents." This resume example shows what revenue officers do with organizational skills on a typical day: "arrange, negotiate, and execute payment plans using the payment arrangement forms and appropriate legal organizational state of financial protocols. "
Communication skills. Another common skill required for revenue officer responsibilities is "communication skills." This skill comes up in the duties of revenue officers all the time, as "tax collectors must be able to clearly explain complex details, especially about sensitive information, in their work with the public." An excerpt from a real revenue officer resume shows how this skill is central to what a revenue officer does: "improved public image while successfully collecting on delinquent accounts by employing persistent, highly persuasive communications. "
Math skills. Another skill commonly found on revenue officer job descriptions is "math skills." It can come up quite often in revenue officer duties, since "tax collectors and revenue agents deal with numbers daily and must be comfortable with arithmetic." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day revenue officer responsibilities: "audited individual tax returns for mathematical and data entry errors, makingnecessary adjustments using gentax software. "
The three companies that hire the most revenue officers are:
- Sumo Group6 revenue officers jobs
- AccuWeather4 revenue officers jobs
- Bloomberg2 revenue officers jobs
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Compare different revenue officers
Revenue officer vs. Tax analyst
A tax analyst specializes in managing and filing tax forms and tax returns, all while devising strategies to reduce tax payments legally. A tax analyst may work as a member of a company or independently. Moreover, in a company setting, the responsibilities of a tax analyst revolve around coordinating with different departments to obtain all necessary documentation and financial information, maintaining accurate and extensive records of all transactions, and resolving any issues or concerns. Furthermore, it is essential to remain updated with all the tax laws, all while adhering to the policies and regulations of the company.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a revenue officer are more likely to require skills like "financial analysis," "business tax returns," "irc," and "local laws." On the other hand, a job as a tax analyst requires skills like "tax audits," "reconciliations," "tax payments," and "tax software." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Tax analysts tend to make the most money working in the technology industry, where they earn an average salary of $79,702. In contrast, revenue officers make the biggest average salary, $150,786, in the technology industry.The education levels that tax analysts earn slightly differ from revenue officers. In particular, tax analysts are 0.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a revenue officer. Additionally, they're 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Revenue officer vs. Tax compliance agent
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, revenue officer responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "real estate," "financial analysis," "business tax returns," and "irc." Meanwhile, a tax compliance agent has duties that require skills in areas such as "asses," "internal audit," "aml," and "law enforcement agencies." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Tax compliance agents tend to reach lower levels of education than revenue officers. In fact, they're 6.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Revenue officer vs. Tax compliance representative
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, revenue officers are more likely to have skills like "real estate," "financial analysis," "irc," and "local laws." But a tax compliance representative is more likely to have skills like "customer service," "tax laws," "customer inquiries," and "securities."
Tax compliance representatives typically earn lower educational levels compared to revenue officers. Specifically, they're 6.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Revenue officer vs. Customs examiner
Even though a few skill sets overlap between revenue officers and customs examiners, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a revenue officer might have more use for skills like "real estate," "financial analysis," "financial statements," and "business tax returns." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of customs examiners require skills like "disability claims," "quality standards," "claims processing," and "cob. "
Customs examiners reach lower levels of education compared to revenue officers, in general. The difference is that they're 11.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.6% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of revenue officer
Updated January 8, 2025
