Tax investigator vs special tax auditor

The differences between tax investigators and special tax auditors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a tax investigator and a special tax auditor. Additionally, a special tax auditor has an average salary of $66,758, which is higher than the $35,077 average annual salary of a tax investigator.

The top three skills for a tax investigator include tax laws, state tax and customer service. The most important skills for a special tax auditor are audit process, tax returns, and internal audit.

Tax investigator vs special tax auditor overview

	Tax Investigator	Special Tax Auditor
Yearly salary	$35,077	$66,758
Hourly rate	$16.86	$32.10
Growth rate	-7%	-7%
Number of jobs	30,630	54,408
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 52%	Bachelor's Degree, 59%
Average age	48	48
Years of experience	2	2

Tax investigator vs special tax auditor salary

Tax investigators and special tax auditors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Tax Investigator	Special Tax Auditor
Average salary	$35,077	$66,758
Salary range	Between $22,000 And $53,000	Between $39,000 And $112,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between tax investigator and special tax auditor education

There are a few differences between a tax investigator and a special tax auditor in terms of educational background:

	Tax Investigator	Special Tax Auditor
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 52%	Bachelor's Degree, 59%
Most common major	Accounting	Business
Most common college	University of Southern California	University of Southern California

Tax investigator vs special tax auditor demographics

Here are the differences between tax investigators' and special tax auditors' demographics:

	Tax Investigator	Special Tax Auditor
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 64.3% Female, 35.7%	Male, 43.6% Female, 56.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 14.1% Unknown, 3.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.0% Asian, 8.1% White, 62.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%	Black or African American, 12.5% Unknown, 3.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 60.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between tax investigator and special tax auditor duties and responsibilities

Tax investigator example responsibilities.

Investigate welfare, Medicaid, and food stamp fraud.
Work in conjunctions with the FBI, IRS and various corporations to help control tax loss and fraud.
Update taxpayers addresses, assign temporary ITIN numbers to taxpayers without a social security number, establish fiduciary accounts for taxpayers
Update taxpayers addresses, assign temporary ITIN numbers to taxpayers without a social security number, establish fiduciary accounts for taxpayers

Special tax auditor example responsibilities.

Manage the collection, analysis and verification of managerial payroll information to detect fraud and/or unethical practices.
Reduce transaction time and improve Sarbanes-Oxley compliance by developing and implementing new, improve processes for identifying and eliminating obsolete inventory.
Conduct Medicare final settlements in order to ensure accurate reimbursement are distributed to Medicare providers.

Tax investigator vs special tax auditor skills

Common tax investigator skills

Tax Laws, 55%
State Tax, 30%
Customer Service, 15%

Common special tax auditor skills

Audit Process, 58%
Tax Returns, 18%
Internal Audit, 13%
Healthcare, 11%

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Tax Investigator
Tax Investigator vs Special Tax Auditor

Updated January 8, 2025

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