Tax investigator vs tax compliance officer

The differences between tax investigators and tax compliance officers 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 tax compliance officer. Additionally, a tax compliance officer has an average salary of $48,584, 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 tax compliance officer are IRS, tax compliance, and income tax returns.

Tax investigator vs tax compliance officer overview

	Tax Investigator	Tax Compliance Officer
Yearly salary	$35,077	$48,584
Hourly rate	$16.86	$23.36
Growth rate	-7%	-7%
Number of jobs	30,630	95,304
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 52%	Bachelor's Degree, 71%
Average age	48	48
Years of experience	2	2

Tax investigator vs tax compliance officer salary

Tax investigators and tax compliance officers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Tax Investigator	Tax Compliance Officer
Average salary	$35,077	$48,584
Salary range	Between $22,000 And $53,000	Between $33,000 And $71,000
Highest paying City	-	Los Angeles, CA
Highest paying state	-	Washington
Best paying company	-	Morgan Stanley
Best paying industry	-	Government

Differences between tax investigator and tax compliance officer education

There are a few differences between a tax investigator and a tax compliance officer in terms of educational background:

	Tax Investigator	Tax Compliance Officer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 52%	Bachelor's Degree, 71%
Most common major	Accounting	Accounting
Most common college	University of Southern California	University of Southern California

Tax investigator vs tax compliance officer demographics

Here are the differences between tax investigators' and tax compliance officers' demographics:

	Tax Investigator	Tax Compliance Officer
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 64.3% Female, 35.7%	Male, 48.3% Female, 51.7%
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, 12.9% Unknown, 3.4% Hispanic or Latino, 18.3% Asian, 10.5% White, 54.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between tax investigator and tax compliance officer 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

Tax compliance officer example responsibilities.

Reconcile tax liabilities withhold by the business partners against deposits and the IRS transcripts monthly.
Collect and deposit tax liabilities withhold by various business partners throughout the firm to the IRS.
Assist the organizations in computing accurate taxation amounts.
Account administration of ultra high net worth clients encompassing all aspects from initial implementation through termination, emphasizing taxation.
Update taxpayers addresses, assign temporary ITIN numbers to taxpayers without a social security number, establish fiduciary accounts for taxpayers
Used databases, spreadsheet software such as IDRS to enter, revise, manipulate, store and retrieve data.

Tax investigator vs tax compliance officer skills

Common tax investigator skills

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

Common tax compliance officer skills

IRS, 39%
Tax Compliance, 35%
Income Tax Returns, 5%
Taxation, 4%
Indirect Tax, 2%
Tax Issues, 2%

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Tax Investigator
Tax Investigator vs Tax Compliance Officer

Updated January 8, 2025

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