Internal Revenue Service

Wow! My returns were pretty straightforward and simple so I'm not worried about that part.

Not true.

Someone will review your tax returns for prior 2-3 years. If there is audit potential, the returns are sent to the field for exam. Simple W-2 returns, no Sch. A/C/E, likely never even hear from the service about it. Others might meet an Office Auditor (TCO) or a Revenue Agent, depending on the return complexity. The audit will transpire exactly like a normal examination. Assuming no fraud is found, it doesn't affect your employability.

I was audited when I started, had changes to one year which I agreed to. Paid the bill and closed the case. I have also done an employee audit as an RA due to the return complexity.

The tax check is what SlowPoke referred to. Prior to hire, they will run your transcripts for prior tax years to make sure that you have paid any outstanding balances. I don't know if they will hire on someone with a balance on Installment Agreement, but if there is a currently unpaid debt or unfiled returns, those will need to be corrected prior to hire.

New job posting on usajobs for tax exempt revenue agents. Start date 5/12/2019.

If you are hired, you will receive an audit. If you don't have much other than W2 wages, you probably won't hear anything. If you have a Schedule C or capital gains/losses, large itemized deductions, etc - then you will get correspondence. I was audited when I was hired, and they tried to disallow a capital loss I had, it was a mess trying to help the TCO understand the carry-forward loss. I know personally I have audited several employees who got new jobs within the IRS or recently hired. It's just like any other exam.

Right now it's frustrating environment - not a lot of promotions for journey level employees, but seems thousands of upper level promotion opportunities. We have 5 managers for 4 employees - or 30 subject matter experts and no exams being conducted.
People can't work because of computer problems - months to fix technology issues. I know in our area, I was told they did not have any applicants at some POD's - and can't fill jobs externally. People on outside don't seem to want to work for government?? Anyone have any insight why there is such a low application rate for RA's?? Is it the pay? The political environment?

Just out of curiosity if the government does shut down, do you end up getting back pay once it's back up and running, or is it essentially unpaid leave?

I think there are two primary reasons for the low response rate of applicants:

1- The economy is booming right now. Jobs are plentiful and wages are rising (slowly but still.) People don't want to give up the money for the security that accounts for much of the compensation in a federal job. This exact same thing happened in the mid/late 2000's. No one wanted to apply because the economy was doing great. I was the only person in a graduating class of 30 accountants that applied when this position was made available back then. The economy was just starting to turn down in 2008/2009 and so everyone thought they would be making 60k out of school working for a local CPA firm. Two years later, I was one of 3 people from that class who had a job. Everyone else was stuck with positions paying $14/hour and requiring 2-3 years experience, CPA preferred.

I'm not an economist, but the indicators are there for at least a short recessionary period again (I'm looking at you stock market) and people will be out there looking for work again. Unfortunately for the service, that just isn't the case right now.

2- The IRS does an absolutely terrible job promoting these positions and themselves. This is a function of budgetary issues primarily. We just don't have the money to hold or attend job fairs. We don't have recruiters, so if people aren't actively looking on USAjobs, they likely won't ever even know we're hiring. And even if they do, the information on the job and benefits are limited unless you know where to look.

Couple that with the fact that we hire twice a decade, it just makes timing the whole thing very difficult. We should be hiring as needed, as a constant function of the budgeted spending, but we can't. It takes years and years to save the resources to hire and train new people so we rely on these one time mass hirings that may or may not be effective.

The same interview is good for all POD's you applied to. At least that's how it was for me last time around. I interviewed at the local IRS office closest to me (though I didn't apply to that office since there were no openings). So I would imagine they will have you interview at the POD closest to you even if you didn't apply there, and that interview will be used for all POD's you applied to.

Funny thing happened with me - I took the assessment for this job and the Revenue Officer job about the same time. Got a Category B on this assessment, but a Category A on the Revenue Officer job.

I'd be happy with either job though, so I'm satisfied with that.

I haven't gotten the results of the Revenue Officer assessment yet. When did you tske it?

It seems like I took mine in the first couple of days of December - I don't remember the exact date at this time.