# Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents

US SOC code 13-2081. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/13-2081

Also called: Tax examiner, Revenue agent, IRS revenue agent, IRS revenue officer, Tax revenue agent.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **56,610** US tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents, with median pay of **$62,370** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2012, the highest was **65,560**, in May 2012. The earliest figure here is [an estimate](https://www.taxnotes.com/tax-history-project/army-officials-civil-war-bureau-internal-revenue/2001/12/27/103rf) of **4,000** from 1863, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era for tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents: Integrated data systems and early AI fraud detection, 2000 to 2022.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects employment to decline 1% from 2025 to 2035. Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=13-2081&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **67.7%** of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. [Eloundou and others, 2023](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv)

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend. In May 2021 BLS changed how it estimates these counts (a model-based method using three years of survey data) and moved fully to the 2018 occupation codes, so part of a change across 2021 can come from the method rather than the work.

## Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1791
- Latest US employment: 56,610 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [5]
- Latest US median pay: $62,370 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [9]
- Outlook: -1% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [22]

### All 27 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1863 | 4,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Tax History Project [1] |
| 1920 | 15,000 (estimate) | $1,800 (estimate) | Est., IRS (employment) [2]; Est., U.S. National Archives (pay) [6] |
| 1980 | 27,000 (estimate) | $28,000 (estimate) | Est., TRAC Reports (employment) [3]; Est., IRS (pay) [7] |
| 2000 | 67,720 | $40,180 | BLS OEWS 2000 [4] |
| 2003 | 71,060 | $42,780 | BLS OEWS May 2003 [5] |
| 2004 | 71,610 | $43,490 | BLS OEWS May 2004 [5] |
| 2005 | 72,290 | $44,210 | BLS OEWS May 2005 [5] |
| 2006 | 75,160 | $45,620 | BLS OEWS May 2006 [5] |
| 2007 | 65,750 | $46,920 | BLS OEWS May 2007 [5] |
| 2008 | 66,030 | $48,100 | BLS OEWS May 2008 [5] |
| 2009 | 69,500 | $48,550 | BLS OEWS May 2009 [5] |
| 2010 | 68,530 | $49,360 | BLS OEWS May 2010 [5] |
| 2011 | 67,970 | $50,130 | BLS OEWS May 2011 [5] |
| 2012 | 65,560 | $50,440 | BLS OEWS May 2012 [5] |
| 2013 | 64,790 | $50,610 | BLS OEWS May 2013 [5] |
| 2014 | 63,640 | $51,120 | BLS OEWS May 2014 [5] |
| 2015 | 59,640 | $51,430 | BLS OEWS May 2015 [5] |
| 2016 | 58,450 | $52,060 | BLS OEWS May 2016 [5] |
| 2017 | 56,660 | $53,130 | BLS OEWS May 2017 [5] |
| 2018 | 54,550 | $54,440 | BLS OEWS May 2018 [5] |
| 2019 | 53,760 | $54,890 | BLS OEWS May 2019 [5] |
| 2020 | 53,150 | $55,640 | BLS OEWS May 2020 [5] |
| 2021 | 52,270 | $56,780 | BLS OEWS May 2021 [5] |
| 2022 | 50,610 | $57,950 | BLS OEWS May 2022 [5] |
| 2023 | 50,250 | $58,530 | BLS OEWS May 2023 [5] |
| 2024 | 53,530 | $59,740 | BLS OEWS May 2024 [5] |
| 2025 | 56,610 | $62,370 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [5] |

## Sources (89)

### Employment series

1. [Tax History Project -- "An Army of Officials: The Civil War Bureau of Internal Revenue" (Tax Notes, 2001)](https://www.taxnotes.com/tax-history-project/army-officials-civil-war-bureau-internal-revenue/2001/12/27/103rf), Tax Notes / Tax History Project
2. [IRS -- Historical Highlights of the IRS: 16th Amendment ratification (1913) and Form 1040 introduction, archived via Wayback Machine](https://web.archive.org/web/20240224184218/https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/historical-highlights-of-the-irs), Internal Revenue Service
3. [TRAC Reports -- "Internal Revenue Service Staff (employees at close of year)" (IRS Data Book Table 34, 1980-2003)](https://tracreports.org/tracirs/trends/v09/irsStaff.html), Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), Syracuse University
4. [BLS OES 2000 national estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oes00nat.zip), Bureau of Labor Statistics
5. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)

### Wage series

6. [U.S. National Archives -- "Income Tax Records of the Civil War Years" and federal pay context (Prologue, 1986)](https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1986/winter/civil-war-tax-records.html), National Archives
7. [IRS -- IRS History Timeline: agency organizational structure and civil-service compensation framework](https://www.irs.gov/irs-history-timeline), Internal Revenue Service
8. [BLS OES 2000 national estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oes00nat.zip), Bureau of Labor Statistics
9. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
10. [BLS OEWS May 2024, national cross-industry estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

### Tool eras

11. [TTB -- "Alexander Hamilton and the Whiskey Tax" (1791 excise tax structure and collector accountability)](https://www.ttb.gov/public-information/special-feature), Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau
12. [Tax Notes / Tax History Project -- "An Army of Officials: The Civil War Bureau of Internal Revenue" (2001)](https://www.taxnotes.com/tax-history-project/army-officials-civil-war-bureau-internal-revenue/2001/12/27/103rf), Tax Notes / Tax History Project
13. [Library of Congress -- "The First Form 1040" (1913 Form 1040 origin, predecessor to Civil War forms)](https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2017/04/the-first-form-1040/), Library of Congress
14. [IRS -- Historical Highlights of the IRS: 16th Amendment and Form 1040 introduction, archived via Wayback Machine](https://web.archive.org/web/20240224184218/https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/historical-highlights-of-the-irs), Internal Revenue Service
15. [National Archives -- "The 16th Amendment and 100 Years of Federal Income Taxes" (ratification date and original Form 1040)](https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2013/04/02/the-16th-amendment-and-100-years-of-federal-income-taxes/), National Archives
16. [Wikipedia -- Internal Revenue Service (IBM 650 Kansas City return-processing trial, 1955)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_Revenue_Service), Wikipedia
17. [Bryant University Honors Thesis -- "The Discriminant Analysis Used by the IRS to Predict Unreported Income" (DIF history 1969)](https://digitalcommons.bryant.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=honors_mathematics), Bryant University
18. [CPA Journal -- "The IRS's Big Plans for Big Data" (DIF history, no-change rate, revenue-per-audit improvement since 1969)](https://www.cpajournal.com/2021/10/26/the-irss-big-plans-for-big-data/), The CPA Journal
19. [IRS -- FY2024 Data Book (Publication 55B): compliance presence, enforcement statistics, and IRS budget and workforce data](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/p55b--052025.pdf), Internal Revenue Service
20. [Thomson Reuters -- Checkpoint AI: AI-assisted federal and state tax research for Revenue Agents and practitioners](https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/en/checkpoint), Thomson Reuters
21. [IRS -- Inflation Reduction Act Strategic Operating Plan FY2023-2031 (Publication 3744): enforcement investment, Revenue Agent hiring, technology and analytics roadmap](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p3744.pdf), Internal Revenue Service

### Forecasts and exposure studies

22. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 13-2081 Tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents (2025: 60.1 thousand; 2035: 59.5 thousand; -1.0%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=13-2081&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
23. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 13-2081.00, human-rated β 0.677)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

24. [TTB -- "Alexander Hamilton and the Whiskey Tax" (1791 excise law and Whiskey Rebellion)](https://www.ttb.gov/public-information/special-feature), Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau
25. [Tax Notes / Tax History Project -- "An Army of Officials: The Civil War Bureau of Internal Revenue"](https://www.taxnotes.com/tax-history-project/army-officials-civil-war-bureau-internal-revenue/2001/12/27/103rf), Tax Notes / Tax History Project
26. [National Archives -- "The 16th Amendment and 100 Years of Federal Income Taxes" (Feb 3, 1913 ratification)](https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2013/04/02/the-16th-amendment-and-100-years-of-federal-income-taxes/), National Archives
27. [IRS -- Historical Highlights of the IRS: Truman reorganization plan (1952) and renaming to IRS (1953), archived via Wayback Machine](https://web.archive.org/web/20240224184218/https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/historical-highlights-of-the-irs), Internal Revenue Service
28. [CPA Journal -- "The IRS's Big Plans for Big Data" (DIF history from 1969, TCMP, no-change rate improvement)](https://www.cpajournal.com/2021/10/26/the-irss-big-plans-for-big-data/), The CPA Journal
29. [TRAC Reports -- IRS Staff Data by Year (1980-2003): Revenue Agents 17,323 in FY1988, peak staffing level](https://tracreports.org/tracirs/trends/v09/irsStaff.html), Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), Syracuse University
30. [ProPublica -- "How the IRS Was Gutted" (2018): Revenue Agents -35%, Revenue Officers -48%, 2010-2018](https://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-irs-was-gutted), ProPublica
31. [IRS -- Inflation Reduction Act Strategic Operating Plan FY2023-2031 (Publication 3744): $79.6B enforcement investment, Revenue Agent hiring, complex-return focus](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p3744.pdf), Internal Revenue Service

### Predecessors & successors

32. [TTB -- "Alexander Hamilton and the Whiskey Tax" (origins of federal tax collector role, 1791)](https://www.ttb.gov/public-information/special-feature), Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau
33. [Tax Notes -- "An Army of Officials: The Civil War Bureau of Internal Revenue"](https://www.taxnotes.com/tax-history-project/army-officials-civil-war-bureau-internal-revenue/2001/12/27/103rf), Tax Notes / Tax History Project

### Present-day analysis

- [O\*NET 30.3 — Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents (13-2081.00)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/13-2081.00), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Eloundou et al. 2024 — GPTs are GPTs (Science)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-05-24
- [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents (2024): 3% projected growth 2024-2034](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/tax-examiners-and-collectors-and-revenue-agents.htm), accessed 2026-05-24
- [IRS — Inflation Reduction Act Enforcement Investment: $79.6B over 10 years targeting complex partnerships, large corps, and $400K+ filers (2022)](https://www.irs.gov/about-irs/irs-inflation-reduction-act-strategic-operating-plan), accessed 2026-06-21
- [IRS — Fiscal Year 2024 enforcement: $98.7B collected, expanded Revenue Agent staffing, and AI-assisted exam selection (IRS Data Book)](https://www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-irs-data-book), accessed 2026-06-21
- [GAO — Inside the IRS's Use of Artificial Intelligence: AI used for audit selection, fraud detection, and enforcement; oversight requirements reviewed (2026)](https://www.gao.gov/blog/inside-irs-use-artificial-intelligence), accessed 2026-06-21
- [IRS — Internal Revenue Code § 7602: examination authority vested in designated human agents](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/7602), accessed 2026-05-24
- [IRS — Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TBOR): human discretion requirements for hardship determinations, CNC status, and penalty abatement](https://www.irs.gov/taxpayer-bill-of-rights), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Federation of Tax Administrators (FTA) — State Revenue Agency AI Adoption: fraud detection and audit selection automation (2024)](https://taxadmin.org/research-and-tax-rates/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Thomson Reuters — Checkpoint AI: integrated tax and accounting research AI for practitioners (2025)](https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/en/checkpoint), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Bloomberg Tax + AI: tax research and workflow automation for professionals (2025)](https://pro.bloombergtax.com/products/ai-and-bloomberg-tax/), accessed 2026-06-21
- [IRS — Automated Underreporter (AUR) Program: information-return matching and CP2000 notice automation](https://www.irs.gov/individuals/understanding-your-cp2000-series-notice), accessed 2026-06-21
- [Wolters Kluwer — CCH AnswerConnect: AI-powered tax research for federal and state practitioners (2025)](https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/cch-answerconnect), accessed 2026-05-24

How to read these figures: https://futurehistory.earth/methodology. Every figure links to its own source; gaps stay gaps.