Can Agents Work?

Jobs / Finance and accounting / 13-2081.00

Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents

Determine tax liability or collect taxes from individuals or business firms according to prescribed laws and regulations.

US jobs
56,610
Median wage
$62,370 a year
Job family
Finance and accounting

Can agents do the work of tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents?

We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Finance and accounting:

  • Task levelPartialOn Vals AI's Finance Agent benchmark, where agents research SEC filings to answer an analyst's questions, the best model scores 64.4%. Adjacent spreadsheet tasks score higher (83.1% on SpreadsheetBench). No task-level benchmark in our collection tests bookkeeping or audit work inside accounting systems.
  • Project levelPartialOn APEX-Agents, which includes investment-banking tasks written by professionals, the best agent passes 73.5% of tasks on the first try (all domains). OpenAI reports that GPT-5.5's GDPval deliverables, from occupations that include accountants and financial managers, won or tied against professionals' work in 84.9% of comparisons.

Benchmarks for the job family

These cover work in finance and accounting, not always this occupation's tasks.

Typical tasks

From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.

  • Send notices to taxpayers when accounts are delinquent.
  • Confer with taxpayers or their representatives to discuss the issues, laws, and regulations involved in returns, and to resolve problems with returns.
  • Notify taxpayers of any overpayment or underpayment, and either issue a refund or request further payment.
  • Maintain records for each case, including contacts, telephone numbers, and actions taken.
  • Contact taxpayers by mail or telephone to address discrepancies and to request supporting documentation.
  • Answer questions from taxpayers and assist them in completing tax forms.
  • Collect taxes from individuals or businesses according to prescribed laws and regulations.
  • Determine appropriate methods of debt settlement, such as offers of compromise, wage garnishment, or seizure and sale of property.
  • Check tax forms to verify that names and taxpayer identification numbers are correct, that computations have been performed correctly, or that amounts match those on supporting documentation.
  • Examine and analyze tax assets and liabilities to determine resolution of delinquent tax problems.
  • Impose payment deadlines on delinquent taxpayers and monitor payments to ensure that deadlines are met.
  • Direct service of legal documents, such as subpoenas, warrants, notices of assessment, and garnishments.
Other job titles for this occupation (69)

City Tax Auditor · Collections Specialist · Revenue Agent · Revenue Collector · Revenue Officer · Revenue Specialist · Tax Collector · Tax Compliance Officer · Tax Examiner · Tax Examining Technician · Adjustment Examiner · Block Advisor · City Collector · Collector · Corporate Tax Associate · Credentialed Tax Expert · Customs Agent · Customs Appraiser · Customs Collector · Customs Examiner · Customs Guard · Customs Inspector · Customs Verifier · Delinquent Tax Collector · Estate Tax Examiner · Federal Tax Analyst · Garnishment Specialist · Income Tax Adjuster · Income Tax Analyst · Income Tax Auditor · Income Tax Investigator · Indirect Tax Analyst · Internal Revenue Agent · Internal Revenue Collector · International Tax Services Associate · IRS Agent (Internal Revenue Service Agent) · Merchandise Appraiser · Merchandise Examiner · Payroll Tax Analyst · Port Collector · Property Tax Analyst · Returns Agent · Returns Processor · Revenue Enforcement Agent · Revenue Enforcement Collection Agent · Revenue Inspector · Revenue Investigator · Sales Tax Analyst · Special Agent · State and Local Tax Associate · State Auditor · Tax Adjuster · Tax Administrative Assistant · Tax Agent · Tax Analyst · Tax Associate · Tax Collection Coordinator · Tax Compliance Representative · Tax Investigator · Tax Preparer · Tax Processor · Tax Professional · Tax Revenue Officer · Tax Reviewer · Tax Specialist · Tax Technician · Treasury Agent · U.S. Revenue Officer · Verifier