Tax crimes include not filing a return, filing a fraudulent return and willful evasion of taxes. A Revenue Agent is an auditor and it is an auditor’s job to examine tax returns and to make civil adjustments to those returns. A Revenue Officer is a collector, and it is the job of a Revenue Officer to secure unfiled returns and to collect the balances owed. A Special Agent is a policeman who has the responsibility of investigating tax crimes.

It is generally a bad idea for a taxpayer to talk with a Revenue Officer or a Revenue Agent. A taxpayer should never talk to a Special Agent.

If a Special Agent shows up on a taxpayer’s door step, he/she will have spent a long time developing a criminal case. The Agent’s purpose in interviewing the taxpayer is to confirm facts, obtain admissions, and to catch the taxpayer in lies that can be used as additional counts in a criminal indictment. If a Special Agent hands you a card, say nothing and find a competent tax lawyer.

In the past the IRS would suspend collection and audit activity when a criminal case was being investigated. That is no longer the case. The IRS now conducts parallel audit and criminal cases. The auditors may be used to gather evidence for the criminal case, and the taxpayer may be unaware of the developing criminal investigation.