[Anonymous]

Could you please share your thoughts on Pros and Cons of working for IRS vs. Public.

Would it be easy to come back to public after working for IRS for a while?

[Anonymous]

@Minimorty

The grammar nazi card? Pretty weak dude.

And you lose all credibility when you post articles you didn't even bother to read.

Then you attempt to back peddle. You said “federal employees, I did not single out IRS agents”, so what? You obviously meant to include the IRS agents as overpaid. Do you really think anyone takes a job at the IRS to make a ton of money? Really?

Edit: And I've been posting quickly from an iphone so sorry if my writing is not up to your standards.

[Minimorty]

Grammar nazi? Hardly. You didn't misspell a word or miss a punctuation mark. You flat out don't know the correct usage of certain words. How do you expect to make credible statements when you can't get the basics correct?

Not once have I come off my position. My comment above was to clarify what I said originally. My comment was that federal employees are overpaid. This could be grossly overpaid, a little bit overpaid, or somewhere in between. IRS agents might fit into the “somewhere in between” category.

You are completely missing the point when you make comments like “Do you really think anyone takes a job at the IRS to make a ton of money?” It doesn't have to be about the amount of money as an absolute. Do most IRS agents make 150k? No. That doesn't mean that they are not overpaid making 50k. If an IRS agent is making 50k with benefits, pension, etc., while working barely 40 hours a week, and a private sector employee doing something comparable is making less, the government employee is overpaid.

[Anonymous]

Or the private sector employee at that company is being underpaid.

Because you don't respect the work the IRS employee performs you believe, to use your number, $50k is overpaid.

If I had a private sector job in the tax field for 2-3 years with a bachelors and a CPA, how is $50k unattainable?

Better benefits? Maybe in the short term but can an IRS employee work his way up to a Controller, CFO or Partner? Does anyone here work in the private sector to stay in the payroll dept. for 30 years?

[Minimorty]

Let me take a step back and ask you a couple of questions.

Assuming the same qualifications and assuming the employees are doing the same work, do you think there should be any difference in pay between a government employee and a private sector employee?

Regardless of how you answer above, do you think that right now (in general) government employees and private sector employees have a similar total compensation (again, assuming same qualifications and same work responsibilities)?

[Anonymous]

“Assuming the same qualifications and assuming the employees are doing the same work, do you think there should be any difference in pay between a government employee and a private sector employee?”

I think it would be nice if there weren't but we live in a capitalistic society and the economy is constantly in flux so someone's always going to make a little more or less.

“Regardless of how you answer above, do you think that right now (in general) government employees and private sector employees have a similar total compensation (again, assuming same qualifications and same work responsibilities)?”

It has virtually always been the case that gov't made less but had better benefits vs the private sector. Only recently with the economy in the tank has that line blurred. The lower down on the employment food chain you go the worse it is but my point is we accountants / CPA's are not comparable to the post office or TSA. We are better educated and the total potential earning power in the span of one's career is still better in the private sector if you are moderately successful.

It's not really fair to take a snap shot at one point in time and at a certain point in one's career and make an overall assessment like that.

[Minimorty]

I knew that exercise would be beneficial. I actually agree with most of what you said. There are a couple of additional comments I'd like to make.

I think that government employees feel way too entitled. You mentioned that when the economy turns sour, the pay between government and private usually takes different paths (government stays the same, private goes down). If the economy sours and people doing similar work in the private sector are making less, the government should reduce the pay of its workers. This generally doesn't happen because of the entitlement structure, unions, lawsuits, etc. associated with government employees.

With regards to IRS agents specifically, you have to remember that MOST irs agents are NOT CPAs. A lot of them have criminal justice backgrounds with a little bit of internal training on accounting. Some are accounting and business majors, but very few are actually CPAs. You also can't just look at salary. You have to look at total compensation, which includes benefits, pensions, pad time off, etc. Most of government employees are “lower down on the food chain” and I believe these people are generally making more than a private sector employee doing a similar line of work.

[Veronica75]

oh wow. I guess I'm tarnished for life since I worked as a revenue agent at the IRS! haha

Actually, my supervisor was an intelligent guy with his CPA as was another manager in my small office. I don't know where you're getting your numbers on how many IRS revenu agents are CPAs. Most of my co-workers had accounting degrees. And they make crap – out of college with a bachelor's degree I made $36k. Not overpaid at all. Who really wants to deal with taxpayers and enforce rules that most people aren't happy about?

@Mini – I think you just like to argue. Have you ever thought of law school? In all seriousness, you'd probably be good at it.

FAR - 79 (2x)
AUD - 81 (expired), 77!
REG - 74! omg (3x) 87!!!!!!! I'm done! OMG!
BEC - 81 (4x)

[Veronica75]

and before you can say anything, “revenu” is revenue. Good Lord!

FAR - 79 (2x)
AUD - 81 (expired), 77!
REG - 74! omg (3x) 87!!!!!!! I'm done! OMG!
BEC - 81 (4x)

[Minimorty]

@Veronica – lol. I like you.

[Veronica75]

Most people do, Minimorty.

Now answer my question about law school.

FAR - 79 (2x)
AUD - 81 (expired), 77!
REG - 74! omg (3x) 87!!!!!!! I'm done! OMG!
BEC - 81 (4x)

[Minimorty]

Have I ever thought about it? Yes, definitely. However, I am 28, married, and have two kids under three years old. I am about to have four professional designations and I make about 150k per year. Although a part of me wishes I had gone down that route out of school, I have a pretty good set up now that continues to get better and better. I don't see a substantial benefit to spending the time, effort, and money to get a law degree.

[Veronica75]

I interned for a tax attorney in college so that route has always been in my mind, but I just don't feel like incurring the debt. I've been married for 7 years, and it's time to have babies soon. Two years before I turn 30 so I want to get some decent trips in there before the kiddos come along.

Just curious, what are your fancy professional designations? And what do you do to make your buck-fifty a year?

FAR - 79 (2x)
AUD - 81 (expired), 77!
REG - 74! omg (3x) 87!!!!!!! I'm done! OMG!
BEC - 81 (4x)

[Minimorty]

I'm a business valuation expert. Most of what I do is for gift and estate tax purposes, but I am trying to build my divorce practice as well. My CPA and ABV(accredited in business valuation) are pending and I already have my ASA (accredited senior appraiser of the American society of appraisers) and my CDFA (certified divorce financial analyst of the institute for divorce financial analysts). Each of the designations serve their own purpose.

How was your experience with tax law?

[Veronica75]

Sounds like fun. 🙂 What road led you to that sort of specialization? Interesting.

I worked for a couple of attorney's in a small practice. They did mostly estate planning and administration from what I remember… I did get to help a local non-profit in town get their IRS penalties and fees reduced from several thousand to $0, so that was my feel-good moment during my short time there.

FAR - 79 (2x)
AUD - 81 (expired), 77!
REG - 74! omg (3x) 87!!!!!!! I'm done! OMG!
BEC - 81 (4x)

[keeptryng]

Great thread. Really informative.

REG-Passed
FAR-Passed
BEC- on my to do list
AUD-Passed

[Author]

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