[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?

[Minimorty]

The IRS had nothing better to do than pick on a small nonprofit? Glad you took it to them.

It's really all about who you know. I am good friends with a managing director of the firm I started with out of college. He gave me an opportunity and I thrived. I just built upon it from there, I always continue to learn new things and push myself, and here I am now. Time flies.

Now you have me thinking about law again. Lol.

[Anonymous]

Personally, I would like to work for the IRS. Not everyone works as a revenue agent. There are people who prepare free returns for those who qualify; customer service reps; IT people; etc.

The only thing is that in order to work for the IRS, one thing they do is audit the last 3 years of your tax returns, prior to employment. This is their SOP for hiring people, so make sure your returns are up to date.

[Anonymous]

@Minimorty – From what I notice, you are a very negative individual. I can tell that you love to argue, put others down, and brag about yourself. Are you really married w two kids under three years old? Are these the type of values you instill in your children? So sad! Boasting about yourself and acting like you're better than everyone is not going to get you very far in life. You should be thankful and HUMBLE about the things you have because one day, it can all be taken away. U never know. BTW, you literally post in every single forum. Do you have a life? You are soooo consumed with this website. Girl you need an intervention…HAHAHA!

[makinthemagic]

I never worked for IRS but I did work for a muni govt agency. I would recommend avoiding all government employment unless you want to stay in govt until retirement. I found a lot of private sector interviewers skeptical that my skills would translate to private industry (they did) and assumed I was a lazy, union organizing, govt employee (I'm not). I'd also avoid state/muni governments right now as there are job losses, pay and benefit cuts going on in many states/locals. I don't know if they will be a good deal in the future. I don't feel the same way about Federal employment fwiw. Also, govt organizations tend to exhibit the most maddening qualities of large organizations. YMMV but don't jump in unless you know you want it.

Bec 4/11/11 91
Aud 7/11/11 75
Reg 8/31/11 80
Far 5/24/11 86
Ethics - 98
California Licensed CPA
Illinois Registered CPA

[kmwgrace]

Wow… someone asked a simple question seeking career advice and this thread devolved into name-calling and arguments. I opened it because I too have thought about going the IRS route once I'm done with school and I thought you good folks might provide some informative, productive insight. A few of you did, so thanks.

Mini FWIW I didn't perceive that you were bragging at all. Someone asked you what your designations are and you answered them. I didn't even know there was a specialization in divorce-related stuff! (I don't think I could do that because I think divorce is really sad, but I can see how there would be a market for it and if you can handle it, more power to you!)

~ Kate... MTX!
CPA exam on hold while I homeschool my 6 year old!

[Anonymous]

I worked in the IRS in both low level department (lv5 mostly) and large department (Large business and international). I will tell you this: the IRS has real professionals as well as lazy worms.

In the low level department, even the managers are a group of nonsense makers. Let me give you these details:

-They changed my team management in a sudden, and a manager who didn't know about what my team was doing came and managed us. When there was a decision that must be made, he said “why don't you ask cycgundam (my name-I was the lead)?”

-Managers played, joked, and even flirted with each other. Also other group managers liked to take a seat in my team's business (even the birthday party, which they weren't even related). I guess that they were just too boring and had nothing to do.

-My duty hour was from 4 pm to 1 am. But the IRS system shut down at 00:00. The entire department actually couldn't do anything after 12 am. So there would be chatting, partying, and laughing. The IRS paid us 20 bucks a hour to play with each other for 1 hour every working day.

However, in the LBI department, things change. Employees in this department are sometimes lazy too, but they are real-life professionals. Someone of them come from big 4 or big law firms. They may feel a release and gain work/life balance but their working schedules don't change after transferring to the government agencies. I came with one agent to the field one day. The guy showed up in 7:30 am in the morning and well suited. We went to a large corporation to do tax audit. We dealt with tax professionals from KPMG. I couldn't reveal too many details but I could tell you this: the IRS large business agents are really good. I also had a chance to work with a tax attorney in a tax controversy with a large insurance company (very famous one). During the meeting, the director of that insurance company worked up and charged the IRS for something (weird). That tax attorney sooner figured the situation out and subdued the director in a professional way. Then the director calmed him down and apologized to us.

Let me be clear. Some government agencies have to deal with large corporations, and somethings they are on a different side of a table. The common sense is that to fight a strong enemy, one must be strong. So the higher level (titles, skills, or influence) you stay at, the more you witness about the true power of the IRS. If you think that the IRS agents are lazy, it pretty much tells me that you are not a big role in your company, firm, or profession (no offense).

[Author]

Replies