IRS Beefs Up Large Business Division With 1,800 New Hires

The IRS division focused on large companies and high net worth individuals has grown by 1,800 employees in the last fiscal year, said Holly Paz, acting commissioner of the Large Business and International division.

“I do think taxpayers will see a benefit in the hiring as far as the currency and efficiency of their exams,” Paz said during a Tuesday fireside chat at the Tax Executives Institute Audits & Appeals Seminar in Virginia.

The growth comes after the agency received billions of dollars in funding from the Democrats’ 2022 tax-and-climate law. It’s about a 40% increase in employees compared to its staff of 4,615 in January 2023. Paz said the agency is continuing to hire into the next fiscal year.

The division is focused on hiring across different specialties to avoid delaying audits if there’s not a person available with expertise in certain areas, Paz said.

Experienced agents are training new hires in short spurts to avoid slowing down ongoing audits, Paz said. That may mean they leave a case for a few weeks to lead training classes, rather than doing training full time.