The Internal Revenue Service is mulling how to spend its new $80 billion in funds, but taxpayers shouldn’t expect a sudden, dramatic increase in the number of special agents who investigate criminal tax matters.
A portion of the money will likely go to the Criminal Investigation division, which probes possible criminal tax code violations and also works with other agencies to investigate money laundering, terrorist financing, and drug-related cases. At most, the division can hire several hundred special agents annually, and any new hiring will be partially offset by retirements and other attrition, current and former CI officials said.
The ...