IRS Hiring Hundreds of Revenue Agents to Conduct Taxpayer Audits

The IRS announced Tuesday that it is hiring 470 revenue agents to focus on auditing individual and business tax returns.

The revenue agents will work in the IRS’s Small Business/Self Employed Division and will be tasked with examining returns and identifying potential tax fraud and abusive transactions. They will audit a number of types of taxpayers, including sole proprietorships, small corporations, partnerships, and fiduciaries, the agency said.

• The hiring push comes after the IRS saw a reduction in the size of its workforce over the past decade, notably in enforcement, as a result of budget cuts. The IRS ...