Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents
Determine tax liability or collect taxes from individuals or business firms according to prescribed laws and regulations.
Most important skills
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Writing
- Mathematics
- Active Learning
- Monitoring
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Mathematics
- Administrative
- Law and Government
- Economics and Accounting
- Administration and Management
- Computers and Electronics
What the work involves
- Maintain records for each case, including contacts, telephone numbers, and actions taken.
- Confer with taxpayers or their representatives to discuss the issues, laws, and regulations involved in returns, and to resolve problems with returns.
- Contact taxpayers by mail or telephone to address discrepancies and to request supporting documentation.
- Send notices to taxpayers when accounts are delinquent.
- Notify taxpayers of any overpayment or underpayment, and either issue a refund or request further payment.
- Answer questions from taxpayers and assist them in completing tax forms.
- Collect taxes from individuals or businesses according to prescribed laws and regulations.
- Maintain knowledge of tax code changes, and of accounting procedures and theory to properly evaluate financial information.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Enterprising, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (33.6% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (40.8%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months (34.8%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 60% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 91% of occupations compared | 53% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Moderate | Lower on teamwork than 54% of occupations compared | — |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 51% of occupations compared | — |
| Time pressure | Low | Lower on time pressure than 60% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Lower on conflict situations than 54% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 86% of occupations compared | 32% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Consequence of error | Moderate | Lower on consequence of error than 54% of occupations compared | 26% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: low
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: moderate
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 13.34%
- Contact with others most of the time: 21.22%
- Constant contact with others: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 0.26%
- Very important: 46.63%
- Extremely important: 53.1%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2022
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 13.4%
- Important: 2.88%
- Very important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2022
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0.24%
- Very little freedom: 0.24%
- Limited freedom: 24.34%
- Some freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- A lot of freedom: 37.1%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2022
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 15.83%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 35.79%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 7.03%
- Every day: 41.35%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2022
Conflict situations
- Never: 28.94%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a week or more but not every day: 23.86%
- Every day: 5.62%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 3.12%
- Once a year or more but not every month: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a month or more but not every week: 20.91%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 22.93%
- Every day: 32.36%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2022
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 26.29%
- Fairly serious: 13.13%
- Serious: 23.32%
- Very serious: 18.24%
- Extremely serious: 19.03%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2022
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O*NET-SOC 13-2081.00 · SOC 13-2081 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8