http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/0406IRS0406.html

Valley IRS recruiting more help Bonuses offered for accountants

Russ Wiles The Arizona Republic Apr. 6, 2006 12:00 AM

It doesn't have the same allure as "Join the Navy, see the world," but the Internal Revenue Service is offering special $5,000 bonuses for people accepting certain jobs in Phoenix.

The federal tax-collection agency said it will pay the bonuses to people with accounting backgrounds willing to work in Phoenix and other "hard-to-fill locations."

The bonuses apply to people who agree to serve as "revenue agents" or auditors in the IRS' small-business/self-employed division, where the agency has identified tax underreporting as a problem.

"We've had difficulty recruiting" in the Phoenix area, said Bill Brunson, an IRS spokesman, without elaborating on the reasons. The agency employs more than 550 people in three Valley offices.

The IRS is seeking hundreds of revenue agents nationally and an unspecified number in the Valley.

"They review taxpayer books and ledgers and assess a tax if due," Brunson said, adding that agents in the small business/self-employed unit also examine some individual taxpayers, tax-exempt organizations such as charities and certain government agencies such as tribal organizations.

The positions pay $28,000 to $77,000, depending on work experience and other qualifications, excluding the bonuses, he said. Applicants must be U.S. citizens and should have a four-year college degree and 30 semester hours in accounting or related business classes. To apply, visit careerconnector.jobs.irs.gov.

Half of the $5,000 bonuses will be paid up front and the rest after one year of employment, Brunson said.

The IRS currently is riding a cycle of relatively generous funding from Congress. In addition, the increasing auditing demands from the Sarbanes-Oxley Act have created a boom for accountants, said Charles Christian, director of the School of Accountancy at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

"This is the strongest market for accounting graduates that I've seen," Christian said, "so it doesn't surprise me that they're having to pay more."

Christian said Phoenix has seen significant growth in demand for accountants but otherwise couldn't cite a specific reason for the IRS bonuses.

Other IRS offices offering the bonuses are Boston; Las Vegas; St. Paul, Minn.; two Connecticut cities; and 14 California cities.

The IRS has made public its plans to increase enforcement and expand audits of small businesses and self-employed people. It's part of an effort to close a roughly $300billion gap between what the IRS believes these taxpayers owe and what the agency collects.

"They're stepping up their manpower, putting more resources into actually doing it," said Armando Roman, a certified public accountant in Phoenix who cites S-corporations and limited-liability companies as two areas drawing increased IRS scrutiny.

Congressional hearings on the small-business tax gap and IRS efforts to address it are being held in Washington, D.C., this week.

Reach the reporter at (602) 444-8616.