In April, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said it was looking to hire special agents who carry guns and make arrests with jobs available in all 50 states.
The law enforcement branch of the IRS, known as the Criminal Investigation (CI) division, was hiring for the role at locations in all 50 states. IRS special agents within the CI division are the only IRS employees who are authorized by law to carry and use firearms. IRS-CI investigates financial crimes, money laundering, tax-related identity theft and terrorist financing efforts.
Under the posting’s “major duties” section, the IRS says that special agents “Carry a firearm; must be prepared to protect him/herself or others from physical attacks at any time and without warning and use firearms in life-threatening situations; must be willing to use force up to and including the use of deadly force.”
Additionally, IRS-CI special agents must be “willing and able to participate in arrests, execution of search warrants, and other dangerous assignments.” It adds that special agents need to maintain “a level of fitness necessary to effectively respond to life-threatening situations on the job.”
Fast Forward
Dozens of armed Internal Revenue Service agents clad in tactical gear raided Elite Payroll Solutions in Stuart, Florida, July 12, according to a WFLX report. At least 25 to 30 IRS agents in tactical gear executed a search warrant at a business in Stuart, Florida, last week, according to Fox 29.
“IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agents were at the address of Elite Payroll Solutions on 7/12/2023 on official business,” IRS special agent Darline Toussaint, the public information officer for the agency’s Miami field office, said in a written statement to WFLX.
Witnesses said 20-30 undercover cars started pulling into the location around 9:30 in the morning. “It was like a scene from a movie, it was like what! Then they all started coming out. They had the big gear, tactical gear.”
When asked, local passers-by said they had never seen anything suspicious – just regular employees coming and going to work.