By KELSEY SWANEKAMP
Buffalo Law Journal

For some, working at the IRS is anything but a desk job.

Instead, going to work means knocking on doors, carrying a firearm or empathizing with audited taxpayers.

Tim Shanahan, a special agent, said that he'd always planned to go into federal law enforcement and discovered that working with the IRS was an ideal complement to his degree in accounting.

He investigates criminal violations of the Internal Revenue Code and related financial crimes, such as money laundering.

In 2004, the IRS collected $2 trillion in revenue and processed 224 million tax returns. The agency is the second-largest U.S. government agency, with 100,000 employees.

"I like the complexity of the crimes that we investigate," Shanahan said.

And his position allows to him to do things that a public accountant cannot - like carry a firearm, execute search warrents, perform surveillance and make arrests.

"There are definitely things you wouldn't get a chance to do in private practice," he said.

Dan McIntyre spent several years filing tax returns for clients as a public accountant before joining up with the IRS. Now he performs audits on small businesses as a revenue agent.

After reviewing the returns, McIntyre visits the businesses to complete onsite interviews and look for inconsistencies between the papers filed and the actual business operations.

"I always had a natural curiousity," said McIntyre. "I felt my skills would work well here."

McIntyre also made the switch over to the IRS because the regulated hours and structured work schedule gave him a work-life balance that he thought was conducive to starting a family.

While some people appear to be intimidated by him or anxious about the audit, McIntyre said he tries to ease their concerns by explaining the process.

"People sometimes feel like they're being picked on" when selected for an audit, he said.

Still, the process can become adversarial when a taxpayer chooses to be uncooperative.

"Every audit brings a new adventure," he said. "You're always coming across something that you've never seen before."

In his job as revenue officer, Brian Picariello goes out and knocks on doors of people and businesses delinquent in their tax payments.

Like McIntyre, Picariello said the job is always changing - and challenging.

"Every day is different," he said. "I'm not just sitting in my office all day."

While he hasn't had any bizarre experiences at the homes of taxpayers, other officers, he said, "have had people coming to the door nude."

Mostly, though, people's reactions to his visits vary from angry to scared.

"You have people who are pretty much crying and breaking down and telling you their life story," he said.

Currently on detail as a recruiter for the government agency, Picariello is quick to point to job security - especially in today's economy - as the number-one benefit of his work with the IRS.

"You will always have a job - we don't lay off, we don't close," he said.