On June 1, 2022, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that it plans to hire 4,000 contact representatives. These contact representatives will provide much-needed assistance to taxpayers and businesses. Most of their work will be over the phone, but they may also assist through written correspondence or in-person. The IRS has a special, direct-hire authority for this hiring spree. It hopes to hire contact representatives bilingual in English and Spanish.

IRS Taxpayer Experience Officer and Wage and Investment Commissioner Ken Corbin stated, "The IRS continues to increase its workforce in 2022 to improve the taxpayer experience. We have a variety of jobs available all over the country. Contact representatives, among other things, deal directly with taxpayers by helping them with their tax obligations."

The new positions compensation will start at a GS-5 level. There will be openings for the day shift, the mid-shift and the swing shift in 22 cities, including Puerto Rico.

The IRS will host six virtual webinars to describe the qualifications and job duties for contact representatives. These webinars will also help applicants understand the hiring process. The webinars will be hosted on June 3, 7, 10, 14, 21 and 24. There also will be in-person events at Andover, MA; Atlanta, GA; Philadelphia, PA; Fresno, CA; Oakland, CA; Brookhaven, NY; Cincinnati, OH; Memphis, TN and Caguas, Puerto Rico. The IRS career page on IRS.gov has additional information on registration.

Job seekers are asked to provide two forms of identification, such as a driver's license, birth certificate, U.S. passport, military ID or Social Security card. The IRS representatives have authority make tentative job offers at in-person events to qualified candidates.

Editor's Note: The IRS is acknowledging a critical need for additional staff. Prior efforts to hire new staff have led to a small fraction of the new positions being filled. The IRS hopes that the new hires will be able to improve the historically low level of taxpayer phone service during the past year. The IRS is still working through a large paper backlog and needs thousands of new representatives to handle a fivefold increase in taxpayer requests for assistance.