Tax Examining

What the Numbers Say About Tax Examining

As of the March 2025 reporting window, 15,215 people work in the Tax Examining occupation (OPM code 592) across federal agencies, 0.7% of the 2,289,472-strong federal civilian workforce. Headcount moved up by 3.8% from the prior period, a useful gauge for job seekers on USAJOBS trying to assess whether this role is expanding government-wide or contracting under hiring freezes and attrition.

Tax Examining pays $54,105 per year on average, 50.8% below the $109,869 federal civilian average, after moving up 1.8% from the prior period (a modest shift, consistent with routine locality pay and grade-level movement). Employees in this role stay an average of 9.9 years, a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career.

The Accounting and Budget Group family (code 5) groups Tax Examining together with 17 other related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Tax Examining postings should also review these sibling occupations, since federal hiring managers often cross-post positions across closely related codes when recruitment is difficult. All figures here come directly from OPM FedScope Employment Cubes, the same official source referenced in federal workforce planning, budget justifications, and GAO reports.

Tax Examining makes up 12.2% of the 124,386 employees across the Accounting and Budget Group family, ranking #3 of 18 occupations in that family by headcount. Its average salary ranks in the bottom half (11th percentile) of pay among Accounting and Budget Group occupations.