Tax Law Specialist
Drawn directly from OPM FedScope (June 2026), this page tracks headcount, average salary, tenure, and pay comparison for the Tax Law Specialist occupation series (code 0987).
The verdict
Tax Law Specialist is a smaller, specialized federal occupation: 337 employees (0.0% of the federal civilian workforce) in the Legal and Kindred Group family. At an average salary of $152,902 it pays well above the federal average, and headcount edged down from the prior period.
- Headcount change
- -0.3%
- Pay change
- -0.1%
- Avg tenure
- 18.5 yrs
- Rank in family
- #13 of 18
What the Numbers Say About Tax Law Specialist
Headcount moved down versus the prior period, though at this small a headcount, year-to-year swings can reflect a handful of hires or departures rather than a broad hiring trend. Pay moved down between the two reporting periods, a small shift, within the range of normal year-to-year rounding rather than a broad pay-table change. On length of service, this series shows a long average tenure, typical of career federal roles where employees stay through much of a full career before retirement.
Tax Law Specialist sits inside the Legal and Kindred Group family (code 09), which contains 18 related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Tax Law Specialist postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Legal and Kindred Group family. Across the Legal and Kindred Group family, 110,958 employees work in 18 occupations; Tax Law Specialist is 0.3% of that headcount.
Salary context · rich-pay series
How Tax Law Specialist pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$152,902
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
+30.3%
Where Tax Law Specialist ranks on rich federal pay
Tax Law Specialist earns more on average than 89% of federal occupation series (484 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Tax Law Specialist sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Tax Law Specialist.
Related Occupations in Legal and Kindred Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Attorney | 35,986 | $177,921 | 13.6 yrs |
| Contact Representative | 29,201 | $64,454 | 9.3 yrs |
| Veterans Claims Examining | 18,099 | $92,511 | 13.3 yrs |
| General Legal and Kindred Administration | 8,711 | $82,876 | 12.3 yrs |
| Paralegal Specialist | 5,165 | $107,719 | 15.8 yrs |
| Legal Assistance | 3,326 | $69,159 | 12.5 yrs |
| Hearings and Appeals | 3,231 | n/a | 15.9 yrs |
| Passport and Visa Examining | 2,035 | $92,682 | 11.3 yrs |
| Legal Instruments Examining | 1,261 | $73,021 | 11.7 yrs |
| Administrative Law Judge | 1,189 | $208,642 | 20.7 yrs |
Nationwide occupation series with similar scale or pay
Two peer sets for Tax Law Specialist outside the Legal and Kindred Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (337 here).
Similar rich average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($152,902 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Tax Law Specialist pay in context with the pay-rank chart above, then compare it with another occupation.
- Turn an average salary into a grade: the GS pay grade tables show how grades and steps map to pay.
- Browse the Legal and Kindred Group family occupations in the table above, or search current Tax Law Specialist postings on USAJOBS.
OPM FedScope and Federal Workforce Data figures are federal civilian headcounts, average salaries, and length-of-service statistics - not job-quality scores, hiring advice, or a live vacancy listing. A larger or higher-paid agency is not a better employer.