Tax Specialist
Everything OPM FedScope (June 2026) reports about the Tax Specialist occupation series (code 0526): headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison.
The verdict
In the Accounting and Budget Group family, Tax Specialist counts 491 employees, a smaller, specialized federal occupation at 0.0% of the federal civilian workforce; pay averages $88,254, which pays below the federal-wide average.
- Headcount change
- 0.0%
- Pay change
- +0.1%
- Avg tenure
- 16.5 yrs
- Rank in family
- #15 of 18
What the Numbers Say About Tax Specialist
On pay, the move between reporting periods was 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. Headcount moved sideways 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.
Tax Specialist sits inside the Accounting and Budget Group family (code 05), which contains 18 related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Tax Specialist postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Accounting and Budget Group family. The Accounting and Budget Group family totals 86,835 employees, and Tax Specialist accounts for 0.6% of them.
Salary Context
How Tax Specialist pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$88,254
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
-24.8%
Where Tax Specialist ranks on federal pay
Tax Specialist earns more on average than 44% of federal occupation series (238 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Tax Specialist sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Tax Specialist.
Related Occupations in Accounting and Budget Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financial Administration and Program | 25,018 | $114,904 | 15.9 yrs |
| Budget Analysis | 12,255 | $131,861 | 16.8 yrs |
| Tax Examining | 10,631 | $56,610 | 10.9 yrs |
| Accounting | 8,731 | $145,658 | 16.1 yrs |
| Internal Revenue Agent | 7,678 | n/a | 13.6 yrs |
| Auditing | 5,808 | $144,351 | 17 yrs |
| Financial Clerical and Assistance | 5,304 | $56,817 | 10.7 yrs |
| Financial Institution Examining | 4,728 | $168,883 | 15.2 yrs |
| Accounting Technician | 1,754 | $61,366 | 12.3 yrs |
| Financial Management | 1,049 | $166,042 | 21.6 yrs |
Nationwide occupation series with similar scale or pay
Two peer sets for Tax Specialist outside the Accounting and Budget Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (491 here).
Similar average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($88,254 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Tax 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 Accounting and Budget Group family occupations in the table above, or search current Tax 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.