Key Takeaways
- So there are two answers to this question.
- Number one is “What does the IRS criminal investigation process look like from the IRS site?” and number two “What does it look like?” So from the IRS side of things, the criminal investigation pro…
- The IRS doesn’t just sit in their office and pick people at random to initiate criminal investigations.
So there are two answers to this question. Number one is “What does the IRS criminal investigation process look like from the IRS site?” and number two “What does it look like?” So from the IRS side of things, the criminal investigation process begins with a referral. The IRS doesn’t just sit in their office and pick people at random to initiate criminal investigations. What usually happens is a referral will come into the criminal investigative unit either through an audit or through a collections officer or through a whistleblower or through some other third party government investigation. So CI will take that lead and they’ll examine the information that’s being presented in the referral and then decide whether they want to devote investigative resources to looking at that case or not. If they do decide that they want to devote investigative resources then CI invokes on a fact-finding mission. So CID cases take many years to build in a lot of cases and so what they’re doing is they’re constantly looking for information. They’re trying to develop a case and the goal is when CI puts a case in the hands of a United States attorney, that US attorney has every tool they need in order to secure a conviction. So CI agents take their time. They’re very meticulous, they’re very careful and it’s only after they take great care and caution that they let their investigation be known to the public or to the subject or target of that investigation. The client may or may not be aware that CI is involved.
