If an IRS Criminal Investigation (CID) Special Agent contacts you — in person, by phone, or by letter — do not speak with them. Politely take their card, decline to answer questions, and contact a criminal tax attorney before doing anything else.

To be clear: CID is not the same as the audit division or the collections division. CID Special Agents are federal law enforcement officers. They are armed. They investigate federal tax crimes for referral to the Department of Justice Tax Division for prosecution. A CID contact is not a billing dispute. It is a criminal investigation.

How to Confirm It Is Really CID

Ask to see two pieces of ID: a CID pocket commission (with a photo and badge number) and a HSPD-12 PIV card. The badge will say Internal Revenue Service — Criminal Investigation. CID Special Agents typically work in pairs — if only one agent shows up, that is unusual and worth noting.

Anyone who claims to be CID but cannot produce both credentials is not CID — it is a scam or impersonation. If you are unsure, end the conversation, take down any details, and call the IRS Treasury Inspector General Tax Administration (TIGTA) to verify.

What to Say (Almost Nothing)

Do not explain anything. Do not deny anything. Do not say “it was a mistake” or “my accountant did it” or anything else that sounds exculpatory. Every statement to a CID Special Agent can be used as evidence. Lying to a federal agent is a separate crime under 18 U.S.C. §1001. Silence is not.

What to Do Within 24-48 Hours

1. Write down everything you remember. Who showed up, when, where, what they said, what you said, what documents they presented. Do this within hours, while memory is fresh. This document is privileged communication to your attorney.
2. Do not destroy any documents. Destroying documents after a criminal investigation begins is obstruction of justice (18 U.S.C. §1519) and a separate felony.
3. Do not contact anyone CID may interview. Witness tampering is a separate crime (18 U.S.C. §1512). Do not call your accountant, partner, or bookkeeper to coordinate stories. Treat any such conversation as material the government will eventually see.
4. Engage criminal tax counsel. Criminal tax defense is a specialty — not all tax attorneys handle it, and not all criminal defense attorneys handle tax cases. See our criminal tax practice page and our criminal tax defense cost page for what the engagement involves.

Why the First Conversation Matters

CID Special Agents are trained interviewers. The first conversation is structured to either confirm what they already know or get statements that can be used to corroborate other evidence. There is no “clearing it up” in the hallway.

By the time CID makes contact, the investigation has typically been running for months. They have already pulled bank records, IRS account transcripts, and third-party documents. They know more than they are showing you. Whatever you say in the first conversation is being measured against what they already know.

The clients who walk away from CID investigations without charges almost always have one thing in common: they did not talk to the agent. The clients who get charged often gave a statement they later wished they had not.

What Happens Next

After a contact, the typical path is:

• You engage counsel. Counsel files a notice of appearance with the agent. From that point forward, CID communicates with counsel, not with you.
• Counsel evaluates the case. Pull transcripts. Identify the years and issues. Assess where the investigation appears to be in its lifecycle. Sometimes the right move is to stay quiet and let the case fade. Sometimes the right move is to engage early with proffer discussions. Fact-dependent.
• If a grand jury target letter arrives, the case has moved to a different phase. We respond formally, often with a written submission, and prepare for potential indictment or non-prosecution discussions with the DOJ Tax Division.
• If voluntary disclosure is still viable, we evaluate. The window for VD typically closes once CID is actively investigating, but the timing is fact-specific.

This is one of the few areas of tax law where doing nothing in the first 48 hours can be the right move — as long as “doing nothing” means “not talking to CID” while “doing everything” in terms of engaging counsel and preserving documents.