The IRS might not be the most popular government agency, especially during tax season, but there’s one division that’s proving to be an undeniable powerhouse when it comes to fighting crime and bringing in big returns for the public: the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, or IRS-CI.
This team of financial crime investigators isn’t your typical group of accountants. They tackle some of the toughest cases out there, like tax fraud, money laundering, identity theft, and even national security threats. They go after drug traffickers, human traffickers, cybercriminals, and terrorist financiers. And they’re really good at it — last year, they had a 90% conviction rate.
A lot of people don’t even realize the IRS has its own law enforcement wing. And contrary to some rumors, the idea that the IRS hired 87,000 armed agents is completely false. In reality, IRS-CI has only around 3,400 employees — and they’ve never had more than about 3,500 special agents in their entire 105-year history.
This division has a serious track record, too. They helped take down notorious gangster Al Capone, cracked the Lindbergh baby kidnapping case, traced Saddam Hussein’s hidden money, and tracked Osama bin Laden’s financial network. In short, they go way beyond just tax returns.
But what really makes IRS-CI a great investment is the money they bring back. Every year, they recover billions of dollars through their investigations — money that goes back into public funds. In 2024 alone, their work led to over $7 billion in criminal assets being identified and more than $1.2 billion in assets seized. That money either went into government accounts or was returned to crime victims.
With an annual budget of around $920 million, you’d think hiring more of these special agents would be a no-brainer. But it’s not that simple. Investigating crimes is one thing — making sure there are enough prosecutors to handle those cases in court is another challenge entirely.
Beyond the dollars, IRS-CI plays a huge role in keeping financial crimes in check. Just knowing there’s a team of expert investigators ready to crack down on tax evasion and fraud makes people think twice before breaking the law. That kind of deterrence saves money, prevents future crimes, and keeps the system fair for everyone.
The U.S. tax system depends on voluntary compliance — people paying what they owe without being forced. But that only works if people trust the system. If they think others are getting away with cheating, that trust crumbles. IRS-CI helps maintain that trust by showing that no one is above the law.
The division’s impact goes even further when they team up with other law enforcement agencies to tackle big, cross-border crimes like organized crime, drug trafficking, and cybercrime. In 2024, about 29% of their investigative work focused on non-tax crimes, leading to more than 1,100 prosecution recommendations and nearly 1,000 convictions.
With financial crimes becoming more complex every year, cutting back on IRS-CI would be a costly mistake. Investing in this division isn’t just about catching tax cheats — it’s about protecting the integrity of the entire financial system and making sure everyone plays by the rules. And when the payoff is billions in recovered funds and a fairer, safer economy, that’s an investment worth making.
