IRS Criminal Investigation
financial crimes investigation division of the IRS
Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the United States federal law enforcement agency responsible for investigating potential criminal violations of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code and related financial crimes, such as money laundering, currency transaction violations, tax-related identity theft fraud and terrorist financing that adversely affect tax administration. While other federal agencies also have investigative jurisdiction for money laundering and some Bank Secrecy Act violations, IRS-CI is the only federal agency that can investigate potential criminal violations of the Internal Revenue Code, in a manner intended to foster confidence in the tax system and deter violations of tax law. Criminal Investigation is a division of the Internal Revenue Service, which in turn is a bureau within the United States Department of the Treasury.
According to information on the IRS web site, the conviction rate for federal tax prosecutions has never fallen below 90 percent. The IRS asserts that their conviction rate is among the highest and that it is a record that is unmatched in federal law enforcement. According to the 2019 annual report, 1500 investigations were initiated by IRS-CI, with 942 prosecutions recommended and 848 sentenced.
IRS-CI is a founding member of the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement, a global joint operational group formed in mid-2018 to combat transnational tax crime. IRS-CI is also a member agency of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, a federal drug enforcement program concerned with the disruption of major drug trafficking operations and related crimes, such as money laundering, tax and weapon violations and violent crime.
History
On July 1, 1919, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Daniel C. Roper created the Intelligence Unit to investigate widespread allegations of tax fraud. To establish the Intelligence Unit, six United States Post Office Inspectors were transferred to the Bureau of Internal Revenue to become the first special agents of the organization that would one day become Criminal Investigation.
“IRS Criminal Investigation” enters the record as financial crimes investigation division of the IRS. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Criminal, Investigation and financial can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“IRS Criminal Investigation” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Criminal, Investigation and financial provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5973599. VIAF identifies the subject as 130189734. The Library of Congress control number is n80159376. 1 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2019, 1500, 2018 and 1919.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “IRS Criminal Investigation”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow IRS Criminal Investigation primary sources, IRS Criminal Investigation archive and Criminal research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “IRS Criminal Investigation”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “IRS Criminal Investigation” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.