BLS Symposium of the US Statistical Agencies
Career Choices in Statistics:
Statistics of Income Division, IRS
M. Susan Boehmer, Director
November 13, 2013
SOI History and Mission
The Revenue Act of 1916
requires the Secretary of the
Treasury to publish statistics on
the operations of the tax system,
at least annually (Internal
Revenue Code Section 6108(a))
Statistics of Income Mission
To collect, analyze, and disseminate
information on federal taxation for the
Treasury Department’s Office of Tax
Analysis, Congressional Committees, the
Internal Revenue Service in its
administration of the tax laws, other
organizations engaged in economic and
financial analysis, and for the general
public.
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SOI’s Customers
Congressional
Federal Reserve
Board of Governors
Joint Committee
on Taxation
Government
Accountability
Office
National
Agricultural
Research Service
State government
agencies
Department of
Commerce’s Bureau
of Economic Analysis
& Census Bureau
Treasury Office
of Tax Analysis
IRS business
units
SOI
Uses of data (OTA, JCT, BEA):
• Tax policy, economic, and demographic research
• Microsimulation models and revenue estimation
• Estimate business profits in the national accounts
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Academia
Data Collection Operations
OGDEN
KANSAS CITY
Hub Site
Programming
Edit Return Data
Edit
Return Data
FRESNO
WASHINGTON DC
Edit
Return Data
SOI Division
Headquarters
CINCINNATI
AUSTIN
Edit
Return Data
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Hub Site
Programming
Edit Return Data
How SOI is Different From Other FedStat
Agencies
• Unlike agencies that collect data through censuses
and surveys, SOI collects its data from the
administrative records created from its processing of
tax and information returns.
• An administrative record is “collected and maintained
for the purpose of taking actions on or controlling
actions of an individual person or other entity.”
The American Association’s Ad Hoc Committee
on Privacy and Confidentiality (1977)
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SOI’s Staff
National Office Staff: 138
Economist: 44
IT Specialists: 49
Mathematical Statisticians: 13
Statisticians: 17
Others: Management and Program
Analysts; Visual Information
Specialists; Writer-Editors and
Secretary: 15
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Job Qualifications
Mathematical
_________ __Statistician
_____ ______
Economist
Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree
_ _______ _______ ___ ___________
that includes:
Applicant must have a bachelor’s degree
that includes:
a. 24 semester hours of mathematics and
statistics,
of which
at least _
12 _____
semester
___
_______
_________
__
hours were in mathematics and 6
__semester
_______
____________
hours
were in statistics. OR
a. At least 21 semester hours in
economics and 3 semester hours in
statistics, accounting, or calculus. OR
___________ __ _______ ________ ___
_________ ___ _______ ______
b. Combination of education and experience
-- at least
24 semester
hours of __ ___
______
__ ___
______________
mathematics and statistics, including at
___
____
_____in_____________
least
12 hours
mathematics and 6
hours in__
statistics,
as shown
above, plus
_______
________
___ _________
appropriate experience or additional
________
education.___ ___ ___ _______ ______
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b. Combination of education and
experience: courses equivalent to a
major in economics, as shown above,
plus appropriate experience or additional
education.
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Questions & Answers
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Thank you!
For more information about SOI, contact:
Statistics of Income Division
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.irs.gov/taxstats
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