General Attorney; Tax - Honors Program

Overview

With nearly 1,700 attorneys, IRS Chief Counsel is the largest tax law firm nationwide. Our attorneys are among top tax law practitioners and some of the very best legal minds found anywhere. Together with the IRS, we serve the public by applying the tax code with fairness and integrity. After pausing hiring in 2025, we now seek new law graduates and experienced attorneys to join us.

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Who May Apply:

• Law School Students or Recent Law School Graduates who are eligible for participation in the IRS Chief Counsel Honors Program AND who have been admitted to a State Bar:

• Students pursuing a Tax LL.M. who will graduate from an ABA accredited law school by the Graduation Requirement Date:
  September 30, 2026 OR
• Recent Law School Graduates from an ABA accredited law school who within 9 months of graduating law school began participating in eligibility preserving activities.
• Law school graduates who received their J.D. prior to October 1, 2022, are ineligible.

Eligibility Preserving Activities are defined as: Full-time activities starting after law school graduation that can preserve a law school graduate's eligibility for the Honors Program. The following are eligibility preserving activities: judicial clerkships, tax or accounting-related graduate programs (including Tax LL.M. programs) or qualifying legal fellowships. Qualifying legal fellowships must have a formal sponsor (e.g., a public service organization, a foundation, a bar association, a corporation, a law school, etc.),

an established legal mission (e.g., purpose, type of work), and be publicly advertised as a fellowship at the time the candidate applied to the fellowship.

• Breaks between consecutive eligibility preserving activities cannot exceed 120 days.
• Participation in the eligibility preserving activity must be active through at least December 1 of the program year (may run later).

Basic Requirements for Honors General Attorney (Tax):

• Possess at least the first professional law degree (J.D.) from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association; AND
• Applicants must be an active member in good standing of the bar of a State, U.S. Commonwealth, U.S. territory, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

To qualify for the Honors General Attorney (Tax) at the GS-12 grade level
, you must be a J.D. graduate with one year of legal experience OR a LL.M. candidate/graduate. In addition, you must meet one of the following by the closing date of the announcement:

• A class ranking in the top 25% of J.D. program AND/OR a J.D. cumulative GPA of 3.35 or higher OR
• A class ranking in the top 25% of your class in the LL.M. program AND/OR a LL.M. cumulative GPA of 3.25 or higher OR
• If neither J.D. nor LL.M. program has class rank or GPA, a minimum LSAT of 160 is required.

To qualify for the Honors General Attorney (Tax) at the GS-13 grade level
, you must be a J.D. graduate with two years of legal experience OR a LL.M. candidate/graduate with one year of legal experience. In addition, you must meet one of the following by the closing date of the announcement:

• A class ranking in the top 25% of J.D. program AND/OR a J.D. cumulative GPA of 3.35 or higher.
• A class ranking in the top 25% of your class in the LL.M. program AND/OR a LL.M. cumulative GPA of 3.25 or higher.
• If neither J.D. nor LL.M. program has class rank or GPA, a minimum LSAT of 160 is required.

Legal Experience is defined as judicial clerkships or qualifying legal fellowships. Qualifying legal fellowships must have a formal sponsor (e.g., a public service organization, a foundation, a bar association, a corporation, a law school, etc.), an established legal mission (e.g., purpose, type of work), and be publicly advertised as a fellowship at the time the candidate applied to the fellowship. At least one year of this experience must be equivalent to the work performed at the next lower grade/level in the federal service for the position in which you are applying.



Note:

Only experience gained after Bar Admission may be credited as Legal Experience.

Education Substitution: A LL.M. degree in the field of the position (tax or P&A- FOIA/Disclosure related field) may be substituted for the one year of the general legal experience listed above.

Attributes of an Ideal Candidate are:

• Special high-level recognition for academic excellence in law school, such as selection to Order of the Coif or receipt of the American Jurisprudence Award in related courses; or top grades in tax or related course work (e.g., "A" grades in tax courses);
• Evidence of background or experience in the position to be filled, such as taking relevant law school classes (e.g., tax law, bankruptcy/debtor creditor law, administrative law) or relevant legal or tax experience (e.g., tax legal experience) or relevant tax volunteer experience (e.g., VITA, Tax Clinic);
• Work or achievement in the…