I Was an IRS Agent — Here’s What They Don’t Tell You | Brian Watson

Locked In with Ian Bick

Ian Bick

Society & Culture

4.8 • 743 Ratings

🗓️ 8 February 2026

⏱️ 93 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Brian Watson spent over 20 years as a special agent in the IRS Criminal Investigation Division. In this episode, he explains how he got into the IRS, what the job is really like, and how criminal tax evasion cases are built from start to finish. Brian breaks down common myths about the IRS, how payroll tax cases work, what restitution actually means for defendants, and how investigations move from audits to criminal charges. This conversation offers a rare inside look at IRS criminal enforcement from someone who spent decades inside the system. _____________________________________________ #IRS #TrueCrime #GovernmentSecrets #Whistleblower #InsideTheSystem #RealStories #LockedIn #podcast _____________________________________________ Thank you to PRIZEPICKS for sponsoring this episode: Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/IANBICK and use code IANBICK and get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup! _____________________________________________ Connect with Brian Watson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-watson-625532179 _____________________________________________ Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ _____________________________________________ Shop Locked In Merch: http://www.ianbick.com/shop _____________________________________________ Timestamps: 00:00 How Major Tax Evasion Gets Flagged 00:57 Inside the IRS Criminal Investigation Division 02:57 What IRS Special Agents Actually Do 06:36 An Unlikely Path to Becoming an IRS Agent 12:13 IRS Special Agent Training & Academy Life 16:13 The Reality of Criminal Tax Cases 20:21 How Tax Evasion Cases Really Begin 23:43 Following the Money: Real Case Examples 29:09 Technology, Digital Payments & Modern Crime 31:58 Cash Businesses, Informants & Undercover Work 34:50 Money Laundering Explained Simply 36:33 Crypto, Digital Payments & Financial Trails 39:52 Building & Organizing Financial Crime Cases 43:00 Managing Multiple Investigations at Once 45:44 Payroll Fraud, Cash Wages & Tax Violations 49:47 The $10,000 Rule, Banks & Structuring Crimes 53:38 Casinos, Reporting Requirements & Paper Trails 56:17 Working Joint Cases With Other Federal Agencies 01:00:34 Celebrity Cases, Media Pressure & Reality 01:04:17 Financial Damage & Empathy for Defendants 01:07:39 Asset Seizures, Restitution & What Rarely Gets Recovered 01:10:12 Preventing Internal IRS Fraud & Embezzlement 01:15:04 When Managers or Accountants Commit Tax Crimes 01:18:48 IRS Myths vs. the Human Side of Investigations 01:21:51 Do the Wealthy Actually Pay Their Taxes? 01:24:13 State Tax Agencies & Federal Coordination 01:25:04 Reflections on the Criminal Justice System 01:29:00 Biggest Lessons & Advice for Students 01:31:13 Final Thoughts & Closing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	We're looking for just egregious stuff. Ultimately, you want stuff that's into the hundreds of
0:04.1	thousands or even millions of dollars of unreported income. How did these tax evasion cases first come on
0:09.7	your radar? The guy wins Survivor, a million dollars, and then somehow files are tax
0:14.4	trend that doesn't report it. Do you find that juries are more sympathetic to the cases where it's just
0:18.9	someone deliberately not paying their taxes and there's
0:21.2	no victims other than, say, the government. The biggest money laundering is you've got to have that
0:24.9	SUA, a specified unlawful activity. Got to be dirty money. What do you think is the biggest misconception
0:29.9	of the IRS? There's people that are an elected office in this country that don't pay taxes.
0:34.6	My guest today spent over 20 years as a special agent in the IRS criminal
0:39.1	investigation division. We're breaking down how tax evasion cases actually work, how people get
0:44.4	caught, the biggest myths about the IRS, and what really happens once a case turns criminal.
0:50.4	This is the inside of the IRS that most people never hear about.
1:06.0	So many people, and myself included, had no idea there was even a criminal investigation division in the IRS, let alone agents.
1:11.4	I told that clip about how my house was rated by IRS agents. And they said, no, that's not true.
1:17.8	That's a lie. But there are. It's interesting. I spent my whole career trying to tell people who we were because here's the issue. IRS is a large agency. Anywhere, you know, it fluctuates between
1:24.6	60 and 80,000 employees. An IRS criminal investigation, my former agency
1:30.6	is a law enforcement agency within the IRS. And we have about 2,100 special agents right now,
1:38.5	total of maybe 3,000 when you include professional staff. And, but we're just a small sliver of the IRS.
1:46.2	Now, there's been talk of always like separating us, taking us out.
1:51.2	We would be the sixth largest federal agency.
1:55.4	But, you know, most famous for Al Capone.
1:57.5	Like that's our heyday.
	...

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