STUDENTS GET HANDS-ON WITH THE IRS posted 2/12/04
Program enters third year; first place in country where it took place

Think the IRS, and you probably think tax time. But for a few Adrian College students, it makes them think of Saturday, Feb. 21, when the IRS will teach them about how to bust criminals.

Special agents from the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS—the same organization that snagged Al Capone for tax evasion—is assigning several of its special agents to simulate crime scenarios during a one-day seminar on campus. Criminal justice and accounting students will then team up to try to solve the crimes.

The simulation might start with a crumpled tax form in a bag of trash, or maybe an anonymous phone call. This might lead the student investigators to an interview with a suspicious banker or lawyer, played by a hard-nosed special agent.

“It will be like real life,” says Stephen Moore of the IRS. “They’ll lie, and the students will have to ask the right questions.”

If the students keep their wits and hold up under the stress, they might discover tax evasion, or money laundering.

The program took place for the first time in 2002. This collaboration between the IRS and Adrian was the first ever, and has been expanded to other colleges since then. It is part of a continuing effort by the IRS to show that the agency works in ways that people don’t usually think about. During the day, students will learn how both criminal justice and accounting are keys to this type of law enforcement.