Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration Announces New Senior Leaders

Recently, J. Russell George, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), announced three new additions to the Agency’s senior leadership team, naming Heather M. Hill as the new Deputy Inspector General for Audit, Russell P. Martin as the new Deputy Inspector General for Inspections and Evaluations, and Trevor R. Nelson as the new Deputy Inspector General for Investigations.  

TIGTA was established in 1999 under the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, in order to provide independent oversight of Internal Revenue Service activities. As part of that mandate, TIGTA assumed most of the responsibilities of the IRS’s former Inspection Service, and focuses upon administration of the tax laws, detecting fraud and abuse in IRS operations, and protecting the IRS against external attempts to corrupt or threaten its employees, among other actions.

As Deputy Inspector General for Audit, Ms. Hill has been selected to lead the program that conducts independent oversight audits of the IRS itself. The announcement notes that TIGTA uses the results of such audits to make recommendations to improve Federal tax administration and address IRS management challenges in the areas of data and employee security, computer modernization, tax law compliance and complexity, human capital, and improper and erroneous payments. Ms. Hill has been with TIGTA since 2011, having previously served as Deputy Inspector General for Inspections and Evaluations, a position she held since November 2019. Before that, she served as TIGTA’s Assistant Inspector General for Audit, Management Services and Exempt Organizations and as the Director, Special Tax Matters for TIGTA’s Office of Inspections and Evaluations. Prior to joining TIGTA, Ms. Hill was an analyst at the Government Accountability Office, where she worked on a range of energy and agricultural issues as part of the Natural Resources and Environment team. She also led investigations into fraud and abuse of government programs, as part of the Forensic Audits and Special Investigations team.

As Deputy Inspector General for Inspections and Evaluations, Mr. Martin will oversee a team that performs quick reaction reviews, onsite inspections, and in-depth evaluations of major IRS functions, activities, and programs. Mr. Martin previously served as the Assistant Inspector General for Audit, Returns Processing and Account Services, a position he held since March 2013, where he was in charge of audits of the IRS’s customer service activities, outreach efforts, tax law implementation, taxpayer assistance, notices, and submission processing. Mr. Martin joined the IRS Inspection Service, TIGTA’s predecessor agency, in 1989 as an auditor in Andover, MA. He has held numerous positions within TIGTA, including Senior Auditor, Audit Manager, Director, and Acting Assistant Inspector General for Audit, Management Services and Exempt Organizations.

As Deputy Inspector General for Investigations, Mr. Nelson leads a program that the announcement notes fulfills TIGTA’s statutory mandate to protect the integrity of Federal tax administration. The Office of Investigations protects the IRS against external attempts to corrupt, threaten, or interfere with its employees, infrastructure, or programs as well as more traditional investigations into fraud, waste, and abuse. Mr. Nelson was appointed to the position in March 2022, when his predecessor, James Jackson, retired in August 2021. Mr. Nelson previously served as the Assistant Inspector General for Investigations, Special Investigations and Support Directorate, and has been a manager at TIGTA since 2008. He began his Federal career with the United States Air Force in 1994 after graduating from the United States Air Force Academy. He served three years as an Air Force Security Police Officer and four years with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations prior to joining TIGTA as a Special Agent in 2001. The announcement also notes that as an Air Force Reservist, Mr. Nelson returned to active duty for approximately one year following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In 2008, he became the Assistant Special Agent in Charge for the Strategic Enforcement Division, where he served until becoming the Special Agent in Charge of the Cybercrime Investigations Division in 2016.