Karen Kelly wrote a guest post for The Justice Connection titled “An Obituary for DOJʻs Tax Division.” Created by former Department of Justice officials, Justice Connection provides in-depth coverage of the changes taking place at the DOJ under the new Administration. One of these changes included the elimination of the DOJ Tax Division, which was completed less than nine months after the Administration changed in 2025.
A nearly 30-year veteran of DOJ and the former acting head of the Tax Division, in the Obituary, Karen summarized the history and purpose of the Tax Division, how its existence benefited taxpayers, and the uncertain future of tax enforcement without a tax-focused division at DOJ.
The DOJ Tax Division was created in 1934 to provide certainty and consistency in civil and criminal tax enforcement. Individuals and businesses rely on consistent and stable application of the nation's tax laws to make informed financial decisions and business forecasts. Now that the DOJ Tax Division no longer exists, civil tax matters will now be handled by trial attorneys in a new tax branch of the DOJ Civil Division. Criminal tax trial attorneys were reassigned to a similar new branch in the DOJ Criminal Division and will now be part of the new National Fraud Enforcement Division.
In the article, Karen provides a summary that includes an outline of the structure of the Tax Division, and why this entity was necessary. The creation of the new National Fraud Enforcement Division is not a simple restructuring, but a drastic change in who oversees tax enforcement. Tax enforcement is complex and requires supervision by tax experts, not generalists.
She writes, "since the Tax Division no longer exists, it’s vital that we memorialize the authorities it had and how it was structured so that history can inform future rebuilding plans. … Today, there are far fewer experienced tax attorneys in both the Civil and Criminal sections to handle tax cases throughout the United States. The collective loss of institutional knowledge and expertise is profound, especially in an area as specialized as tax litigation."
You can read the complete post here.
About Karen
The former acting head of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, Karen joined Kostelanetz after more than 30 years of federal and state trial practice, including prosecuting tax and white-collar crime. Her practice now focuses on representing clients in in government investigations, including in criminal tax and white-collar matters.
