Duties Help Duties Summary WHAT IS THE TAXPAYER ADVOCATE DIVISION: The Taxpayer Advocate Service is an independent organization within the IRS. The TAS mission is to assist taxpayers in resolving their problems with the IRS (Case Advocacy), and to identify and propose administrative and legislative solutions to mitigate those problems (Systemic Advocacy). See "other information" for Locations. Learn more about this agency Responsibilities WHAT DOES A CASE ADVOCATE DO? The Case Advocate serves as an advocate for taxpayers who have experienced a delay beyond normal processing time, where systemic issues have been identified and actions taken, or who have suffered or are about to suffer a tax hardship that the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) attempts to relieve. In this role, you will resolve taxpayer problems that have not been resolved through normal IRS channels and are generally expected to handle some of the most problematic cases independently. You may be assigned cases that are anticipated to be among the most difficult to resolve due to complicating factors, or that relate to a specialty to in which you have expertise. As a Case Advocate you will: Provide assistance to taxpayers on technical and procedural tax cases covering the full range of issues. Represent the Service in advocating cases involving complicated and specialized issues. Take corrective action within TAS statutory and delegated authorities, including development of cases for purpose of recommending the issuance of Taxpayer Assistance Orders. Confer with taxpayers who have experienced delays beyond normal processing time, a significant hardship, or where systemic issues have been identified and actions taken, clarifying the basis of the complicating problem and citing applicable laws as necessary. Educate taxpayers and/or their representatives regarding tax obligations, responsibilities, rights, and options, including possible adverse consequences of decisions. Fully advises taxpayer of all rights and, as applicable, secures agreement of taxpayer to final decision. Perform specialized research, analysis, and necessary computations to make adjustments to taxpayers' accounts that have specialized factors. Using highly developed institutional knowledge of internal processes, solves vexing process and procedural problems of cases. Recommend adjustments as appropriate and initiates credit transfers, payment tracers, and computations to tax, penalty, and interest. Prepare manual refunds, makes abatements, and prepares and executes waivers to extend statutes within TAS statutory and delegated authorities. Provide guidance to targeted audiences in seminars, speeches, and workshops; Provides in-house training and assistance to lower-level employees as necessary. If you are selected at a lower grade level, you will have the opportunity to learn to perform all these duties, and will receive training to help you grow in this position. WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OTHER IRS CAREERS? If you want to find out more about IRS careers, visit us on the web at http://www.jobs.irs.gov/ Travel Required Occasional travel - TRAVEL IS REQUIRED ONE TO FIVE NIGHTS PER MONTH Supervisory status No Promotion Potential 11 Job family (Series) 0501 Financial Administration And Program Requirements Help Requirements Conditions of Employment Refer to Other Information Click "Print Preview" to review the entire announcement before applying. Must be a U.S. Citizen or National IRS Employees with Career or Career Conditional Appointments Applicants must have and submit a Reassignment Preference Letter in order to apply. BILINGUAL POSITIONS ONLY: This is a bilingual position. Applicants will be required to demonstrate proficiency in SPANISH You must be able to speak, read and write the selected language in order to be considered proficient in that language. If you indicate language proficiency, you may be tested at some point in the hiring process to determine if you possess the required level of proficiency. If you are unable to demonstrate proficiency, you will not be qualified for these positions. Qualifications You must meet the following requirements by the closing date of this announcement. GS-11 LEVEL: You must have 1 year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty & responsibility equivalent to the GS-9 level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position is experience that is typically in or related to the work of this position and provided you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of this position. Specialized experience for this position includes applying accounting, examination, returns processing, collection & or Taxpayer Advocate Service techniques; & of general and geographic business practices sufficient to independently process the complete range of cases; Experience advocating for taxpayers with significant hardship as defined by IRC 7811 and/or Internal Revenue manuals, including but not limited to an immediate threat of adverse IRS action; a delay of more than 30 days in resolving taxpayer account problems; the incurring by the taxpayer of significant costs (including fees for professional representation) if relief is not granted; irreparable injury to, or a long-term adverse impact on the taxpayer if relief is not granted; or suffering injury because of an action or inaction by the IRS; Qualifying specialized experience also includes resolving taxpayer issues through negotiating, influencing or persuading other Business Operating Divisions (BOD) (for example, through the issuance or resolution of an Operational Assistance Order (OAR) on a full range of individual & business tax returns; Experience with tax administration problems potentially having a negative impact on a significant number of taxpayers, including identifying potential systemic issues & taking appropriate action; Experience composing written communications to taxpayers & their representatives in order to expedite resolution of tax account issues & to educate regarding tax obligations, responsibilities, rights & options, including adverse consequences of decisions; Experience applying technical tax law based on the Internal Revenue Code & Regulations, making hardship determinations, conferring with subject matter experts or Counsel in developing a strategy for advocating and resolving a taxpayer's issue; and experience preparing and executing case action plans to advocate for case resolution for taxpayers, representatives or Congressional offices; Experience managing an inventory of cases and timely completing required actions including but not limited to, case development, issue determination, conducting interviews with taxpayers & or their representatives, documenting case histories with appropriate narratives in support of case decisions, preparing referrals to other IRS functions, including Appeals and Counsel. OR You may substitute education for specialized experience as follows: Ph.D. or equivalent degree or 3 full academic years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a degree in a related field of study at an accredited college or university. OR LL.M., if related. OR You may qualify by a combination of experience & education. Options for qualifying based on a combination will be identified in the online questions. The experience may have been gained in the public sector, private sector or VolunteerService. 1 year of experience refers to full-time work; part-time work is considered on a prorated basis. To ensure full credit for your work experience, please indicate dates of employment by month/year, and indicate number of hours worked per week, on your resume. In addition to the above requirements, you must meet the following, if applicable: You must have been at the next lower grade level of the grade you are applying to for 52 weeks (time-in-grade requirement). 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