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CASE ADVOCATE

Employer
USAJobs
Location
Richmond, Virginia
Closing date
Jul 28, 2021
Duties

Summary

WHAT IS THETAXPAYER ADVOCATE SERVICE (TAS) 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 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 www.jobs.irs.gov .

Travel Required

Occasional travel - 1 to 5 Travel Nights per Month

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
11

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


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Qualifications

You must meet the following requirements by the closing date of this announcement.


GS-7 LEVEL: You must have 1 year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty & responsibility equivalent to the GS-5 level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position is experience that is typically in or related to the work of this position & provided you with the particular knowledge, skills & abilities to perform successfully the duties of this position. Specialized experience includes advising & assisting others in order to explain issues related to meeting Federal tax obligations including: experience applying knowledge of business practices, policies, procedures, basic accounting principles, and Federal tax laws & regulations; Experience interviewing individuals and reviewing tax and bookkeeping records and returns, and analyzing systems using fact-finding techniques. OR You may substitute education for specialized experience as follows: 1 year of graduate education in a related field of study at an accredited college or university. OR Superior Academic Achievement may be met by having a Bachelor's degree, with one of the following: A GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale for all completed undergraduate courses or those completed in the last two years of study, or a GPA of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale for all courses in your major field of study or those courses in your major completed in the last two years of study, or rank in the upper 1/3 of your class in the college, university, or major subdivision, or membership in a national honor society recognized by the Association of College Honor Societies.

GS-9 LEVEL: You must have 1 year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty & responsibility equivalent to the GS-7 in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position is experience that is typically in or related to the work of this position & provided you with the particular knowledge, skills & abilities to perform successfully the duties of this position. Specialized experience for this position is experience applying basic accounting principles, examination techniques & collection processes to assist taxpayers in resolving tax issues. Communicating with taxpayers & their representatives to determine the nature of assistance needed, obtaining information & determining its relevance to resolve tax issues/problems, advising and assisting taxpayers in meeting federal tax obligations, managing an inventory, and meeting deadlines. OR You may substitute education for specialized experience as follows: Master's or equivalent graduate degree in a related field of study at an accredited college or university. OR Two years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree in a related field of study. OR LLB or JD.



For grades 7 thru 9: 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 Volunteer Service . One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-timework 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).

Education

Additional information

Four (4) Positions are located in Taxpayer Advocate Service, DEDCA, Area 2. To be filled at 400 North Eighth Street, Richmond, VA (VA0088) as follows: Two (2) Vacancies in Group 1 and two (2) Vacancies in Group 2.

POSITION DESCRIPTIONS: 98222 (GS-7); 98223 (GS-9)
A PM/C SharePoint site is available for IRS Employees at: https://organization.ds.irsnet.gov/sites/HCOETS/PMC/SPDLibrary/SitePages/Home.aspx

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:
      • We may select from this announcement or any other source to fill one or more vacancies.
      • This is a bargaining unit position.
      • Alternative work schedule, staggered work hours or telework may be available.
      • Must meet IRS telework eligibility requirements
      • Tour of Duty: Mon - Fri 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM
      • Relocation Expenses: No
      • Obtain and use a Government-issued charge card to be used for business-related travel
      • Travel may be required for training.
      • This position is covered under a formal training plan and pay retention may be offered where applicable by law and regulations.


How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Your application includes your resume, responses to the online questions, and required supporting documents. Please be sure that your resume includes detailed information to support your qualifications for this position; failure to provide sufficient evidence in your resume may result in a "not qualified" determination.

Rating: Your application will be evaluated on the CJEs of the position to be filled per the National Agreement Article 13. Your application will also be rated and ranked among others, based on your responses to the online questions, regarding your experience, education, training, performance appraisals and awards relevant to the duties of this position. IRS employees may obtain most recent awards listing at https://persinfo.web.irs.gov/ . Your rating may be lowered, if your responses to the online questions are not supported by the education and/or experience described in your application.

Referral: If you are among the top qualified candidates, your application may be referred to a selecting official for consideration. You may be required to participate in a selection interview (telephonic and/or in person at the discretion of the Selecting Official in accordance with hiring polices). We will not reimburse costs related to the interview such as travel to and from the interview site.

If you are a displaced or surplus Treasury employee eligible for the Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) , you must receive a score of 80 or better to be rated as well qualified to receive special selection priority.

To preview questions please click here .

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Not Required

Drug test required
No

Required Documents

A complete application includes 1. A resume, 2. Vacancy question responses, and 3. Submission of any required documents. Please note that if you do not provide all required information, as specified in this announcement, you will not be considered for this position (or may not receive the special consideration for which you may be eligible).

All applicants are required to submit a resume either by creating one in USAJOBS or uploading one of their own choosing. ( Cover letters are optional). To receive full credit for relevant experience, please list the month/year and number of hours worked for experience listed on your resume. We suggest that you preview the online questions, as you may need to customize your resume to ensure that it supports your responses to these questions. Please view Resume Tips .

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) DOCUMENTATION
If you are a displaced or surplus Treasury employee, click CTAP for eligibility and a detailed list of required documents. IRS CTAP eligibles can apply for jobs within and outside the commuting area.

IRS Reassignment Preference Program (RPP)
You must meet the requirements in your RPP notice. Submit a copy of your RPP Notice along with a copy of your most recent annual performance appraisal. Your performance appraisal must have a fully successful or higher overall rating.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL/AWARDS
Submit a copy of your most recent completed performance appraisal.

IRS employees:
if a revalidated appraisal is used for merit promotion, the supervisor must prepare a narrative for each critical job element that does not have a narrative describing the performance in the appraisal period covered by the rating. Note: If you are a manager or management official, your most recent annual performance appraisal must be used for the overall rating identified.

EDUCATION DOCUMENTATION
If you are qualifying for this position by substituting education or training for experience, submit a copy of your transcripts or equivalent. If the position has specific education requirements and you are currently (or have previously been) in the Federal job series to be filled, there is no need to submit a transcript or equivalent at this time. An official transcript will be required if you are selected.

A college or university degree generally must be from an accredited (or pre-accredited) college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For a list of schools which meet these criteria, please refer to Department of Education Accreditation page .

If you are qualifying based on foreign education, you must submit proof of creditability of education as evaluated by a credentialing agency. Refer to the OPM instructions .

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education .

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

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