AccessibilitySkip to Top NavigationSkip to Main ContentHome  |  Contact IRS  |  About IRS  |  Site Map  |  Español  |  Help  

Part 13. Taxpayer Advocate Service

Chapter 1. Taxpayer Advocate Case Procedures

Section 12. Technical Advisors and the Virtual Team Process

13.1.12  Technical Advisors and the Virtual Team Process

13.1.12.1  (10-01-2001)
Introduction

  1. Technical Advisors are an integral part of the new customer centered concept. It is intended that the Technical Advisors be used as a resource for the entire Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS). They will be self-directed, independent and perform in a virtual environment. This means that they will be able to work effectively with one another in different locations, since there are a limited number of technical advisors who offer support and guidance to multiple TAS offices. See Exhibit 13.1.12-1, Technical Advisor Process Flowchart.

13.1.12.2  (10-31-2004)
Roles and Responsibilities

  1. Technical Advisors are responsible for resolving the most technically complex or sensitive issues using effective research, communication, coordination, and negotiating skills.

  2. They will be responsible for:

    • Working directly with the Taxpayer Advocate, Group Managers, Advocacy Program Analysts, Senior Associate Advocates or Associate Advocates.

    • Acting as a consultant to peers and subordinates on technical issues

    • Communicating professionally both orally and in writing

    • Instructing Case Advocate CPEs

    • Making presentations at functional CPEs

    • Providing technical backup for congressional and practitioner meetings

    • Participating in educating Taxpayer Advocate personnel on technical issues

    • Acting as a key element in bridging any communication gaps on technical issues

    • Negotiating with Operating Divisions and Functional Units to reach agreements on behalf of taxpayers

    • Serving as a member of a task force when requested

    • Keeping lines of communication open — including Appeals and Counsel

    • Working with their team members and providing honest communication

    • Participating in quarterly technical meetings and providing honest communication

    • Networking with the Operating Divisions, Functional Units and within TAS

    • Attending functional CPEs

    • Keeping current with the changes in the IRS, Treasury Regulations, IRM, new legislation, court decisions and tax publications

    • Clearly explaining basis for decisions

    • Providing expert technical advice on examination and collection issues

    • Reviewing Senate Finance Committee (SFC) cases

13.1.12.3  (10-01-2001)
Technical Advisor Quarterly Rotational Duties

  1. A Technical Advisor will be designated each quarter by the Technical Advisor Team to be responsible for scheduling and holding quarterly Technical Advisor meetings in their area. The designated Technical Advisor will consult with his or her manager for the location and method of the meeting, set the date (first month after the end of the quarter), and solicit agenda topics. Other responsibilities will include facilitating the meeting, making sure notes are taken during the meeting, and providing minutes to the Local Taxpayer Advocate (LTA), Area Taxpayer Advocate (ATA), Executive Director Systemic Advocacy (EDSA), National Office Taxpayer Account Operations, Director, other Technical Advisors within 10 days of the meeting . Possible agenda items for the meetings may include technical issues, problems, best practices, customers, coverage, trends, outreach, communication methods (e.g., E-mail, VMS), and Technical Advisor Alerts (newsletters and possible Web site bulletin boards).

  2. Another quarterly rotational duty will be to use new technology (NetMeeting) to meet with other area Technical Advisors in order to share issues and trends with total tech population, share feedback from other Technical Advisors, and elevate issues to ATA using the escalation process.

  3. The designated Technical Advisor will also be responsible for other duties assigned by the ATA, LTA or Technical Advisor Group Manager.

13.1.12.4  (10-01-2001)
Escalation Process for Technical Advisors

  1. When a Technical Advisor has concerns or issues that need attention, the first course of action is to raise them to the next appropriate level of management. Any disputes regarding cases should be brought to the attention of the manager for a decision or to the LTA as appropriate.

    Example:

    If a case advocate and Technical Advisor disagree on whether an issue needs to be transferred or referred the issue should be brought to the attention of the manager.

  2. However, if there are other issues that the Technical Advisor needs to elevate, use the following method to raise concerns for immediate attention:

    • Contact the area Technical Advisor on duty to discuss the issue in a neutral environment.

    • Contact the next appropriate level of management (manager, LTA).

    • Contact the ATA.

  3. Other issues or concerns of a less than immediate nature can be raised:

    • At the quarterly Technical Advisor meetings.

    • To the ATA, through the area Technical Advisor on duty.

13.1.12.5  (10-01-2001)
Other Technical Advisor Responsibilities

  1. Outreach to internal and external audiences such as:

    • Instructional assignments at CPEs for TAS personnel.

    • Subject matter experts at practitioner and congressional liaison meetings.

    • Presentations for community and professional groups.

    • Participate in efforts to educate TAS personnel on effective use of Technical Advisors.

  2. Liaison with Operating Division and Functional Unit personnel through networking.

13.1.12.6  (10-31-2004)
Receiving Transfer and Referral Cases

  1. Technical Advisors may be contacted for a variety of reasons such as:

    1. Technical advice on complex or sensitive cases beyond a case advocates expertise.

    2. Advice or assistance needed by the LTA, ATA, analyst, etc.

    3. SFC technical review, if requested.

    4. Legislative proposals.

    5. Management decisions.

  2. Telephone Call —A telephone call can be made to a Technical Advisor when there is a need for quick guidance or assistance. The advisor will respond within one day (24 hours). Any disagreements will be handled through your manager.

  3. Referrals — A referral can be made to a Technical Advisor when the need for information is not immediate or the issue is more complex. These referrals are generally made after the case advocate and the Technical Advisor have discussed the case and decided a referral to a Technical Advisor is necessary. When an agreement is reached between a Technical Advisor and the case advocate that a case needs to be referred to a Technical Advisor, the case advocate refers the case through TAMIS and retains control of the case. If the Technical Advisor is located in a different TAS office, refer via an external referral to the Technical Advisor on TAMIS. Refer to IRM 13.4.5.3.9, Referral Screen on TAMIS. Any disagreement will be handled by the manager. The case advocate will continue to contact the taxpayer and only on rare occasions will the Technical Advisor have taxpayer contact. Any assistance needed from the Operating Divisions or Functional Units should be initiated by the case advocate. The Technical Advisor will input a summary on the TAMIS history screen to close the referral.

  4. Transfers — When an agreement is reached between the Technical Advisor and the case advocate that a case needs to be transferred, the case will be transferred on TAMIS using the TAMIS Transfer Screen. Refer to IRM 13.4.5.2.3, Transfer Screen. The Technical Advisor will gain control of the case and will have all taxpayer contact. The Technical Advisor will update all actions on the TAMIS history screen and will input a summary to close the case. If assistance is needed from an Operating Division or Functional Unit, the Operations Assistance Request (OAR) process will be used. Management will handle disagreements.

  5. Several different approaches may be used to work these issues or cases including:

    • Individual assignments

    • Partnering with one or two Technical Advisors

    • A full team concept with a team facilitator

    • Consultations with Appeals

    • Solicitation of Counsel advice

  6. Team composition would depend on the types of issues, case complexity and/or workload volume. The Team Facilitator will be a Technical Advisor responsible for:

    • Analyzing the issue;

    • Determining what expertise is needed on the team;

    • Assembling the team;

    • Briefing the team;

    • Weekly status reports on TAMIS;

    • Taxpayer contact;

    • Final closing with the initiator; and

    • Forwarding any systemic or advocacy issues.

13.1.12.7  (10-01-2001)
Case Resolution

  1. Input IDRS controls and update TAMIS weekly.

  2. Analyze and research using IDRS, IRMs, IRC, Document 6209, and any other research tools available including LEXIS-NEXIS, Internet, Intranet, etc.

  3. Taxpayer contact — Although referral procedures indicate that the taxpayer is to be contacted by the originator, in some cases, it may be in the best interest of the taxpayer to have the Technical Advisor assist in explaining certain issues. This can be accomplished by including the Technical Advisor in a 3-way phone call.

  4. Set up conferences with the taxpayer, Operating Division and Functional Unit personnel, Counsel, Appeals etc., as necessary.

  5. Negotiate for taxpayers with Operating Division and Functional Unit personnel. If agreement cannot be reached, discuss TAO option with LTA. See IRM 13.1.7.8, Taxpayer Assistance Order (TAO) Process.

  6. Network with LTA and IRS personnel to expedite resolution.

13.1.12.8  (10-31-2004)
Closing Actions

  1. Referrals — The Technical Advisor will close referrals by:

    • Providing written or oral advice to initiator;

    • Summarizing advice on TAMIS;

    • Preparing a draft response for signature if necessary;

    • Closing referral on TAMIS (IRM 13.4.5.3.9); and

    • Returning referral to initiator.

  2. Transfers — The Technical Advisor will close transfers by:

    • If necessary, preparing a request for adjustment and forwarding it to the Operating Division or Functional Unit using Operations Assistance Request (OAR) procedures. See IRM 13.1.7.7.5, Operations Assistance Requests (OAR);

    • Follow IRM 13.1.7.10, Closing Criteria ;

    • Monitoring for adjustment to post and updating TAMIS;

    • Waiting for all actions to be completed;

    • Preparing a written response, if necessary (If correspondence is for LTA signature prepare a draft);

    • Summarizing advice on TAMIS;

    • Close case on TAMIS refer to IRM 13.4.5;

    • Updating issue codes if necessary; and

    • Closing IDRS controls.

  3. Quality — Cases are subject to the same quality standards and review process as any TAS case.

  4. Reopening Cases — Reopened cases will go back to the Technical Advisor that was originally responsible for the specific case. See IRM 13.1.7.12, Reopening Cases.

    Example #1— An on-site employee (case advocate/Analyst) who needs technical advice phones or drops by a Technical Advisor's office. They agree on how the case needs to be worked (advice, referral, transfer) and initiate actions. The case will be input on TAMIS by the initiator. If there is no disagreement on how the case will be handled, management will not become involved in the case other than to monitor the caseload via TAMIS.


    Example #2 — The same situation as in example #1 except the case advocate is off-site. The case advocate would contact the Technical Advisor by the most expeditious method and all other procedures would remain the same.

13.1.12.9  (10-01-2001)
Technical Advisor Manager Responsibilities

  1. The Technical Advisor group managers are responsible for:

    1. All administrative issues such as adequate clerical support for advisors, adequate (computers) IS support, time reports and time tracking issues, training, travel, access to IDRS and other systems including appropriate command codes.

    2. Monitoring inventories for workload balance and raising imbalance issues to ATA.

    3. Ensuring the success of the virtual team process by encouraging use of new technology (NetMeeting).

    4. Ensuring the Technical Advisors are accessible to all TAS personnel.

    5. Encouraging teams to be self-directed, independent, and innovative in problem solving techniques.

    6. Evaluating Technical Advisors and developing IDPs.

    7. Coordinating case assignments and work priorities.

    8. Elevating and addressing systemic problems, equity issues and process concerns.

    9. Facilitating agreed upon training.

13.1.12.10  (10-01-2001)
Local Taxpayer Advocate Responsibilities

  1. All LTAs are responsible for:

    1. Monitoring implementation of the process in their local area.

    2. Monitoring access of the Technical Advisors to all TAS personnel.

    3. Coordinating work imbalances with other LTAs.

    4. Making decisions on issues elevated to their level.

    5. Monitoring inventories for imbalance and raising issues to ATAs.

    6. Ensuring teams are self-directed, independent and innovative in problem solving techniques.

    7. Ensuring teams have the equipment to use technology available to communicate in a virtual team environment.

    8. Ensuring program is conducted in accordance with national guidelines and instructions.

    9. Negotiating agreement at area level for TAS Technical Advisor attendance at functional CPEs.

13.1.12.11  (10-01-2001)
Area Taxpayer Advocate Responsibilities

  1. All ATAs are responsible for managing the virtual team process by:

    1. Monitoring the implementation of the Virtual Team process in their area.

    2. Monitoring accessibility of Technical Advisors to all TAS personnel.

    3. Ensuring the teams are allowed to be self-directed, independent, and innovative in problem solving techniques.

    4. Ensuring the teams have equipment to use state of the art technology to communicate in a virtual team environment.

    5. Making decisions on issues elevated to their level.

  2. Other responsibilities of the ATA include:

    1. Assigning analyst program responsibility for Technical Advisor teams.

    2. Ensuring the assigned Program Analyst attends quarterly meetings.

    3. Assigning territory based on the location of the Technical Advisor and informing TAS personnel whom to contact in their area.

    4. Scheduling the Technical Advisors quarterly rotational duties within their area.

    5. Ensuring program is conducted in accordance with national guidelines and instructions.

13.1.12.12  (10-01-2001)
Advocate Advisory Board (AAB) Responsibilities

  1. The AAB will be responsible for:

    1. Overseeing the Virtual Team process.

    2. Making decisions on issues elevated to their level.

    3. Monitoring VT implementation and continued effectiveness and support by ATAs, LTAs, and managers.

Exhibit 13.1.12-1  (10-01-2001)
Technical Advisor Process Flowchart

This image is too large to be displayed in the current screen. Please click the link to view the image.

More Internal Revenue Manual