All levels of Appeals management are responsible for ensuring employees monitor statutes on cases assigned to them and follow the procedures set forth in this manual.

The ATM protects the statute of limitations on all cases in his/her possession for assignment or review and approval. This responsibility continues until the case is delivered to the Appeals Technical Employee, or is forwarded to and received by Appeals Processing Services (APS).

When a new case is received for assignment, do a cursory review to ensure the correct statute date is shown on the Case Summary Card (CSC). If the statute date shown on ACDS is incorrect, provide the correct statute date(s) to Appeals Processing Services (APS) by generating and sending the ACDS Update Request Form following the procedures below:

Exercise due diligence when reviewing the monthly statute lists submitted by the Appeals Technical Employees and when necessary, follow up to ensure the time frames provided are met.

Once a month, the ATM generates a "Master Statute List" of cases for his/her team where the statute expires within 180 days. Cross match individual statute reports with the master list.

If the a case is assigned to an Appeals Technical Employee who is away from the office, the ATM is responsible for statute control until the employee returns. In addition, the ATM is responsible for monitoring the statute on any short statute case in which he/she has been pre-notified in writing that some action is required while the Appeals Technical Employee is away from the office.

If the employee’s absence from the office is due to an emergency and continues for more than five (5) workdays, generate a statute list for that employee to ensure there are no statute problems.

Generally, at least 90 days must remain on the statute when the ATM submits the case to APS for processing. If less than 90 days remains, notify the Processing Team Manager (PTM) via secure email. Ensure an acknowledged Form 3210 is received from APS to show receipt of the case. Responsibility for such statutes is jointly held by APS and the ATM.

Discuss statute procedures periodically and emphasize in workload reviews and other performance evaluations.

Upon receipt of a case in APS, the PTM has statute responsibility for that case until it is received by an ATM for assignment. See IRM 8.21.1.2. This includes the receipt of cases from Compliance functions, IRS campuses and other Appeals offices.

Exercise due diligence in reviewing the monthly statute reports for APS.

Joint responsibility for statutes is held by the PTM and the ATM on cases received in APS with less than 90 days remaining on the statute. See See IRM 8.21.4.2(7)..

Ensure statute procedures are discussed with the employees periodically during group meetings and emphasized in workload reviews and performance evaluations.

Ensure that barred statutes are timely reported to the appropriate Area Manager.

The ATCTM is responsible for ensuring work requests sent to them for cases identified as short statutes are quickly assigned and are given priority treatment by the Tax Computation Specialist working the case.

Periodically discuss the importance of prioritizing short statute cases with employees.

Monitor the employee’s performance when handling short statute cases through case reviews, workload reviews or other performance evaluations.

For purposes of these guidelines, any reference to Area Director includes all of the following job titles:

Area Manager refers to an APS Area Manager.

Overall, the Area Director/Area Manager is responsible for statute control within the Area, and for ensuring that all employees in the area understand and properly perform their statute duties in a timely manner.

Take the following actions to ensure sufficient statute control in the area:

Area Directors/Area Managers have the same responsibilities as the ATM on cases assigned to their direct employees and on cases submitted for approval as required by delegations or other procedures within the area.

(1) Overall, the Director, Appeals Processing Services (APS) is responsible for the statutes in APS, for emphasizing statute control responsibility during operational reviews, timely approving barred statute reports and annually reviewing these reports to identify trends.

If trends are identified, takes appropriate action to provide resources (personnel, training, IRM or statute guidelines changes) to address the trends and reduce the number and type of barred statute cases in the future.

A Program Analyst on the staff of the Director, Tax Policy and Procedure (Exam) is primarily responsible for the statute program and for performing the following tasks:

The Directors, Field Operations East and West, and the Director, Technical Services ensure designated employees on their staff are aware of the statute guidelines and are available to assist field personnel, when appropriate, in following proper statute procedures.

If trends are identified, the Directors Field Operations notify the Area Directors, and the Director, Technical Services notifies the Director, APS who in turn notifies the APS Area Managers that appropriate action can be taken to reduce the number and type of barred statute cases in the future.

The Chief, Appeals is responsible for emphasizing statute control responsibility throughout Appeals.

The Chief, Appeals reviews the barred statute reports on an annual basis to identify trends and takes appropriate action to provide resources (personnel, training, IRM or statute guidelines changes) to address the trends and reduce the number and type of barred statute cases in the future.