Appeals Officer

Clarification from the agency

Open to U.S. Citizens/Nationals

The following are the duties of this position at the full working level. If this vacancy includes more than one grade and you are selected at a lower grade level, you will have the opportunity to learn to perform these duties and receive training to help you grow in this position.

• Conducts Appeals conferences for the settlement of tax cases in which taxpayers have appealed determinations made by the Service or have filed petitions with the U.S. Tax Court for redetermination of tax liability. Cases assigned at this level are characterized by a lack of clearly applicable precedents/procedures or conflicting policy and program objectives.
• Conducts extensive research and analysis of case issues to determine and apply the law to the facts presented. Serves as an expert in determining a final settlement and resolving appealed cases that involve difficult legal or factual questions, precedents are unavailable or not clearly applicable, and there are large sums of money involved. Where issues are unclear or where a clear precedent is lacking, determines the appropriate resolution based upon relevant factors including reasonableness, adjudication trends and settlement practices.
• Analyzes case files, supporting documents and other information that relate to tax liability. Reviews cases for adequate technical development of issues. Remedies defects or inadequacies in cases or on issues either independently or collaboratively with other team members, or by referral to the appropriate Service component.
• Deals professionally and effectively with taxpayers, representatives and co-workers. Conducts Appeals conferences and negotiations in a dignified and orderly manner, with displayed impartiality. Negotiates settlements of cases on the basis of facts developed and applicable law and regulations, considering the hazards of litigation.
• As appropriate, provides effective neutral assistance as a mediator to resolve tax disputes between the IRS and the taxpayer. Conducts separate or joint conferences to assist the parties of the tax dispute to arrive at a resolution in an effort to avoid litigation and minimize costs.

Conditions of employment

• Probationary Period - All newly appointed employees to the competitive (or excepted) service are subject to a probationary (or trial) period. During this time, your performance, conduct, and suitability for continued employment will be evaluated. You will not automatically convert to permanent status at the end of the probationary (or trial) period. Your supervisor must affirmatively determine that continued employment is in the best interest of the Federal service. If no certification is made before the probationary (or trial) period ends, your appointment will be terminated. You are encouraged to actively engage with your supervisor, seek feedback, and understand role expectations. Additional guidance and support will be provided during onboarding.
• Government Credit Card - Obtain and use a Government-issued charge card for business-related travel.
• Tax Audit -The employment of any candidate, including a current employee or a new hire, selected for this position may be conditional upon classification and/or audit of federal tax returns. This audit may include up to 2 years of returns.

• U.S Citizenship - Must be a U.S. Citizen or National and provide proof of U.S. Citizenship.
• Selective Service Registration - Males born after December 31, 1959 are required to be registered with the Selective Service System or prove they are exempt from having to do so.
• Personal Identity Verification (PIV) - Must provide 2 forms of identification from the Form I-9. Federal law requires verification of the identity and employment eligibility of all new hires in the U.S. These documents must be unexpired original or certified copies.

Qualifications

Federal experience is not required. Experience may have been gained in the public sector, private sector or through 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/day/year, and indicate number of hours worked per week, on your resume.

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

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE FOR GS-13:
To be eligible for this position at this grade level, you must have one (1) year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-12 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position must include at least four (4) of the following:

• Applying tax law and/or accounting principles, and practices to analyze and interpret accounting records or legal issues to resolve tax issues or determine tax liabilities.
• Conducting legal research and interpreting the law in situations where there are uncertainties or conflicts in statutes, regulations, case law, precedence or other guidance to determine and apply the appropriate intent of the law in tax situations.
• Resolving tax issues (e.g., Passive Activity Losses, Income Recognition, Hobby Losses, Net Operating Losses, and other special reporting topics).
• Preparing, examining, interpreting and/or analyzing financial statements/records for corporate reporting, to determine tax liability or to resolve tax disputes.
• Applying litigation procedures and making judgments involving matters of law particularly as they relate to resolving tax disputes.
• Negotiating the resolution of tax disputes between government and corporate or individual taxpayers.

For more information on qualifications please refer to OPM's Qualifications Standards.

How you will be evaluated

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

Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position. Applicants who disqualify themselves will not be evaluated further.

• Attention to Detail
• Customer Service
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Influencing/Negotiating
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork

Rating: Category rating will be used to rank and select eligible candidates. If qualified, you will be assigned to one of three quality level categories, CAT A, CAT B or CAT C.

Referral: Eligible applicants rated in the highest category group, may be referred to a selecting official for consideration. Candidates, if required to participate in a selection interview (telephonic and/or in person at the discretion of the Selecting Official in accordance with hiring practices), will be interviewed in category group order. We will not reimburse costs related to the interview such as travel to and from the interview site.

Veterans' preference is applied after applicants are assessed. Qualified preference eligibles who have a compensable service-connected disability of 10 percent or more (CPS, CP) are placed at the top of the highest category on the referral list (except for scientific or professional positions at the GS-9 level or higher). Remaining preference eligibles are placed above non-preference eligibles within their assigned category.

If you are a displaced or surplus Federal employee (eligible for the Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)/Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP), you must receive a rating of category CAT B to be rated as "well qualified" to receive special selection priority.

If you are selected, you will be subject to all requirements listed in the Requirements, Qualifications, and Additional Information sections of this announcement which includes, Prior Employment/Tax Checks, Fingerprint/Criminal History checks.

The following documents are required and must be provided with your application. All application materials, including transcripts, must be in English.
Incomplete or insufficient information may result in not being considered for the position, or not receiving special consideration for which you may be eligible.
Please view Application Preparation or How to write a resume for federal job.

1. Resume
Your resume should:

• Be limited to two (2) pages. Applicants with resumes exceeding two-pages will be removed from consideration. We recommend utilizing a standard 8.5x11-inch document size, a sans-serif font such as Arial or Calibri with a font size no smaller than 10-point for the main text, and page margins of 0.5 inches. Applicants that attempt to circumvent the 2-page limit page limit, for example by materially reducing readability, will be deemed ineligible. If you update your application, only the most recent resume received (uploaded under the "Resume" document type) will be considered to determine qualifications.
• Include your name and contact information.
• Include relevant work experience - Employer Name, Job Title, Employment dates (start to end date or present), number of hours worked per week, and a brief description of duties that clearly demonstrate your qualifications. To receive full credit for work experience, you must include specific MM/DD/YYYY start and end dates for every position.
• Include pay plan, series, and grade (e.g., GS-0301-09) for all federal service jobs.
• Not include photographs, classified or sensitive information, SSN, encrypted/digitally signed documents, or other inappropriate content. Resumes containing prohibited information will be deemed ineligible.
• Not include embedded links as they will not be opened or considered when determining qualifications.
• Not include personal information such as age, sex, religion, race, or disability.
• Not include specialized experience copied from the announcement or position description, as this is not a demonstration of your experience.

• For positions with an education requirement, or if you are qualifying for this position based on education or training, submit a copy of your transcript(s) or equivalent. An official transcript(s) will be required if you are selected.

• MUST submit a copy of your DD-214 (Member 4 copy), or other official documentation from a branch of the Armed Forces or the Department of Veterans Affairs showing dates of service and type of discharge.
• If you are serving under active duty, provide certification from the Armed Forces that you will be discharged or released within 120 days from the date of certification. The certification must indicate your dates of service, rank and that you will be separated under honorable conditions.
• 10-point preference eligible - Submit an Application for 10-point Veteran Preference, SF-15, along with the required documentation listed on the back of the form if you are a 10-point preference eligible. For more information on claiming veterans' preference view here.

• Review and submit the required documentation as oulined under CTAP/ICTAP

• Submit a copy of your most recent SF-50 (Notification of Personnel Action) or equivalent personnel action form which shows your grade and competitive service status.

Next steps

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