Clarification from the agency

Open to IRS Career/Career-Conditional, Treasury/IRS CTAP & IRS RPP employees

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.

• Serves as a team lead by providing technical and procedural guidance to employees resolving complex taxpayer inquiries involving a wide range of tax laws, regulations, compliance requirements and account related issues. Distributes, balances, and monitors workload in accordance with established priorities and workflow. Ensures equitable assignment and timely completion across telephone and inventory programs. Tracks progress and adjust assignments as needed to meet deadlines and changing workload demands.
• Reviews work for accuracy, completeness, and adherence to established standards, amending or rejecting work that does not meet requirements and referring issues outside established guidelines to the supervisor. Assists employees in resolving complex or unusual cases by advising on research methods, interpretation of tax laws, and application of procedures. Maintains current knowledge of policies and directives to respond to questions and ensure consistent application of guidance.
• The Lead will be certified as a virtual and classroom instructor (if not already) immediately upon selection. The Lead will be expected to be a classroom instructor as needs arise. Provides classroom and on-the-job training (OJT), identifies training needs, and supports employee development by sharing technical knowledge and best practices. Resolves routine employee concerns and refers more complex issues to the supervisor.
• Conducts personal and telephone interviews with taxpayers and authorized representatives, including those with varying levels of understanding and professional expertise, to respond to inquiries initiated by taxpayers, notices, or internal assignments. Provides comprehensive explanations and guidance on complex issues involving multiple bodies of tax law and regulations with differing requirements and conditions, including those subject to frequent legislative and administrative changes.
• Reports to supervisor on employee performance, progress, training needs, and disciplinary matters, and provides input on personnel actions, including recognition of outstanding performance. Monitors workflow and phone adherence identifies trends or problem areas, and communicates findings to management.

STANDARD POSITION DESCRIPTIONS (SPD): PD92409
Visit the IRS SPD Library to access the position descriptions.

Conditions of employment

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.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE GS-9: You must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-08 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes:

• Applying the methods, precedents, and guidelines related to individual and/or business accounts and the specialization of the assigned workload to advise taxpayers of their rights and appeals procedure
• Researching accounts and dealing with all individuals including third party representatives, often in sensitive situations, including those where individuals are evasive, irate, and unwilling to accept the Service's or Employers position as to the determination of their account
• Servicing internal and external customers by identifying organizational functions, terminology, quality assurance techniques, and reporting requirements in order to coordinate workflow and resolve related problems
• Assessing the performance capabilities of employees in order to assign work appropriately
• Experience with organizational office operation, processing and procedures and administrative policies, to support the supervisor or to use when acting as supervisor
• Experience utilizing inventory management procedures to control casework and conduct research
• Experience coaching, instructing, and/or evaluating subordinates

AND

You must also meet the following requirements:

• TIME AFTER COMPETITIVE APPOINTMENT (TACA): Current civilian employees must have completed at least 90 days of federal civilian service since their latest non-temporary appointment from a competitive referral certificate, known as time after competitive appointment. For this requirement, a competitive appointment is one where you applied to and were appointed from an announcement open to "All US Citizens".
• TIME IN GRADE (TIG): For positions above the GS-05,applicants must meet applicable time-in-­grade requirements to be considered eligible. One year (52 weeks) at the next lower grade level is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the grade you are applying for. For positions at the GS-5, you cannot advance to the GS-05 if you have held a GS-02 in the past 52 weeks. There is no TIG restriction for GS-02, 03, or 04 positions.

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.

You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

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

The USA Hire Assessments includes a cut score based on the minimum level of required proficiency in these critical general competencies. You must meet or exceed the cut score to be considered. You will not be considered for the position if you score below the cut score or fail to complete the assessment.

Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

Rating: Your application will be evaluated in accordance with the Service's Merit Promotion Plan. A quality group rating will be used to rank and select eligible candidates. If qualified, you will be assigned to one of three quality level groups, Superior/Best Qualified, Highly Qualified and Qualified.
Referral: Eligible applicants rated in the highest quality 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 quality group order. We will not reimburse costs related to the interview such as travel to and from the interview site.

Performance Appraisal and Awards - Will not be used in determining your overall rating. Any performance appraisal/evaluation and award documentation you provide will be forwarded to the selecting official. The selecting official will review this documentation and give it due weight consideration during the overall selection process. IRS employees may obtain their most recent awards listing at https://persinfo.web.irs.gov/.

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

The following documents are required and must be provided with your application. 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/YYY 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.

2. Education (if applicable) - Refer to Qualification and Education sections above for requirements

• 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.

3. Registration/License (if applicable) - Current, active registration/license

4. Performance Appraisal/Awards (strongly encouraged)

• Submit the most recent completed annual performance appraisal.
• Submit copies of any incentive/performance awards received that may have an impact on the qualifications for the position to be filled.

5. Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) (if applicable) Selection priority program for displaced or surplus federal employees:

• Review and submit the required documentation as outlined under (CTAP)

6. IRS Reassignment Preference Program (RPP) (if applicable)

• Submit your RPP Notice and most recent performance appraisal.
• Appraisal must reflect Fully successful or higher overall rating.

7. Current Employees Documentation (recommended if applicable)

• If applying for a higher grade and you met time-in-grade (TIG) at another agency, it is recommended that you provide an SF-50(s) (Notification of Personnel Action) (or equivalent) which demonstrates you meet the 52-week TIG requirement (e.g., Promotion with an effective date more than one (1) year old, Within-Grade-Increase at the highest grade held). Failure to provide an SF-50(s) that shows your eligibility may result in an ineligible determination.

Next steps