WHAT DOES A CONTACT REPRESENTATIVE DO? A Contact Representative, commonly referred to as a Customer Service Representative, carries out a full range of responsibilities in resolving issues and obtaining information relative to the tax administration process. The Customer Service Representative provides a full range of administrative and technical assistance to individuals and businesses. Although contacts are primarily by telephone, the employee is the point of contact when the customer desires authoritative technical and procedural information and assistance whether by phone, written or electronic mail correspondence. The work involves diverse issues that cannot be answered or resolved routinely. In this role, contacts often involve interpreting a wide range of tax processing regulatory requirements and procedures as administered by the organization for which you are assigned within the Internal Revenue Service.

As a Customer Service Representative, you will:

• Communicate with individual taxpayers, their representatives, professional stakeholders, and other government officials.
• Complete contacts, i.e., conduct telephone interviews with a wide range of individuals who have varying degrees of understanding, and provides full explanations to specific inquiries.
• Respond to a wide range of inquiries involving laws, rules and regulations, each having different conditions, reporting requirements, or other regulatory provisions; Regulations and policies subject to frequent legislative changes, amendments or precedent decisions that affect specific conditions.
• Elicit sensitive, personal and financial information.
• Make determinations and uses sound judgment concerning controversial matters in reporting the degree to which the individual understood their responsibilities.
• Develop, analyze and evaluate information involving the research of records and the nature of each inquiry.
• Explain what future actions are necessary to achieve voluntary compliance by computing and/or advising on tax liability and probable assessment of taxes.
• Use sophisticated interviewing techniques; the employee reviews individual circumstances and goals, and advises on the most advantageous ways to meet them.

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

Conditions of employment

• Please refer to "Conditions of Employment."
• Click "Print Preview" to review the entire announcement before applying.
• Must be a US Citizen or National.
• IRS Employees on Carerr Conditional Appointments.

**AMENDED TO CORRECT CLOSING DATE / CUT-OFF DATES**

 

Qualifications

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

GS-05 LEVEL: You must have 1 year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-04 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes: experience gained in an environment conducting face to face and/or telephone interviews (e.g., collection agency, telemarketing, customer service, sales) resolving problems and issues. Experience working simple arithmetic (e.g. basic accounting, credits and debits, balancing checking account). OR
You may substitute education for specialized experience as follows: A Bachelor’s degree or four (4) years of education above high school in any field of study from an accredited college or university. OR
You may qualify by a combination of experience and education. Options for qualifying based on a combination will be identified in the online questions

GS-06 LEVEL: You must have 1 year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-05 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes: experience applying the methods, precedents, and guidelines related to individual and/or business accounts to determine the appropriate amount of tax, penalties, interest, or payments. Professionally communicating specialized information with internal and external customers verbally or in writing to clarify and resolve their account or tax issues. Experience working and/or 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 to resolve tax, penalties, interest or payment issues. Experience using interviewing techniques (e.g., disclosure requirements) to obtain and exchange information regarding reported or under-reported items.

GS-07 LEVEL: You must have 1 year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-06 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes: experience applying standard/procedural methods, precedents, and guidelines related to individual and/or business accounts, collection techniques and enforcement actions to calculate the appropriate amount of tax, penalties, interest, or payments. Professionally communicating specialized information with internal and external customers verbally or in writing to clarify and resolve their account or tax issues. Experience working and/or 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. Experience using interviewing techniques (e.g., disclosure requirements) to obtain and exchange information regarding reported or under-reported Experience using on-line systems, research materials and processing procedures to respond to account issues.

GS-08 LEVEL: You must have 1 year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-07 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes: experience applying methods, precedents, and guidelines related to individual and/or business accounts, collection techniques and enforcement actions to calculate the appropriate amount of tax, penalties, interest, or payments and advise them of their taxpayer rights and appeals procedures. Professionally communicating specialized information with internal and external customers verbally or in writing to clarify and resolve their account or tax issues and to fully advise the taxpayer of options available for meeting tax obligations. Experience working, 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. Experience using interviewing techniques (e.g., disclosure requirements) to obtain and exchange information regarding reported or under-reported items. Experience using on-line systems, investigative techniques and procedures to research materials to make determinations of the informational sources.

-The experience may have been gained in the public sector, private sector or VolunteerService. One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-time work 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.

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.
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