Clarification from the agency

Open to Career/Career Conditional Employees Government-wide, including IRS and Non-IRS employees. Open to Treasury and IRS CTAP; Interagency ICTAP; Former Federal Employees with Reinstatement eligibility; Land & Base Management; Military Spouses; 30% or more disabled Veterans, Veterans Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA), Veterans' Recruitment Authority (for grades GS-11 & Below), Other Interchange Agreements, and Individuals with Disabilities Schedule A.

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.

• Completes contacts, i.e., conducts personal or telephone interviews with a wide range of individuals who have varying degrees of understanding, or with third party representatives, e.g., CPAs, practitioners, attorneys, who possess a professional understanding. Provides full explanations to specific inquiries initiated by the individual, generated by notices, or internally generated assignments. These inquiries involve:
  • A body of law and regulations that covers one or more types of issues each having different conditions, reporting requirements, or other regulatory provisions that significantly affect and complicate the specific obligation involved.
  • Regulations and policies subject to frequent legislative changes or administrative determinations, amendments or precedent decisions that affect specific conditions.
  • Programs that include the full range of exemptions, deductions, exclusions, coupled with business taxes involving different types of exemptions, deductions, exclusions, capital gains taxes, gift taxes, excise taxes, employment taxes, and others to advise, inform, assess and collect taxes, and associated liabilities.
• Uses sophisticated interviewing techniques, the employee reviews individual circumstances and goals, and advises on the most advantageous ways to meet them.
• Elicits sensitive, personal and financial information, e.g., innocent spouse determinations, bankruptcies, or draws out information the individual may attempt to withhold, e.g., additional sources of income, overpayments, to ensure compliance with reporting and disclosure requirements.
• Makes determinations and uses sound judgment concerning controversial matters in reporting as appropriate the degree to which the individual understood their responsibilities and whether errors in their records reflected honest mistakes or fraudulent intent.

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.
• Probationary Employee - A person who is required to go through a probationary period and then is transferred, promoted, demoted, or reassigned before he or she completes such period is required to complete the remainder of the probationary period in the new position.
• Government Credit Card - Obtain and use a Government-issued charge card for business-related travel.

• 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-time work 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: GS-5 Level: You must have one 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 with records, documents or financial accounts and applying established rules and procedures. Experience researching and responding to customer requests for information both orally and in writing.
The following are examples of specialized experience that may be qualifying. Please note that these are just examples and this list is not all inclusive:

• Applying laws, rules or regulations and written guidelines;
• Communicating orally in order to provide information, assistance, or instructions to members of the general public or their representatives;
• Negotiating with others to resolve issues;
• Performing administrative and technical procedures using a computer to locate and review records and reconcile discrepancies;
• Writing correspondence in response to inquiries and drafting a variety of other written products.

• Experience with records, documents or financial accounts and applying established rules and procedures.
• Experience researching and responding to customer requests for information both orally and in writing.

• Researching laws, rules, regulations or written guidelines to suggest appropriate actions;
• Communicating orally in order to provide information, assistance, or instructions to members of the general public or their representatives;
• Reviewing records, documents or financial accounts to identify and resolve discrepancies;
• Performing administrative and technical procedures using a computer to research and analyze records, reconcile discrepancies, and determine appropriate actions to resolve account issues.
• Writing correspondence in response to inquiries requiring research and analysis of records, regulations, or guidelines and drafting a variety of other written products.

• Communicating orally with a large volume of people from different social backgrounds in order to provide or elicit information;
• Researching regulations or guidelines to determine answers or resolve problems;
• Reviewing tax records for computation errors;
• Advising and assisting customers with a variety of problems; questions, or situations;
• Making computations to determine debt; and
• preparing written correspondence in reply to personal, telephone and/or written inquiries and performing administrative and clerical processes using a computer.

• Reviewing tax records, reports, documents or similar records for discrepancies and making necessary changes/corrections;
• Researching and adjusting customer accounts;
• collecting debt;
• providing explanations in response to specific inquiries;
• Reviewing particular circumstances of individuals and applying regulatory requirements that will best meet their needs;
• Interpreting complex laws, regulations and written guidelines;
• Communicating orally with a large volume of people from different social backgrounds in order to resolve problems and provide advice/guidance;
• Writing correspondence in response to complex inquiries for technical information and performing administrative and clerical processes using a computer.

AND

You must also meet the following requirement(s):

• PERFORMANCE RATING: Current federal employees must have at least a fully successful or equivalent performance rating to receive consideration.
• TIME AFTER COMPETITIVE APPOINTMENT (TACA): By the closing date (or if this is an open continuous announcement, by the cut-off date) specified in this job announcement, 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): Federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements. 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-05, 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.

• MINIMUM AGE REQUIREMENT: Minimum age for federal employment is 18 years old, or at least 16 years old and have:
  • Graduated from high school or been awarded a certificate equivalent to graduating from high school; or
  • Completed a formal vocational training program; or
  • Received a statement from school authorities agreeing with your preference for employment rather than continuing your education.

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):

• Arithmetic/Mathematical Reasoning
• Attention to Detail
• Customer Service
• Interpersonal Skills
• Planning and Organizing
• Reading Comprehension
• Writing

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.

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 Highly Qualified orbetter to be rated as "well qualified" to receive special selection priority.

If you are selected, you may 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.