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Tax Law Specialist - Term Not to exceed 1 Year, May be extended to 4 Years, May be made permanent

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service
Taxpayer Services - CARE-Customer Assistance, Relationship and Education- Tax Forms and Publication

Summary

WHAT IS Taxpayer Services?
A description of the business units can be found at: https://www.jobs.irs.gov/about/who/business-divisions

  • Position(s) are to be filled in following area(s):
    • TS - CARE-Customer Assistance, Relationship and Education - CARE-Customer Assistance, Relationship and Education- Tax Forms and Publication

REVIEW THE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BELOW FOR FURTHER DETAILS

Overview

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Accepting applications
Location
4 vacancies in the following locations:
Work site options
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy. Telework eligible positions do not guarantee telework.
Remote job
No
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Salary
$74,678 - $137,128 per year

The range reflects the minimum locality to maximum locality for locations listed in the announcement. Salary will be based on selected duty location.

Pay scale & grade
GS 11 - 12
Promotion potential
12 - This position has career progression. If selected at a lower grade level, you may be promoted without further competition to the full working level as your career progresses.
Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.
Work schedule
Full-time - Monday - Friday 8:00AM -4:30PM EST
Travel Required
Not required
Appointment type
Multiple - Term Not to exceed 1 Year, May be extended to 4 Years, May be made permanent
Occupations and job series
Supervisory status
No
Federal service type
This job is in the Competitive Service
Represented by a union
No
Drug test
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Jobs require a background check and some require a security clearance. The type depends on the job.
Background check type
Financial disclosure required
No
Some jobs require financial disclosure to identify conflicts of interests.
Announcement number
27-13099374A-TSS-0987-11T12
Control number
890384900

Duties

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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.

  • Performs research, analysis, and interpretation of federal tax law, including the Internal Revenue Code, Treasury regulations, revenue rulings, revenue procedures, judicial decisions, legislative history, and proposed and enacted legislation. Evaluates legislative and regulatory changes affecting taxpayer reporting requirements, tax administration activities, and assigned tax products.
  • Develops, revises, and implements tax forms, schedules, instructions, publications, and related taxpayer guidance products that communicate federal tax requirements and support tax administration activities. Determines reporting requirements, develops implementation approaches, and ensures consistency among related products and guidance materials.
  • Analyzes legislative intent, evaluates operational impacts, and recommends appropriate implementation of tax law requirements within taxpayer products and related guidance. Resolves technical issues involving incomplete, conflicting, or evolving guidance and develops recommendations supporting consistent administration of federal tax law requirements.
  • Coordinates assigned products through established review and clearance processes involving operating divisions, Chief Counsel, Treasury officials, and other stakeholders. Evaluates feedback from taxpayers, practitioners, and stakeholders and incorporates findings into product revisions and improvement efforts.
  • Exercises independent judgment in completing assignments involving complex tax law provisions, technical analysis, and legislatively mandated implementation deadlines.

Requirements

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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 Period - 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.
Key Eligibility Requirements:
  • 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.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS SHOWN IN QUALIFICATIONS OR ADDTIONAL INFORMATION SECTIONS

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:GS-11 Level: You must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes: Experience with legal, tax accounting, or other experience that required knowledge of Federal tax laws, regulations, precedent decisions, or other areas related to the position to be filled. Examples of qualifying specialized experience includes:

  • Preparing, reviewing, or applying rulings, advisory letters, memoranda, etc. related to Federal taxation.
  • Analyzing and adjudicating tax claims, appeals, settlement offers, or similar work related to Federal tax operations.
  • Work as an attorney that required legal research, analysis, and preparation of briefs or similar documents interpreting laws and regulations.
  • Work as an accountant, auditor, or investigator that required application of Federal tax accounting principles and/or the Internal Revenue Code and related laws.
OR LL.M. degree with specialization in taxation.
OR A combination of qualifying graduate education and experience as described above.

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE GS-12 Level: You must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-11 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes: Experience with legal, tax accounting, or other experience that required knowledge of Federal tax laws, regulations, precedent decisions, or other areas related to the position to be filled. Examples of qualifying experience include:
  • Preparing, reviewing, or applying rulings, advisory letters, memoranda, etc. related to Federal taxation.
  • Analyzing and resolving tax claims, appeals, settlement offers, or similar work related to Federal tax operations.
  • Work as an attorney that required legal research, analysis, and preparation of briefs or similar documents interpreting laws and regulations.
  • Work as an accountant, auditor, or investigator that required application of Federal tax accounting principles and/or the Internal Revenue Code and related laws.
In addition, your experience must be sufficient to demonstrate the following:
  • Experience with federal tax laws, regulations, revenue rulings, revenue procedures and other technical related matters to address taxpayers' needs;
  • Experience with tax laws to convert these and other technical matters into clear concise, logical and easy to understand explanatory material;
  • Experience in accounting methods to interpret new tax laws and assist in addressing customers' needs;
  • Experience researching using on-line and paper methods to analyze tax issues;
  • Experience with learning theory and cognitive thinking, as they apply to the writing, design, and presentation of materials;
  • Experience with printing and design requirements and techniques, computer specifications and programming requirements, and of Standard Generalized Mark-up Language (SGML) or other designated electronic composition and publishing system to compose documents and other materials.



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.

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

Education

A college or university degree generally must be from an accredited (or pre-accredited) college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For a list of schools which meet these criteria, please refer to Department of Education Accreditation page.

FOREIGN EDUCATION: Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the requirements. You must show proof the education credentials have been deemed to be at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education program. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying. Click here (Section 3, Explanation of Terms) or here for Foreign Education Credentialing instructions.

We recommend choosing an evaluator from a member organization of one of the following national associations of credential evaluation services: National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) or Association of International Credentials Evaluators (AICE).

Additional information

Suitability Requirements:

  • Prior IRS Employment - Former employees will be subject to a screening of their prior conduct with the Service. The Taxpayer First Act of 2019, 26 U.S. Code 7804, prohibits the IRS from rehiring certain former employees who were removed from service.
  • Tax Check - Must undergo a review of income tax verification. To check the status of your tax record go to: (https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript). If you are not in compliance, you will be determined unsuitable for employment with IRS.
  • Fingerprint/Criminal History Check - This position requires that the successful candidate undergo personnel vetting, which includes a background investigation and enrollment upon onboarding into "Continuous Vetting." Enrollment in Continuous Vetting will result in automated record checks being conducted throughout one's employment with Treasury. The successful candidate will also be enrolled into FBI's Rap Back service, which will allow Treasury to receive notification from the FBI of criminal matters (e.g., arrests, charges, convictions) involving enrolled individuals in near real-time. For more information regarding your rights refer to Noncriminal Justice Applicant's Privacy Rights - FBI, FD-258 Privacy Act Statement - FBI, and SEAD-3-Reporting-U.pdf (dni.gov).


Additional Information:
  • Consider each location carefully when applying. If you are selected for a location, that location will become your official post of duty.
  • In the event that a building is closed due to rent management, new hires may be placed in a local commuting location.
  • Additional jobs may be filled from this announcement or any other source to fill these vacancies.
  • Alternative work schedule, staggered work hours may be available.
  • Salary: General Schedule (GS) Locality Pay tables may be found under Salaries & Wages.
  • Cost-of-Living Allowances (COLA): Puerto Rico includes COLA. See COLA Rates 2026.
  • Formal Development Plan - If this position is covered by a formal development plan, pay retention will be offered where applicable based on law and regulation.


  • Term Appointment:
    • If you are a current federal employee on a permanent competitive service appointment and accept this appointment, you will voluntarily relinquish your permanent status and will not be returned to your previous position upon completion of appointment.
    • You will not be eligible to apply for job announcements open to only permanent employees.
  • Term Conversion Potential
    • This Term Appointment has potential for conversion to a permanent appointment under the Restructuring and Reform Act (RRA) of 1998. To be eligible, you must apply and compete for a vacancy announcement that is in the same line of work and open to term employees. In addition, you must have completed 2 years of current continuous service under a term appointment (or any combination of term appointments under competitive procedures) and received at least a fully successful performance rating.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

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):

  • Attention to Detail
  • Customer Service
  • Decision Making
  • Flexibility
  • Integrity/Honesty
  • Interpersonal Skills
  • Learning
  • 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 Category rating will be used to rank and select eligible candidates.

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.

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.

Internal Revenue Service

WHY IS THE IRS A GREAT PLACE TO WORK? As an IRS employee, you will feel proud knowing you helped make America stronger while working at one of the world's biggest financial institutions. You will be part of an organization that collects over $2 trillion in revenue and processes over 200 million tax returns annually. We are proud of how we apply the tax law with integrity and fairness to all. The IRS hires talented and dedicated individuals from many backgrounds, including accounting, business, finance, law enforcement and information technology. You will be challenged & supported on a daily basis. Whether you are just starting out or looking for a new opportunity, consider an IRS career.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has a distinguished history dating back to the founding of our nation. As the steward of U.S. economic and financial systems, Treasury is a major and influential leader in today's global economy. We have employees across the country and around the world. Come Join the Department of the Treasury and Invest in Tomorrow.

WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OTHER IRS CAREERS? Visit us on the web at www.jobs.irs.gov

Agency contact information

(ERC) Employee Resource Center
Phone
866-743-5748
Email
HCO.TA.Staffing.Team1@irs.gov
Website
https://irsgov.sharepoint.com/sites/EmployeeResources/SitePages/ERC-Help-Desk.aspx
Address
TS - CARE-Customer Assistance, Relationship and Education
1111 Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20224
US

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