The CIMIS is a web-based application which provides a central location for users with various levels of access to input, monitor, and report on CI employee information, investigative equipment, investigations, and time reporting. The CIMIS integrates various CI management systems composed of systems that track the status and progress of CI investigations, time expended by CI employees on investigations (Monthly Activity Reports), employee (personnel) information, and investigative equipment. Authenticated and authorized users can enter specific data for validating online transactions, processing of queries, and integrating report features. Data from this application may also be exported to other CI applications, as well as affiliated federal and state government agencies.

See IRM 9.1.2, Authority, for the delegated authority relating to IRM 9.9.1, Employee Criminal Investigation Management Information System Responsibilities and Procedures.

The Director, AAI is responsible for developing, maintaining, and overseeing this IRM and ensuring compliance with current policies and procedures.

See 9.9.1.4, Procedures and Responsibilities of CI employees.

The Director, AAI, will:

The Director, AAI, will review CIMIS documentation relating to system enhancements, oversee their program, and ensure employee compliance with all applicable elements of this IRM.

The table lists commonly used acronyms and their definitions:

18 USC 1956.

18 USC 1957.

IRM 9.4.1, Investigation Initiation.

Special agents (SA) are responsible for updating CIMIS when an investigative action takes place for immediate review and approval by their manager. At management discretion, or in the event that the SA is off the CI network and cannot log into CIMIS in a timely manner, the SA will gather, analyze, and submit to designated support staff (i.e., Subject Matter Expert (SME), Compliance Support Assistant (CSA), Tax Fraud Investigative Aide (TFIA), etc.) the source documentation needed to input the investigative action into CIMIS. See subsections 9.9.1.4.8 through 9.9.1.4.10 for further descriptions of designated support staff and their responsibilities.

Special agents are responsible for inputting their monthly activity into CIMIS, either through the “Upload 5043 from Diary” activity or by entering the information manually through the “Add New 5043” activity, so that it is in the database no later than the second workday of the subsequent month. This policy helps ensure that management and HQ staff has the most accurate data available to them when running reports against the monthly snapshot.

Special agents are responsible for inputting their monthly vehicle usage and mileage, either through the “Upload Vehicle Log to CIMIS” activity or by entering the information manually through the “Add New Vehicle Log” activity, so that it is in the database no later than the second workday of the subsequent month.

When SAs request approval to initiate an investigation of a subject who resides in another field office’s territory, the SA will prepare a memorandum for their Special Agent in Charge’s (SAC) signature requesting concurrence of the other field office’s SAC to authorize an investigation of the subjects.

Supervisory Special Agents and management officials are responsible for establishing employee access to the live database by working with the CIMIS SME/User Administrator to first register the employee as a CIMIS user in the Business Entitlement Access Request System (BEARS) system and then create an appropriate user profile in CIMIS.

The Supervisory Special Agent’s (SSA) review and approve all requests for a primary investigation (PI) with the exception of those initiated/developed:

The SSA, or their designee, will conduct a 100% review of all information entered into CIMIS for the initiation request of all SCIs. This review shall constitute the mandated initial CIMIS Accuracy Review and should be recorded as an Accuracy Review in CIMIS. Although Accuracy Reviews generally only involve twelve key fields of data, the initial managerial review must cover 100% of the entries. Once all data has been verified and is accurate, the SSA will forward to the SAC (through the ASAC if appropriate) if he/she decides that approval is warranted.

The SSAs will review all discontinued investigations. The SSAs have the authority to approve discontinued PIs if they have been delegated that authority in their field office; however, they are not authorized to discontinue PIs if it involves a money laundering investigation. Additionally, the SSAs are not authorized to discontinue general investigations (GI) or SCIs.

The SSAs have the authority to approve discontinued PIs that were evaluated in their group and which were originally numbered as a PI in the NCIU, SDC or IDS.

The SSAs and management officials have the option to approve the Monthly Activity Reports (Form 5043) or allow the SA to upload the information directly into CIMIS.

Assistant Special Agents in Charge are to review all PI and SCI requests to initiate investigations. The authority to approve the initiation of PIs and SCIs, including 18 USC 1956 and/or 18 USC 1957 investigations or Title 31 investigations, may be delegated to the ASAC. This delegated authority should be recorded and stored in the field office files.

Correspondingly, ASACs have the authority to approve discontinued PIs or SCIs, if they have been delegated the authority to approve them in their field office. The ASAC is not authorized to discontinue SCIs, if they involve 18 USC 1956 and/or 18 USC 1957 investigations or Title 31 investigations.

Special Agents in Charge approve and date initiating requests for all types of investigations, as well as seizure investigative activity (SIA). The approval date the SAC enters for the investigation in CIMIS is the authorized, or “approved for work”, date of the investigation. The authority to approve PIs and SCIs including Title 18 and 31 investigations may be redelegated to the ASAC. The authority to approve GIs and SIA may not be redelegated.

The SAC, or their designee ASAC, has approval authority for investigations based upon alleged violations of 18 USC 1956 and/or 18 USC 1957 or alleged violations of Title 31.

The SAC has the authority to authorize the discontinuance of all types of criminal investigations.

The SAC will be responsible to ensure that investigations are numbered only on individuals and entities alleged to have violated statutes under the jurisdiction of the IRS.

The SAC will request in writing, CI-HQ approval to initiate an investigation when an open investigation of an individual or entity already exists (i.e., “dual numbering”).

The SAC will request concurrence to authorize an investigation of a subject(s) who resides in another field office's territory. This concurrence memorandum will be made part of the investigation's administrative file.

The SAC is responsible for the accuracy of the employee and user profiles and to assure the profiles are updated as needed. At a minimum, on an annual basis, employee and user profiles will be reviewed and certified as accurate.

The RAC is responsible for reviewing all questionable refund program (QRP) and return preparer program (RPP) schemes to ensure that they meet referral criteria prior to initiating a PI and assigning the PI to a field office to be worked. The RAC is responsible for following up with the field office to ensure that the evaluation time frames are being followed.

RESERVED.

The Director, Field Operations must approve all SCIs and SIA involving sensitive individuals and entities such as clergy, politicians, attorneys, and accountants. (See IRM 9.4.1, Investigation Initiation).

The CIMIS-SME in each field office is the primary point of contact for CIMIS issues within that field office. The SME will be the only individual with the ability to correct erroneous status code entries for investigations, as well as the ability to correct employees’ historical employee position and monthly activity report records. Additionally, the SME will be granted the permissions to perform normal editing of nearly all of the investigative and time reporting data that is originally entered by SAs or administrative professional staff. The CIMIS-SME is to be the contact point for field office information requests.

The SME will also function as the principal User Administrator for CIMIS in their respective field office or Director, Field Operations office. This duty entails advising potential users and their managers on what permissions to request; creating and editing user profiles with the appropriate roles; deactivating user profiles when applicable; and running user profile reports on an annual basis, or as needed by management to assist with BEARS recertification.

The CIMIS-SME will also be responsible for conducting CIMIS accuracy reviews. Annually, the CIMIS-SME must perform accuracy reviews on a sample basis – 25 percent of total SCIs (open and pipeline) in each group. It is suggested that the CIMIS-SME perform these reviews in conjunction with group administrative (Administrative Office) reviews. For each sampled investigation, the review should cover, at a minimum, the following 12 CIMIS entries:

For each SCI reviewed, the CIMIS-SME is to review the source documents in Total Inventory Management System (TIMS) and/or the hardcopy files (with the CSA, TFIA, SA, or SSA, if necessary) to verify the 12 fields. The CIMIS documentation is not to be used for verification. Depending on the outcome, an expanded review (beyond 25 percent) can be undertaken, if necessary.

The CIMIS-SME will also be responsible for reviewing the aforementioned 12 fields for accuracy upon closing or discontinuance of all investigations, which will include verifying the information against the Special Agent’s Report (SAR), indictment, plea agreement, and/or Judgement & Commitment Order (JCO).

Following each review, the CIMIS-SME or SSA will make an entry in the “Accuracy Review” section under “Review Comment”, listing the type of review conducted (i.e., Initial, 25 percent Sample, or Closing) and a brief mention of whatever corrections resulted from the review. If desired, further annotation can be made in the Accuracy Review activity to specify the documents reviewed in verifying the information (Integrated Data Retrieval System (IDRS) information, referral, grand jury documentation, SAR, JCO, etc.). In lieu of listing in the Review Comment all of the documentation reviewed, a statement can be made to refer to the TIMS folder for further information.

The CIMIS staff at HQ is available to answer questions in regards to the preparation and input of investigative equipment, as well as personnel and Form 5043 information into CIMIS. The HQ-CIMIS staff, as data administrators, may make corrections and solve problems. Some CIMIS activities can only be done by the HQ-CIMIS staff, including but not limited to, the following areas:

Employees in various professional staff positions may assist SAs and SSAs in updating CIMIS records regarding ongoing investigations, active equipment, and monthly time activity. The accuracy and timeliness of the CIMIS entries remain the responsibility of the SSA and SA.