Internal Revenue Manual (IRM) 5.4.12 Case Processing, Field Office Resource Team (FORT) contains procedures, guidance and criteria for campus collection operations FORT tax examining technicians and FORT revenue officers. The content includes criteria and procedures for FORT referrals from General Case Processing (GCP) and the Manually Monitored Installment Agreement (MMIA) teams that are considered “beyond their scope” of expertise. The content includes procedures for adjustments, Two Year reviews for BMF Partial Pay Installment Agreement (PPIA) cases, lien determinations, Assessment Statute Expiration Date (ASED) issues relating to the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty, Taxpayer Advocate case adjustments, Department of Justice (DOJ) cases, and Military Deferment Requests (for Status 26 cases only). This list is not all inclusive.

The Service has the authority to abate the unpaid portion of the assessment of any tax or any liability with respect thereof (which would include penalties and interest). IRC 6404 provides:

Policy Statement 5-1, Enforcement is a necessary component of a voluntary assessment system

Policy Statement 5-2, Collecting Principles

The IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (IRS RRA 98), Section 3705(a), provides identification requirements for all IRS employees working tax related matters.

IRC 6320 and Treas. Reg. 301.6320-1, The right to appeal the filing of a Notice of Federal Tax Lien.

IRC 6330 and Treas. Reg. 301.6330-1, The right to appeal before or after levy action is taken, depending on the type of levy.

IRC 6159(e), The right to appeal proposed modification or actual modification, and to appeal proposed termination or actual termination of an installment agreement, and Treas. Reg. 301-6159-1(e)(5).

IRC 7803(a)(3), Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

IRC 6020(a) Preparation of return by Secretary. If any person shall fail to make a return required by this title or by regulations prescribed thereunder, but shall consent to disclose all information necessary for the preparation thereof, then, and in that case, the Secretary may prepare such return, which, being signed by such person, may be received by the Secretary as the return of such person. (b) Execution of return by Secretary (1) Authority of Secretary to execute return. If any person fails to make any return required by any internal revenue law or regulation made thereunder at the time prescribed therefor, or makes, willfully or otherwise, a false or fraudulent return, the Secretary shall make such return from his own knowledge and from such information as he can obtain through testimony or otherwise.

The Director, Collection Policy, is the executive responsible for the policies and procedures in this IRM.

The operations manager is responsible for managing campus collection activities including telephone, correspondence and systemic transactions, following the procedures in this IRM. They oversee department, team and employee responses to revenue officer requests, inquiries and responses concerning balances due.

The department manager is responsible for overseeing team and employee responses to revenue officer requests for processing and inquiries, along with responses concerning systemic transactions, following the procedures in this IRM. They oversee team and employee actions to resolve balance due accounts owed by taxpayers.

The team manager is responsible for overseeing employee responses to revenue officer requests for processing and inquires, along with responses concerning systemic transactions, following the procedures in this IRM. They oversee employee actions to resolve balance due accounts owed by taxpayers.

Program Reports: The following daily and weekly reports are generated by management, and can assist with evaluating the performance and timeliness of the balance due program:

Program Effectiveness: The Program results are housed on The Collection Program and Campus Report SharePoint Site in the Monthly Monitoring Report (MMR). The MMR captures National Quality review (NQRS) results to show monthly and cumulative stats. Evaluative Quality reviews (EQRS), NQRS, and consistency reviews are routinely conducted, along with Headquarters reviews, to ensure case actions are timely and in accordance with the procedures in this IRM.

Managers are required to follow program management procedures and controls addressed in:

Managers conduct workload reviews to ensure compliance with this IRM.

The department and operations managers perform operational reviews annually to evaluate program delivery, conformance to administrative requirements and ensure compliance with this IRM.

Headquarters Collection Tax Policy and Collection Campus Operations conduct program reviews as necessary to verify compliance with IRM requirements, address TIGTA/GAO findings, and address any trends that appear.

ENTITY is the Workload Management System (WMS) used by Collection managers to extract and organize information about case activity and casework quality from ICS.

The table below provides a list of common abbreviations, definitions and acronyms used throughout this IRM.

Here is a listing of some helpful IRM resources:

General Case Processing (GCP) and Manually Monitored Installment Agreement (MMIA) departments will prepare a referral to the FORT for issues beyond their scope. Local procedures and IRM 5.4 will determine the method and forms used to make the referrals.

The FORT will assign and open a control base on IDRS within 14 days of receipt of case.

Unless otherwise indicated in this IRM, the FORT has 14 days from receipt of the case to take necessary action.

The FORT is responsible to work all Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) cases identified in the Service Level Agreement or assigned to Collection Field function (CFf). See IRM 13.1.17, Taxpayer Advocate Service, Taxpayer Advocate Case Procedures, Transferring TAS Cases. TAS requests will be received via Form 12412, Operations Assistance Request (OAR). The assigned tax examiner will log the TAMIS number into the TAS logbook.

If OAR was sent to CCP in error, the assigned tax examiner will:

Upon receipt of the OAR, contact the TAS employee to acknowledge receipt of the OAR.

All requests should be completed by the requested completion date on the OAR.

For MMIA issues, take necessary action and document ICS.

When the recommended actions in Section IV of the OAR have been completed, complete Section VI on page 2 of the OAR and fax to the TAS originator. Include prints of any modules adjusted. Write "closed" on the OAR and suspend the file for 60 days.

Purge the suspense file after 60 days.

The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, 50 USC 4000 provides for deferment of payment of taxes by individuals whose ability to pay has been "materially affected" by the individual’s military service. The deferment applies to the period of qualified military service plus a maximum of 180 days after the service period ends.

IRM 5.1.7.13, Military Deferments and IRM 5.19.1.5.9, Military Deferment define the criteria for taxpayers to qualify for military deferment. The FORT is responsible to monitor all military deferment cases in Status 26. Combat Zone cases are a category of military deferment and are NOT monitored in Centralized Case Processing. The cases are to be maintained until the military deferment period has expired. Upon receipt of a military deferment case check IDRS for the following:

If the taxpayer does not qualify for military deferment reject the case to the originator. See IRM 5.1.7.13.2, Interest and Limitations on Collection to determine if the taxpayer qualifies for the reduced interest rate.

After verifying that the taxpayer qualifies for military deferment and confirming the above information, take the following actions to monitor the case:

Review the case when the scheduled follow-up date arrives (via ICS notification); review IDRS to determine current status of case:

If taxpayer has not responded to Letter 535 by end of the 90-day suspense period, transfer the case and forward the paper case file to the appropriate collection function.

If taxpayer responds to Letter 535 take the following actions:

The FORT will process all Government Accountability Office (GAO) financial audit requests received from the Chief Financial Office (CFO) and contact appropriate areas/coordinators as needed.

GAO issues two types of letters regarding IRS formal audits and written objectives:

Collection CCP FORT assigns a designated employee who serves as a functional coordinator (GAO-FC) during the annual GAO financial audit. For more information about the overall SB/SE TIGTA/GAO audit program, see IRM 11.53.4, TIGTA/GAO.

On behalf of the Chief Financial Office (CFO), the designated CCP FORT GAO-FC employee communicates with various coordinators, analysts and other Collection POCs within business areas such as Advisory, OIC, Field Collection personnel. The purpose of these communications is to request and gather data within the scope of the annual GAO audit pertaining to Field Collection. To ensure communications are timely and successful, the CCP FORT GAO-FC maintains an updated list of GAO contacts in various SB/SE Collection departments.

Immediately after receiving this instruction and requests regarding the audit, the CCP FORT GAO Coordinator:

Responses must be prepared in a specific manner, to ensure professionalism, accuracy, and completeness. For a list of response requirements, see IRM 11.53.4.2.3.7(3), Preparation of the GAO Audit Response.

The FORT revenue officer will assist BMF taxpayers who receive a CP 522 letter requesting a mandatory two year review of their financial condition. The taxpayer will fax their financial information to the FORT E-fax number identified on the CP 522 letter. The case will then be assigned to a FORT RO to make contact with the BMF taxpayer to conduct the two-year financial review.

When conducting a two-year review, consider the taxpayer's income, expenses, assets and equity to determine if:

Use IRM 11.3.2.2, General Rules of Disclosure to Persons Having Material Interest and IRM 11.3.3.3, Disclosure to Third Parties Based Upon Taxpayer Request for Assistance.

When contacted by the BMF taxpayer or their authorized representative, The FORT RO will conduct a two-year financial review based on Form 433–A or 433–B. The business income and expenses should be updated using the Collection Information Statement on ICS. Equity in assets must be addressed in the case history. See IRM 5.15.1, Financial Analysis Handbook to complete the financial review. If it is an in-business taxpayer or above criteria in IRM 5.19.1.6.4.2, IA Requirements IBTF Express Agreement and financial information is secured the FORT RO will conduct the two-year financial review within eight (8) cycles.

The FORT RO will receive a referral if the taxpayer states they have a court ordered payment such as alimony, child support, state and other court order payments, and documentation is not received. Prior to preparing the FORT referral CCP will:

If there are increases to either the taxpayer's income or equity in assets, and the taxpayer now has the ability to full pay, demand will be made for full payment.

If the financial review indicates the taxpayer's ability to pay an amount that is different from the existing agreement and the payment amount needs to be increased, the taxpayer will be notified of the changes.

If there is no significant change to the taxpayer's financial situation, the agreement will continue. The taxpayer will be notified that there is no change in the agreement.

Update the two-year review cycle by updating the Agreement Review Date on IAGRE and input the new review cycle to ICS if there is a PPIA OI.

Update levy source on LEVYS.

If FORT RO is unable to revise the agreement or take other action necessary to resolve the case, i.e. taxpayer refuses new proposal, the agreement will be forwarded as follows:

Lockbox requests are taxpayer payments on current installment agreements or other balance dues. When the taxpayer sends the payment to the IRS lockbox without a payment voucher or there is insufficient information for the vendor to determine the correct posting of the payment, the vendor will fax these requests to (855) 613-8098 or email to *SBSE EEF Philadelphia CCP FORT Lockbox. FORT tax examiners will research IDRS to determine correct posting of the remittance.

Lockbox requests in need of research generally include, but are not limited to:

Lockbox requests must be completed and returned to the vendor via fax within 4 hours of receipt. Completed requests will be held in a suspense file for one week and then should be purged. For additional information, see IRM 3.0.230.2.8.1.1, Unprocessable Items and Fax Research.

The FORT will work adjustments, credit transfers, payment tracers, and interest abatements received in the FORT via:

Follow IRM 5.4.10, General Case Processing.

When restricted interest is present on a module the Fort will receive a secure e-mail from the revenue officer.

The request will contain the subject line "Request for Restricted Interest Calculation."

The body of the e-mail will contain:

Use the Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) software program called Automated Computation Tool/Decision Modeling Inc. (ACT/DMI), to secure the accrued interest computation.

See IRM 20.2.1.4, Normal and Restricted Interest and IRM 20.2.5.6 , Restricted Interest.

Request should be processed within 14 days of receipt only if the prior interest computation documents have been provided.

CCP FORT periodically receives requests from DOJ for signed affidavits/declarations confirming the validity and accuracy of restricted interest computations (interest, restricted interest, and penalties). The affidavit/declaration contains the basic wording used when these types of requests are received from revenue officers/advisors when the case is related to DOJ. Additional paragraphs may be added as needed to further describe the specific computations. Once the affidavit/declaration is completed, it should be routed to the FORT Manager who signs DOJ Affidavit/declaration(s). See sample DOJ Declaration Exhibit 5.4.12-1.

When Criminal Investigation (CI) conducts an investigation on a taxpayer assigned to a revenue officer, civil enforcement action may be temporarily suspended in order to allow the CI investigation to proceed. A Transaction Code (TC) 914 is placed on these accounts. CCP will monitor balance due and delinquent return cases. A TC 914 should appear on all modules showing a delinquency before the case is transferred. The purpose of monitoring TC 914 is to:

Cases will be received from revenue officers by paper files and as ICS cases. Revenue officers are required to create a NF-OI.

Non-Master File (NMF) Cases - CI cases with 914 controls that are NMF require a TC 470, CC 90 to move the module into ST 89 (in lieu of ST 91) for monitoring. This action is completed via a Form 3177 and is sent or faxed to the CSC campus. The ST 89 will remain on the module as long as the TC 914 control is open. The Form 3177 should include a history that can be placed on the NMF case.

The following cases should not be transferred to CCP for monitoring: