Purpose: This IRM section provides instructions for Collection employees regarding the processing of Trust Fund Recovery Penalty (TFRP) case files.

Audience: The primary users of this IRM are employees of Civil Enforcement Advice and Support Operations (CEASO) Control Point Monitoring (CPM).

Policy Owner: Director, Collection Policy, Small Business/Sell-Employed Division (SB/SE).

Program Owner: Collection Policy, SB/SE, Employment Tax (ET) is the program owner of this IRM.

Primary Stakeholders:

Program Goals: The Trust Fund Recovery Penalty (TFRP) is based on IRC 6672. It serves three purposes:

Contact Information: Recommendations and suggested changes to this IRM should be emailed to the Content Product Owner. The owner is indicated on the Product Catalog Information page which is found in the Forms/Pubs/Products IRM listing of the Media and Publications web site.http://publish.no.irs.gov/catlg.html#tab=tab1.

The Automated Trust Fund Recovery (ATFR) program is a National Standard Application used to control TFRP case inventories. Control Point Monitoring (CPM) is one of three components of the ATFR program. The CPM component of the program, located in Advisory, is responsible for ensuring that TFRP case files are submitted by Field Collection (FC) and the final disposition of the case has been accurately recorded on the ATFR system. The ATFR CPM Inventory consists of four separate inventories:

CPM has the ability to record the following information on ATFR:

CPM must maintain an accurate ATFR employee control structure. The employee control structure should contain all of the groups/territories serviced by CPM, so cases appear correctly on ATFR inventory screens and reports. CPM users should use ATFR "Resync" on a regular basis to account for any changes to the TSIGNs within their assigned range.

Cases received from ROs within a CPM’s assigned work structure should be processed by CPM regardless of the address of the business entity.

Cases are systemically added to the CPM inventory after the revenue officer (RO) selects "2749 to CPM" to submit the responsible person’s TFRP file.

ROs will mail the TFRP case file to CPM after updating ATFR "2749 to CPM" . Follow guidance in IRM 5.7.10.4.1, if the case file is not received.

If there are less than 30 calendar days remaining on the ASED, the RO must prepare a quick assessment prior to submitting the case to CPM. Follow guidance in IRM 5.7.10.4.3, to prepare Form 5942, Advisory Reviewer’s Report, and return to RO if the RO has not completed the quick assessment or has failed to include the assessment documents.

Determine if the proposed assessment is a quick, prompt or regular assessment by checking the ATFR system against the Form 2749.

Determine if the responsible person has submitted a protest requiring the case to be sent to Appeals. See IRM 5.7.10.7.

Upon receipt of a Q, P or J assessment processed by a RO and moving the ATFR case to "Accepted" inventory, CPM will update ATFR with the following information:

If the necessary assessment documents are not in the TFRP case file, follow guidance in IRM 5.7.10.4.3 above to return to RO.

After inputs are complete, select "Release to SC" . This will move the case to the "2749 to SC" inventory on ATFR.

The systemic transmission of Form 2749 to the campus for assessment creates the ATFR "2749 to SC" inventory. This inventory will be reviewed weekly.

This weekly monitoring will identify cases successfully assessed through the campus and ready to be closed on the ATFR system. It will also identify cases rejected by the campus having possible assessment problems (e.g., unpostable periods, calculation problems, CI Freeze). The cases returned to CPM by the campus will be identified by an R for reject. These cases will appear on either the Accepted or Appeals inventories (the inventory case was in prior to submission to the campus). These cases must be reviewed to determine the rejection reason. See IRM 5.7.10.4.3 for Form 5942 process if the case must be returned to the RO.

Review the "2749 to SC" inventory to determine if a "P" indicator has posted to the case. For regular assessments, the assessment date, DLN and assessment amount will be entered systemically by the ATFR system.

Notate the front of case file folders with the date of assessment. This will identify the file for future retirement to the FRC.

Upon receipt of a TFRP file containing a responsible person’s protest, CPM will take the following actions to process to Appeals:

Follow guidance in IRM 10.5.1.6.9.3, Shipping, to ensure receipt of acknowledged Form 3210-A from Appeals.

Appeals may request additional information on protested cases. Appeals will retain jurisdiction on these cases if the ASED is held open only by the timely protest under TBOR-2. This is to preserve the time in Appeals plus 30 days, under IRC 6672(b). An Appeals hearing officer may determine that new information submitted by a responsible person requires investigative analysis. In this situation, Appeals will retain jurisdiction of the case and forward the new information request via Form 10467, Appeals Division Feedback Report and Transmittal Memorandum, to the originating CPM for processing. The CPM should consult with an advisor and if it is determined additional investigative analysis by a revenue officer is necessary, will follow guidance in IRM 5.1.8.5.1, Types of Mandatory OIs, to issue an OI to FC. The information should be provided within 45 calendar days of the request. This date may be extended by mutual agreement. These situations should be highly uncommon. To avoid ex parte communications, Appeals has the responsibility for informing the responsible person that the information was sent to FC for investigation, sharing FC’s response with the responsible person and allowing the responsible person time to comment.

When a final determination is rendered, Appeals will return the case to CPM with Form 5402, Appeals Transmittal and Case Memo, which will reflect the Appeals decision. CPM will update the ATFR system with the:

If Appeals sustains the original proposed assessment in full or in part generate and print a new Form 2749 to reflect the correct TFRP amount based on the Appeals determination.

CPM is responsible for timely completing any assessment action (See IRM 5.7.6.13, Quick and Prompt Assessment Actions), ensuring the ASED is protected on all Appeals cases, and inputting the Appeals determination information on ATFR. If there are more than 30 calendar days remaining on the ASED, then process the TFRP as a regular assessment no later than 10 calendar days after receiving Appeals’ final determination.

While the ASED was extended by TBOR-2 for the time the case was pending in Appeals and under their jurisdiction, it is only protected for an additional 30 calendar days from the date of the final Appeals determination as indicated by the managerial signature on Form 5402, Appeals Transmittal and Case Memo, Form 866, Agreement as to Final Determination of Tax Liability, or Form 906, Closing Agreement on Final Determination Covering Specific Matters. Take the following steps to complete the assessment no later than 10 calendar days after receiving Appeals’ final determination.

The accuracy of the ATFR inventory is dependent upon maintaining an accurate employee control structure. Advisory CPM management should establish an employee control structure that mirrors the control structure of all their CPM employees. The most effective manner of inventory assignment is to assign specific TSIGN ranges to a specific CPM employee. This will allow CPM users to view their own assigned inventory using the "My Inventory" option on ATFR.

ATFR provides the following inventory screens and reports:

Quarterly reconciliations will be conducted to reconcile the "Appeals" inventory with the Appeals Centralized Database System (ACDS) to ensure that cases are still open in Appeals.

Advisory CPM management should review ATFR inventories/reports monthly to identify any aging cases requiring attention.

TFRP case files are retained in CPM until retirement to FRC (Refer to Document 12990, Records Control Schedules (RCS) 29 - Collection), for TFRP records retention information.). The FRC requirement to retire the TFRP file, forms and documents 2 years after assessment, should be interpreted as 2 years from the latest assessment date of all responsible parties. This will ensure that all files related to a specific TFRP are associated and retained for 12 years from assessment at the FRC.

When cases are to be retired to the FRC, Advisory CPM employees will add the accession number and FRC location in the designated field on ATFR.

FRC guidelines require the electronic media be removed prior to shipment to FRC. All electronic media should be placed in the last box of the shipment. It is the ROs responsibility to properly label electronic media (See IRM 1.15.4.5, Selecting, Assembling and Packing Cartons).

CPM may receive requests for closed TFRP files from various requesters ( Taxpayer Advocate Service, Appeals, Disclosure, etc.) via Form 2275, Records Request, Charge and Recharge. If the case file is in CPM’s closed TFRP file (assessment date within two years):

If the case file has already been sent to the FRC: