Purpose: This IRM discusses the roles and responsibilities of the parties active in legal and judicial actions both by and against the United States. While the Legal Reference Guide for Revenue Officers has been established as a Handbook within the Internal Revenue Manual, it is not the source of procedural instructions. Revenue officers and other Internal Revenue Service personnel must still look to the basic Internal Revenue Manual (IRM) provisions outside the Legal Reference Guide for such instructions. Constant study and use of the information contained in the Legal Reference Guide is needed for it to be most beneficial; however, such study is not intended to make lawyers of the users and it is not a substitute for any required referral of cases through proper channels to Counsel.

Audience: This IRM is used by Collection employees as a contact reference point for litigation issues and the responsibility of each stakeholder.

Policy Owner: Director, Collection Policy.

Program Owner: The program owner is Collection, an organization within the Small Business Self-Employed (SBSE) division.

Primary Stakeholders: The primary stakeholders are Chief Counsel and Department of Justice attorneys.

Program Goals: The Legal Reference Guide for Revenue Officers is intended to make available to revenue officers and other personnel engaged in collection efforts the fundamentals of legal knowledge needed in their daily activities.

In order to maintain a comprehensive reference guide, Area Counsel will ordinarily prepare supplementary material discussing the impact of local law on subject matter of the Handbook. See the Chief Counsel Website, SB/SE State Law Guides, at http://ccintranet.prod.irscounsel.treas.gov/OrgStrat/Offices/sbse/Pages/LawGuides.aspx.

The choice of subject matter to be included in the local law material is discretionary between the Area Counsel office and the functions of the Service requesting advice on such matters.

The functions and organization of the Office of Chief Counsel are set forth below. The roles and responsibilities of the Department of Justice, Tax Division, and United States Attorney are provided in IRM 5.17.1.6 and 5.17.1.7.

The function of each operating Division Counsel office is to serve the operating division to which that office is assigned. The Division Counsel reports directly to the Deputy Chief Counsel Operations. Additional Division Counsel offices will be managed by Area Counsel or Associate Area Counsel.

The Associate Chief Counsel (Procedure and Administration) (P&A) serves as principal legal advisor to the Chief Counsel, the Operating Division Counsel, and the operating divisions, on matters such as those concerning assessment, collection, interest, penalties, bankruptcy, summonses, and disclosure.

P&A will provide legal interpretations of tax law involving matters, such as collection, bankruptcy, and summonses, that will directly implicate the work of the revenue officer.

P&A has a dual responsibility - technical and litigation assistance. In its role of providing technical guidance in order to achieve uniformity in positions and treatment of taxpayers, P&A prepares various guide materials, such as the Chief Counsel Directives Manual Part 34, the texts for various training programs, Chief Counsel Notices, Chief Counsel Advice and Service Center Advice. Additionally, P&A provides formal legal advice to the operating division and other field counsel offices, and P&A's subject matter specialists are available to provide technical advice on an informal basis. P&A also pre-reviews and post-reviews certain documents drafted and decisions made by field counsel. See IRM 35.11.1-1, CCDM, Litigation Exhibits, Issues Requiring Associate Office Review, for a complete listing of matters pre-reviewed by Associate Chief Counsel (P&A). P&A is also responsible for reviewing Internal Revenue Manual revisions and updates for matters involving collection issues.

P&A also provides litigation assistance to SB/SE Area Counsel and Associate Area Counsel for certain actions brought by or against the United States. In certain litigation matters, a suit or defense letter must be referred to the Associate Chief Counsel (P&A) for review and approval before referral to the Department of Justice. Those cases or issues include:

P&A attorneys often argue motions on behalf of Area Counsel attorneys before the United States Tax Court in Washington, D.C.

P&A is responsible for preparing all recommendations regarding appellate and certiorari matters for the Office of Chief Counsel in all cases under its jurisdiction.

Even though P&A issues, such as those more particularly described above, will most often concern the SB/SE function, those issues may also concern other operating divisions. In cases where this occurs, the Area Counsel or Associate Area Counsel or Operating Division Counsel of these other functions may request technical advice from the Associate Chief Counsel (P&A).

P&A attorneys handle some Tax Court cases just as an SB/SE field office would, from filing answers to handling trials.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) generally through its staff of attorneys in the Tax Division, and the United States Attorneys in the field, are the Government’s representatives in most courts of the federal and state judicial systems and, as such, represent the Internal Revenue Service. Chief Counsel attorneys represent the Internal Revenue Service before the United States Tax Court.

The Chief Counsel’s office furnishes such assistance as may be necessary, including recommendations on offers in settlement, suit and defense letters in support of the Service’s position on pertinent issues, and recommendations with respect to appeal or certiorari of a court’s decision, often conferring with DOJ attorneys on various matters.

In the field there is usually close contact between the United States Attorneys and Area Counsel attorneys. Area Counsel attorneys furnish such assistance to the United States Attorneys as may be necessary, including preparing pleadings, interviewing witnesses, taking depositions, and participating in conferences with taxpayers’ representatives.

From what has preceded, it is obvious that the collection of the revenue is the result of joint efforts involving many individuals and offices both inside and outside the Internal Revenue Service. In order for a revenue officer to have a proper perspective of his or her role and better understand his or her duties as well as the duties and responsibilities of others, it is important that a revenue officer be familiar with the various interrelationships of the offices involved in tax collection work.

While revenue officers are not expected to have the comprehensive knowledge of the law required of attorneys, it is hoped that they will gain a sufficient understanding from the material in the following sections to recognize the legal problems that might call for reference to Counsel for consideration.

Whenever litigation involving collection matters is pending or the institution of affirmative legal action to effect collection is being considered, revenue officers will, in the main, be investigators of facts and will be required to prepare reports concerning any facts ascertained. The lawyers charged with the responsibility of handling SB/SE cases must rely upon the administrative personnel of the Internal Revenue Service for investigation of the facts in any case. The importance of the revenue officer as an investigator and fact finder cannot be too strongly emphasized. See IRM 5.17.12 on Investigations and Reports.