After several decades of working in the tax controversy arena, both in the private sector and with the Office of Chief Counsel, I am amazed at how many people have never heard of or availed themselves of the benefits that the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) provides for taxpayers. Everyone has heard of the IRS but oftentimes when I tell people I am the National Taxpayer Advocate and lead TAS I need to explain my position and what we do.

For those of you who are less familiar with TAS, we are an independent advocacy organization within the IRS that:

• Assists taxpayers one on one in resolving their tax problems with the IRS;
• Identifies systemic areas in which numerous taxpayers have problems with the IRS; and
• Makes administrative recommendation to the IRS to resolve systemic tax issues and legislative recommendation to Congress to positively impact tax administration.

TAS employees make up two percent of IRS employees. We are small but mighty and an essential function within the agency, a safety net for taxpayers in need and the voice of taxpayers within the IRS and Congress. On average, TAS employees work with and assist over 250,000 individual taxpayers each year, including individuals, small businesses, tax-exempt organizations, Americans abroad, and other taxpayers, to help them to navigate their tax issues. We also work on issues impacting millions of taxpayers as part of our systemic advocacy and research function.

Why choose a career with TAS?

You can help make a difference in someone’s life.

Every day, TAS employees help people who have been having issues with the IRS. For example, a taxpayer may be facing eviction from their home or repossession of their vehicle, or in need of a refund to make payroll for its small business, all of which can cascade to create additional problems. TAS helps many taxpayers stay in their homes or keep their cars, and helps small businesses while trying to resolve their issues with the IRS. TAS also recommends changes to the IRS and Congress to improve and strengthen tax administration. TAS employees focus on taxpayer service and protecting taxpayer rights.

TAS has positions for everyone!  And positions are available at all levels.

• Local Taxpayer Advocates: oversee our local offices and their casework, work closely with Congressional offices as the local voice of TAS, and engage in grassroots outreach to the community;
• Case Advocates: work directly with individual taxpayers to resolve tax issues that are causing hardship or economic harm, and advocate on behalf of taxpayers with the IRS;
• Intake Advocates: work the frontlines with taxpayers before opening a TAS case to help educate taxpayers on next steps in resolving their tax issue;
• Attorney-Advisors: provide advice to NTA on legal issues, write reports to Congress, including legislative recommendations and analysis of litigated tax cases, assist in TAS’s systemic advocacy initiatives and in taxpayer cases that raise complex or novel legal issues, work on issue-specific teams, and propose systemic recommendations;
• Analysts: assist senior managers and executives with large projects and analytical studies and investigate a wide variety of tax related issues;
• Senior Managers: manage other managers and large scale projects, and engage and educate the public through community outreach events;
• Front-line managers: work directly with and supervise a small team of employees, providing oversight and advocacy on individual cases; and
• Administrative support positions: help senior leaders, managers, and employees with the day-to-day operations of our offices.

You can advance your career.

Though TAS is a small organization, it’s structured to allow employees to advance their careers. Some employees desire to move up and around within the organization, and there are a lot of opportunities to grow your technical skills and to advance in management. TAS provides several opportunities for career development to allow employees to find the right job – either within TAS or with the IRS.

You have options on where you work and how you work.

TAS has offices in every state, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. You may even be able to move from one office to another in a different geographic area. We offer flexible work schedules for many positions and most TAS employees can work from home up to four days a week.

Your work-life balance is important.

TAS offers a variety of flexible schedules to help maintain your work-life balance. New federal employees start with 11 paid holidays, almost three weeks of paid vacation, and almost three weeks of paid sick leave each year. After three years, employees start earning almost four weeks of paid vacation in addition to the paid holidays. That’s six weeks of paid time off each year, plus an additional three weeks of sick leave! For those who want to work extra hours and earn more money, we often offer optional overtime for some positions.

The benefits are generous.

The federal government offers several types of insurance, including health, dental, vision, and life, and an excellent retirement plan with a supplemental Thrift Savings Plan. From the start, the government will match up to five percent of your contributions, which means free money toward your retirement from the day you start! Employees may be eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The IRS also has a no-cost, confidential employee assistance program to help employees and their families with a wide range of personal or work-related issues.

Interested in a career with TAS or want to learn more?

TAS conducts all its hiring through the USAJOBS website and recommends that candidates set up automated searches within the site. The system will email you when TAS posts positions that match your interests. We anticipate posting several new vacancy announcements throughout the year.

In addition, TAS has links on the Careers Page of our website that direct you to any current TAS job openings, share descriptions of the types of TAS positions, and provide more information about TAS and what we do. If you’d like to have a conversation with a real live person or ask questions about a specific job opening, email us and a member of our recruitment team will respond. We look forward to speaking with you!

Don’t wait, apply for a job with TAS today!  You can make a difference!