SUPPORTING STATEMENT
OMB Control Number 1545-1788
(Form 13013)
CIRCUMSTANCES NECESSITATING COLLECTION OF INFORMATION
The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel or TAP was created in October 2002 with the expansion of the former Citizen Advocacy Panel, first established in 1998. The TAP reports to the Secretary of the Treasury, Commissioner of Internal Revenue, and the National Taxpayer Advocate with oversight and support of the program provided by the TAP Director and staff.
The TAP office oversees the administration and support of TAP members, their committees, and the TAS staff that supports the panel. The “Panel” is a Federal Advisory Committee made up of citizen volunteers that listen to taxpayer concerns, identify taxpayers' issues, and make suggestions for improving IRS service and customer satisfaction. The Panel is a demographically diverse group of individuals from all walks of life with balanced representation from each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
The TAP acts as a two-way conduit between the public and IRS. The mission of the TAP is to listen to taxpayers, identify taxpayers' issues, and make suggestions for improving IRS service and customer satisfaction. The TAP is a national forum for taxpayers to make their voices heard and to help identify "grass roots" tax issues important to taxpayers. The TAP works with the Taxpayer Advocate Service and other IRS operating divisions to identify issues which will benefit from citizen input. The operating divisions, primarily Wage & Investment and Small Business/Self Employed, utilize TAP to provide input on strategic initiatives and recommendations regarding key program changes that impact taxpayers.
Members serve on two committees, an area committee that is organized geographically and solicits suggestions or ideas from citizens, and an issue committee where IRS has partnered with TAP and asked members to provide pre-decisional input on issues impacting citizens.
The TAP Membership Application, Form 13013, is necessary for the purpose of recruiting prospective members to voluntarily participate on the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel for the Internal Revenue Service. It is necessary to gather information to rank applicants as well as to balance the panels demographically.
Forms 14388 and 14388-A are used only to request feedback from taxpayers who have encountered issues with IRS services or systems. Burden associated with these forms are not covered under the PRA, because generalized comments do not require OMB approval.
USE OF DATA
There is a link on http://www.improveirs.org that takes the applicant directly to the application on USAjobs. Flyers are circulated with information on how to apply which references the USAjobs website.
New applicants for TAP membership can only apply during recruitment open season which is once a year each year and lasts approximately 4 to 6 weeks.
Information provided will be used to rank those individuals as best and highly qualified for purposes of Interview selection. The information will be used as appropriate by the Taxpayer Advocacy Service, the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel Staff, and other IRS personnel for demographic and ranking purposes. The information may be shared with the Treasury Department to evaluate fairness and independence.
USE OF IMPROVED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO REDUCE BURDEN
Applications, comments and suggestions can be submitted via the TAP web page – Speak up! http://www.improveirs.org/speakup.aspx
We are currently offering electronic filing of Forms 13013. Applicants are encouraged to apply electronically from the IRS TAP website at: www.improveirs.org. However, applicants can complete and submit paper form, if they are unable to electronically apply from the IRS TAP website.
EFFORTS TO IDENTIFY DUPLICATION
We have attempted to eliminate duplication within the agency wherever possible.
METHODS TO MINIMIZE BURDEN ON SMALL BUSINESSES OR OTHER SMALL ENTITIES
We have attempted to minimize burden on small businesses and other small entities.
CONSEQUENCES OF LESS FREQUENT COLLECTION ON FEDERAL PROGRAMS OR POLICY ACTIVITIES
The collection of information is necessary to determine suitability an applicant for the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel. If this information is not provided, the IRS would not be able to determine if an applicant is qualified for a position on the Panel.
SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES REQUIRING DATA COLLECTION TO BE INCONSISTENT WITH GUIDELINES IN 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2)
There are no special circumstances requiring data collection to be inconsistent with these guidelines.
CONSULTATION WITH INDIVIDUALS OUTSIDE OF THE AGENCY ON AVAILABILITY OF DATA, FREQUENCY OF COLLECTION, CLARITY OF INSTRUCTIONS AND FORMS, AND DATA ELEMENTS
In response to the Federal Register notice dated March 17, 2015, (80 FR 13950), we received no comments during the comment period regarding Form 13013.
EXPLANATION OF DECISION TO PROVIDE ANY PAYMENT OR GIFT TO RESPONDENTS
No payments or gifts are being provided.
ASSURANCE OF CONFIDENTIALITY OF RESPONSES
There is no assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents other than those provided under the Privacy Act.
JUSTIFICATION OF SENSITIVE QUESTIONS
Providing personally identifiable information (PII) is voluntary, but if provided it will help to ensure that the panel membership reflects the diversity and representation of the overall population.
All PII is initially submitted via USAJOBS. Therefore, the privacy impact assessment (PIA) for USA.jobs is applicable. The USAJobs PIA link is provided below:
https://www.opm.gov/information-management/privacy-policy/privacy-policy/usajobs.pdf
When the applicant clicks on the “apply for this vacancy” they are redirected to Career Connector which is owned by Treasury. The PIA for Career Connector is provided below:
https://www.treasury.gov/SitePolicies/Documents/CareerConnector%20PIA.pdf
Limited TAP employees have access and must have been granted permission to access the system. PII provided to TAP from Career Connector is maintained electronically. Approximately 6 individuals have access to this database. Supporting paper documents received from applicants are maintained both electronically and in paper form.
Paper copies are kept in a locked cabinet with limited access in the Headquarters office in DC. Electronic records are printed and stored in a locked cabinet and maintained for approximately three to six years. Paper copies are destroyed after three to 6 years.
12. ESTIMATED BURDEN OF INFORMATION COLLECTION
The burden estimate is as follows:
Number of Time per
Responses Response Total Hours
ESTIMATED TOTAL ANNUAL COST BURDEN TO RESPONDENTS
ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
It is estimated the primary cost to the government consists of the cost of printing the applicant’s application to paper. We estimate the cost of printing to be $50.00 annually.
REASONS FOR CHANGE IN BURDEN
This request is for the reinstatement of an expired information collection with changes as follows:
It has been determined that the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP) Outreach forms 14388 and 14388-A are not subject to the PRA under the general requests for comments exemption. Additionally, the TAP Tax Check Waiver (Form 13013-D) is obsolete, and will no longer be used by TAP.
Therefore, an adjustment to the burden previously approved by OMB is decreasing the burden previously approved by OMB by 128 hours as follows:
Form 14388 225 0.12 hr. 26.5
Form 14388-A 225 0.12 hr. 26.5
Form 13013-D 150 0.50 hr. 75
600 128
PLANS FOR TABULATION, STATISTICAL ANALYSIS AND PUBLICATION
There are no plans for tabulation.
REASONS WHY DISPLAYING THE OMB EXPIRATION DATE IS INAPPROPRIATE
We believe the public interest will be better served by not printing an expiration date on the form(s) in this package.
Printing the expiration date on the form will result in increased costs because of the need to replace inventories that become obsolete by passage of the expiration date each time OMB approval is renewed. Without printing the expiration date, supplies of the form could continue to be used.
The time period during which the current edition of the form(s) in this package will continue to be usable cannot be predicted. It could easily span several cycles of review and OMB clearance renewal. In addition, usage fluctuates unpredictably. This makes it necessary to maintain a substantial inventory of forms in the supply line at all times. This includes supplies owned by both the Government and the public. Reprinting of the form cannot be reliably scheduled to coincide with an OMB approval expiration date. This form may be privately printed by users at their own expense. Some businesses print complex and expensive marginally punched continuous versions, at their expense, for use in their computers. The form may be printed by commercial printers and stocked for sale. In such cases, printing the expiration date on the form could result in extra costs to the users.
Not printing the expiration date on the form(s) will also avoid confusion among taxpayers who may have identical forms with different expiration dates in their possession.
For the above reasons we request authorization to omit printing the expiration date on the form(s) in this package.
EXCEPTIONS TO THE CERTIFICATION STATEMENT
There are no exceptions.
The following paragraph applies to all of the collections of information in this submission:
An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless the collection of information displays a valid OMB control number. Books or records relating to a collection of information must be retained as long as their contents may become material in the administration of any internal revenue law. Generally, tax returns and tax return information are confidential, as required by 26 U.S.C. 6103.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | #1545-1788 supporting statement |
| Author | Internal Revenue Service |
| Last Modified By | Christophe Elaine H |
| File Modified | 2016-02-09 |
| File Created | 2016-02-09 |