13.1.22. Manual Inventory Balancing Procedures

(1) Purpose. This section provides the procedures for the transfer of work for workload balancing purposes.

(2) Audience. These procedures apply to TAS Case Advocacy employees determining when to transfer a case for workload balancing purposes.

(3) Policy Owner. The Executive Director Case Advocacy, Intake & Technical Support (EDCA-ITS), who is under the Deputy National Taxpayer Advocate (DNTA).

(4) Program Owner. The Executive Director Case Advocacy (EDCA), who is under the DNTA.

(1) These procedures apply to the transfer of work for workload balancing purposes only. The rules outlined here apply to both English and Spanish cases.

(2) For N-WLB purposes, there are two (2) types of cases; English and Spanish.

1. An English case is defined as any case where:

• The taxpayer’s language is identified as other than Spanish; or,

• The taxpayer speaks Spanish, but the POA speaks English and the box in line 2 under Name and Address, of Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative, is checked (i.e., indicating notices are going to the POA and the taxpayer). English should be entered as the taxpayer’s language on TAMIS.

2. A Spanish case is defined as any case where:

• The taxpayer speaks Spanish and all contact with the taxpayer is in Spanish; or,

• The taxpayer speaks Spanish and the POA speaks Spanish; or,

• The taxpayer speaks Spanish, the POA speaks English, and the box in line 2 under Name and Address of Form 2848 is not checked (i.e., notices are not going to the POA).

(1) Each Monday morning, the N-WLB coordinator will generate a series of reports to determine the offices involved in N-WLB through the following Friday.

(2) Using the definitions in IRM 13.1.22.2, the inventory for each office is broken down to show Spanish and English open inventory. Open inventory includes all cases assigned to a CA or BCA in active status, and:

1. All cases with a status not equal to C (closed);

2. Criteria codes 1-9;

3. All TAS assigned Congressional cases;

4. All regular and reopened cases; and

5. 50 percent of cases identified as Bulk. See IRM 13.1.16.15.3, Bulk Receipts for the definition of a bulk case.

(3) The number of available CAs and BCAs is determined on Monday morning. Available CAs and BCAs are those in active status on the (TAMIS).

(4) Adjustments are made automatically to the active CA/BCA counts for:

1. Permanent part-time employees (CA/BCA);

2. Small offices (offices with less than five CAs);

3. Time spent by non-Intake Advocates (IA) performing intake work; and

4. New hires and on-the-job instructors (OJI) on partial availability. See IRM 13.1.22.5, Accounting for a New Hire and OJI.

(5) From these reports, the following information is calculated:

1. Each office’s average English inventory per CA. This is determined by the open English inventory as defined in IRM 13.1.22.2, Introduction, divided by the number of active non-BCAs.

2. Each office’s average Spanish inventory per BCA. This is determined by the open Spanish inventory as defined in IRM 13.1.22.2, divided by the number of active BCAs.

3. The national average English inventory per CA. This is determined by the open English inventory as defined in IRM 13.1.22.2, divided by the number of active non-BCAs.

4. The national average Spanish inventory per BCA. This is determined by the open Spanish inventory as defined in IRM 13.1.22.2, divided by the number of active BCAs.

(6) The following conditions are used to determine an office’s eligibility to receive or send cases for English or Spanish N-WLB, and the number of cases they are eligible to receive on both a daily and weekly basis (English and Spanish eligibility are determined separately):

1. The standard to compare offices’ inventories is the national average inventory per CA/BCA.

2. Any office with plus or minus (+/-) five cases from the national average is eligible to send or receive cases, respectively.

3. The maximum number of cases a receiving office is eligible to receive is one case per active CA/BCA per day.

(7) Each LTA office will have two designated recipients for N-WLB email messages.

(8) Once the N-WLB determinations are made, all inventory balancing coordinators will receive an email providing the English and Spanish national averages and a summary of the English and Spanish transfers for the time period covered.

(1) It is the responsibility of the LTA offices to appropriately apply the deferral rules.

(2) When a CA/BCA will be out of the office for one week or more (i.e., seven or more consecutive calendar days) but less than 45 calendar days, the Inactive Indicator field on the TAMIS Employee Screen must be changed to deferral by close of business (COB) the workday prior to the CA/BCA’s scheduled departure. Examples include:

1. CA/BCA is on extended leave (including annual and sick leave);

2. A detail outside of TAS; or,

3. On non-casework assignment (e.g., full-time NTEU/EEO).

Note: Deferral status does not require reassignment of the CA/BCA inventory. However, if the CA/BCA will be out of the office for more than 45 calendar days, his or her open inventory must be reassigned and the employee’s status on TAMIS should be changed to inactive.

(3) Documentation (e.g., e-mail) including dates, is required for non-casework assignments and must be sent to the headquarters’ N-WLB coordinator, through the area coordinator, by COB the day the CA/BCA is to be placed in deferral status. If the work assignment is for a national project, the documentation must come from the office responsible for the project (e.g., Employee Support and Development (ESD) for training assignments, EDCA for case project assignments, etc.)

(4) By COB one workday prior to the return of the CA/BCA, change the Inactive Indicator field on the TAMIS Employee Screen to active status.

(5) If a CA/BCA is retiring or permanently leaving the CA/BCA position, the employee may be placed in deferral status 20 calendar days prior to the scheduled departure date.

(6) Offices may not place a CA/BCA used as an IA in deferral status.

(7) The same deferral rules and procedures apply for an IA.

(8) The intake time adjustment is adjusted to account for an IA in deferral status. The office must advise the N-WLB Coordinator of the deferral. See IRM 13.1.22.9.2, Intake Time Adjustment.

(1) These procedures apply to a CA/BCA new hire and a CA/BCA serving as an OJI, and provide the mechanics for implementing the Deferral Guidelines issued by the EDCA office.

(2) The steps outlined in this section allow the process to be automated, and N-WLB to ensure the CA/BCA is appropriately counted.

(3) A new hire or OJI meeting the guidelines in IRM 13.1.22.4, Deferral Rules may be placed in deferral status.

(4) During the period of time an OJI or new hire is 100 percent deferred, their status on TAMIS is updated to deferral. Once the OJI or new hire has moved out of the 100 percent deferral period, their status on TAMIS is updated to active.

(5) For the OJI , the Deferral Guidelines gradually increase the level of availability until the training period is completed. No matter the employee’s status, active or deferral, their availability will be adjusted by following these steps:

1. The 3rd box of the Street Address Zip Code field on the Employee Screen is used to track the OJI through the training process. See the figure in Exhibit 13.1.22-1, TAMIS Employee Screen

2. Values are entered in the 3rd box of the Street Address Zip Code field as 250 (25 percent available) or 500 (50 percent available).

(6) Anytime a value is entered in the 3rd box of the zip code field, 0000 must also be entered in the 2nd box of the zip code field.

(7) It is the responsibility of each local and Area office to ensure the zip code field is updated no later than the day before the next training phase begins.

(1) The following type of case is eligible for N-WLB:

1. New receipt – An English or Spanish case received after an office opens on Monday morning of each week, or a case received on the previous Friday not loaded on TAMIS;

   Note: A case received and loaded to TAMIS anytime on Friday, but not assigned to a CA/BCA is counted in open inventory and is not eligible for N-WLB the following Monday.

2. Non-filers meeting the new receipt definition in (a) above;

3. Correspondence specifically addressed to a LTA office; and,

4. Correspondence addressed to the LTA. Note: Follow procedures in IRM 13.1.17.5(3), TAS Transfer Time Frames and Initial Contact Requirements for those cases where the taxpayer has contacted the office or LTA directly.

(2) Cases not eligible for N-WLB are:

1. Cases meeting transfer criteria per the TAS Case Transfer Guidelines;

2. TAS Congressional cases;

3. Cases originating from the National Taxpayer Advocate’s (NTA’s) office;

4. Senate Finance Committee (SFC) cases;

5. Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) cases;

6. Reopened cases;

7. Cases meeting the Bulk definition. See IRM 13.1.16.15.3, Bulk Receipts;

8. Cases identified on TAMIS as e-Trak;

9. Cases referred from a Low Income Tax Clinic (LITC); and

10. Schemes.

(3) N-WLB is for cases remaining in an office after applying transfer criteria and Zip Code routing. Before transferring a case for N-WLB:

1. First apply TAS Case Transfer Guidelines,

2. If there is no transfer criteria, second apply Zip Code routing.

(4) If a sending office cannot meet its daily allotment of cases, it may review receipts and transfers-in for one of the issues listed below. Only these issues are allowed as an exception to the transfer guidelines for N-WLB purposes, and only if an office cannot meet its daily allotment of cases to transfer. This exception only applies to offices eligible to transfer out work under N-WLB.

• FUTA – Open

• FUTA – Closed

(5) A case should not be transferred multiple times. This is generally not in the taxpayer’s best interest. A case transferred to balance inventories should not be transferred again. When working with the taxpayer, TAS can improve the taxpayer’s experience with the IRS by working expeditiously with the taxpayer. Case transfers should be transparent to the taxpayer, i.e., the taxpayer should not notice a delay. For some situations, any delay by TAS could mean TAS is unable to grant relief.

(6) Use TAMIS transfer reason code 0 (zero) when transferring a case for N-WLB. This transfer reason code (TRC) is only used when transferring a case for N-WLB.

(7) Area balancing is only allowed for egregious situations and must be coordinated in advance with both the EDCA-ITS inventory analyst and the N-WLB coordinator.

(8) Advance knowledge of events requiring new receipts to be re-routed is considered when determining the volume of cases a site can receive. These events may include: training events, office moves, Tax Forums, etc.

(1) All cases must be transferred within one workday from the Taxpayer Advocate Received Date (TARD). Sending the case timely is essential, especially with time-sensitive issues, when working with the taxpayer, TAS can improve the taxpayer’s experience with the IRS by working expeditiously with the taxpayer. Case transfers should be transparent to the taxpayer, i.e., the taxpayer should not notice a delay. For some situations, any delay by TAS could mean TAS is unable to grant relief.

(2) The daily transfer deadline is as follows:

• Monday – 3 p.m. local time of the transferring office.

• Tuesday through Friday – 1:30 p.m. local time of the transferring office.

  Exception: If a federally observed holiday falls on Monday, transfers are allowed until 3 p.m. local time on the subsequent day.

(3) There will be no catch up if the daily quota is not met.

(4) Use the first in/first out method for selecting a case for N-WLB.

(5) On the TAMIS inventory screen, cases are listed in criteria code order. To select a case, use a sequential order by case file number.

(6) If an office is sending cases to more than one office, alternate the receiving offices to avoid overloading one particular office.

(1) When documenting a case on AMS or TAMIS, ensure the taxpayer’s language is coded correctly. Code the taxpayer language according to the language the taxpayer wants to use when discussing his or her problem. A Spanish case is defined as any case where:

1. The taxpayer speaks Spanish and all contact with the taxpayer is in Spanish;

2. The taxpayer speaks Spanish and the POA speaks Spanish; or,

3. The taxpayer speaks Spanish, the POA speaks English, and the box in line 2 under Name and Address of Form 2848 is not checked (i.e., notices are not going to the POA).

(2) English is entered as the taxpayer’s language on TAMIS when the taxpayer speaks Spanish, but the POA speaks English and the box line 2 under Name and Address of Form 2848 is checked (i.e., notices are going to the POA and the taxpayer).

(3) If your office has no BCA, use the Spanish Partnership Chart at https://organization.ds.irsnet.gov/sites/tas/files/PolicyandProcedure/InventoryBalancing/BSP_N-WLB-SpanishPartnership.docx to determine the TAS office to transfer the Spanish language case. The Spanish Partnership Office is also viewable when transferring cases using the TAS Office Locations by Zip Code Tool. However, if an office without a BCA receives a Congressional case, the office will retain the case and work with a BCA in its partnership office.

(4) Use TRC 1 for transfers to your partner office as identified in the Spanish Partnership Chart.

(1) The following sections outline various adjustments to the case advocate count under N-WLB.