IRS Accepting Nominations for Advisory Council

• proposes enhancements to IRS operations,
• recommends administrative and policy changes to improve taxpayer service, compliance and tax administration,
• discusses relevant information reporting issues,
• addresses matters concerning tax-exempt and government entities and
• conveys the public’s perception of professional standards and best practices for tax professionals.

IRSAC members are appointed to three-year terms by the IRS commissioner and submit a report to the commissioner annually at a public meeting. Applications are currently being accepted for terms that will begin in January 2022.

Nominations of qualified individuals may come from individuals or organizations. IRSAC members are drawn from substantially diverse backgrounds representing a cross-section of the taxpaying public with substantial, disparate experience in:

• tax preparation for individuals, small businesses and large, multi-national corporations,
• tax-exempt and government entities
• information reporting and
• taxpayer or consumer perspective.

Applications should document the proposed member’s qualifications. In particular, the IRSAC is seeking applicants with knowledge and background in some of the following areas:

Individual Wage & Investment

• Knowledge of tax law application/tax preparation experience, income tax issues related to refundable credits, the audit process, and/or how information returns are used and integrated for compliance,
• Experience educating on tax issues and topics with multi-lingual taxpayer communications and taxpayer advocacy or contact center operations, marketing/applying industry benchmarks to operations with tax software industry and/or with the creation or use of diverse information returns used to report income, deductions, withholding or other information for tax purposes,
• Familiarity with IRS tax forms and publications and
• Financial services information technology background with knowledge of technology innovations in public and private customer service sectors.

Small Business & Self-Employed

• Knowledge or experience with virtual currency/cryptocurrency and/or peer to peer payment applications,
• Knowledge of passthrough entities and/or fiduciary tax and
• Experience with online or digital businesses, audit representation and/or educating on tax issues and topics

Large Business & International

• International tax expertise,
• Experience as a certified public accountant or tax attorney working in or for a large, sophisticated organization and
• Experience working in-house at a major firm dealing with complex organizations.

Tax Exempt & Government Entities

• Experience with exempt organizations and/or employee plans.

Information Reporting

• Service provider, banking industry and/or insurance industry background with experience filing information returns.

Applicants must be in good standing regarding their own tax obligations and demonstrate high professional and ethical standards. All applicants must complete and submit an application and pass a tax compliance and practitioner check. For those applicants deemed “Best Qualified,” FBI fingerprint checks will also be required.

More information, including the application form, is available at Open Season for Membership – Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council. Questions about the application process can be emailed to publicliaison@irs.gov.