Purpose: This IRM provides procedures and guidelines to assist Customer Service Representatives to answer telephone inquiries accurately and quickly.

The Wage and Investment (W&I) and Small Business/Self Employed (SB/SE) Business Operating Divisions (BODs) are responsible for taxpayer relationships by:

Primary Stakeholders: These responsibilities are divided into three subordinate units:

To ensure taxpayer inquiries and accounts are addressed correctly, Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TAC), Accounts Management, and Compliance Services use the guidelines provided in IRM 21, Customer Account Services.

Audience: The primary users of this IRM are all IRS employees in Business Operating Divisions (BODs) who are in contact with taxpayers by telephone, correspondence or in person.

Policy Owner: Director of Accounts Management

Program Owner: Wage and Investment, Process and Program Management, Accounts Management.

Program Goals: Program goals for this type of work are to strive to maintain integrity, quality and excellence in the service provided to our telephone customers. This is done by achieving a high customer service accuracy rate within each Specialized Product Review Group (SPRG). To continue this, the work performed is continuously monitored and reviewed for quality.

All functional areas of the IRS are committed to achieving excellence in the service provided to all taxpayers. Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) are trained to communicate with taxpayers and to be knowledgeable of tax law and related IRS operational procedures. CSRs must assist taxpayers, practitioners and other third parties, in a manner that warrants the highest degree of public confidence.

The IRS does not tolerate discriminatory treatment of taxpayers by its employees in any programs or activities supported by the Service. No taxpayer should be subject to discrimination in education programs or activities based on sex, race, color, national origin, disability, reprisal, religion or age.

If a taxpayer believes they have discriminated against on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin (including limited English proficiency), disability, reprisal, religion or age, advise the taxpayer they he/she can forward an email to: *EDI.Civil.Rights.Division@irs.gov or send a written complaint to: Internal Revenue Service, Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, CRU, 1111 Constitution Ave, NW, Room 2413, Washington, DC 20224. To obtain a complaint online, it can be found at Civil Rights On-Line Form.

To ensure quality service for our customers, all work performed by CSRs is subject to review. Some of this work is reviewed by the Centralized Quality Review System (CQRS) and some of the work is reviewed by the Program Analysis System (PAS). The national review is designed to review all phases of telephone contacts (account and tax law calls), email, and closed cases (both paper and telephone initiated).

The results of these reviews are input to the National Quality Review System (NQRS). NQRS is available to all authorized users. Refer to IRM 21.10.1, Embedded Quality (EQ) Program for Accounts Management, Campus Compliance Services, Field Assistance, Tax Exempt/Government Entities, Return Integrity and Correspondence Services (RICS), and Electronic Products and Services Support, for more information.

A CSR (referred to throughout this section) includes, but is not limited to, the following named positions:

The duties of a CSR are varied. Many hours are spent on the telephone, working paper cases, or assisting taxpayers at a TAC counter. Paper cases include both incoming taxpayer correspondence and internally generated cases.

The duties of a CSR may include, but are not limited to:

Taxpayer inquiries include telephone calls, correspondence, and personal contacts about:

Tax law assistance includes responding to inquiries regarding:

See IRM 21.1.1.3.1, Out of Scope and Limited Service, for information regarding the services CAS Accounts Management does not provide.

Field Assistance representatives should refer to IRM 21.3.4.9, Tax Law Assistance, for overall guidance on responding to tax law inquiries and IRM 21.3.4.9.2.2, Out-of-Scope Tax Law Referrals, to determine if the question is considered in-scope or out-of-scope.

Field Assistance (FA) has implemented the FA Appointment Services in Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs). AM employees answer these calls on a designated toll-free line, and schedule appointments only after trying to resolve the issue (if certified or trained) and offer other alternatives (self-help) to the taxpayer. In the event a TAC Appointment call is received by an assistor not staffing Agent Groups 55 or 56, even if trained, the employee must provide the taxpayer the toll-free number (844-545-5640).

AM does not answer Out-of-Scope (OOS) tax law questions. Topics listed in the TTG (as well as those listed in Exhibit 21.1.1-1) under extension 3013 and 3014 are OOS tax law topics. Taxpayers should be referred to the self-help options on OOS tax law questions. See Exhibit 21.1.1-2 Out-of-Scope Communications, for further instructions.

The IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (IRS RRA 98), IRC 3705(a), provides identification requirements for all IRS employees working tax related matters.

You must provide, in a professional and courteous manner, the following information to each taxpayer/authorized representative/caller you speak with during the contact:

Greet the caller.

Respond to the caller's opening statement.

Transferring calls to the Spanish gate. When an assistor receives a call from a Spanish speaking individual and is unable to complete Disclosure Authentication or obtain Oral Disclosure Consent because the caller speaks limited (or no) English, it is appropriate to transfer the call to the Spanish gate. Refer to the Telephone Transfer Guide for a list of topics and transfer numbers to refer the caller. This follows the specialized product review group (SPRG) definition in IRM 21.10.1.4.1.12, Definition of Spanish Tax Law and Account Calls SPRG.

Over the Phone Interpreter Service (OPI) Applications - Accounts Management has specific applications which are staffed to offer interpreter services for customers who do not speak English or Spanish. A group of specialized assistors staffing applications 33, 123, 135 and 137 are assigned an OPI PIN and provided training for interpreter service access. Only assistors who are trained and equipped will utilize the interpreter service. If you receive a call in a language other than English or Spanish and you are not staffing one of the applications that provide OPI service, refer to the Telephone Transfer Guide (TTG), Other Languages section for a list of topics and transfer numbers to refer the customer. Important - If the customer speaks Spanish, refer the caller to the appropriate Spanish application. The OPI applications are only for assistance in languages other than English or Spanish.

Assistors staffing OPI applications must verify that the caller is properly routed and requires assistance in a language other than English or Spanish. After greeting the caller, probe to identify which language the interpreter service will need to translate.

The IRS/OPI contract allows the disclosure of tax information to the OPI Interpreter. The assistor should limit disclosure to only that information necessary to resolve the issue. The interpreters are not employees of the IRS so communicate with them exactly as you would communicate with the taxpayer. To use the OPI services, take the following steps:

OPI Assistors Staffing Non-OPI Applications: If you have an OPI PIN but are staffing a non-OPI application, and the caller needs an interpreter for a language other than English or Spanish, transfer the caller to the appropriate OPI application according to the Telephone Transfer Guide, Other Languages Section.

Assistors Who Do Not Staff OPI Applications – Not all assistors are assigned to staff OPI applications and will not utilize OPI services. Assistors who are not staffing an OPI application provide assistance in English and Spanish only. Assistors must transfer requests for languages other than English or Spanish following the Telephone Transfer Guide (TTG), Other Languages section for a list of topics and transfer numbers to refer the customer. If the customer speaks Spanish, refer the caller to the appropriate Spanish application, according to the Telephone Transfer Guide.

Target the caller's question.

Disclosure check (for account calls only). Follow the guidelines outlined in IRM 21.1.3.2.3, Required Taxpayer Authentication, and IRM 21.1.3.2.4, Additional Taxpayer Authentication.

Get the necessary facts.

Provide assistance.

If a caller requests to speak to a supervisor, follow the instructions below.

Close the Conversation.

Any telephone call not finalized by close of business (COB) may become a written referral. Apologize to the caller and explain that additional research is needed to answer their question. Offer to prepare a referral and advise the taxpayer of the 30-day time frame for a response. If the taxpayer does not want to wait 30 days for a response, advise the caller to call back and provide the hours of operation. See IRM 21.3.5.2, What Is a Referral, for more instructions.

Use of wrap time should be minimal except in rare instances. CSRs are expected to complete calls (account adjustments, tax related research and writing Account Management Services (AMS) notes) while on the line or on hold with the caller. If the taxpayer does not want to be placed on hold while specific actions are being performed on the account, wrap time should be used to close out notes being made to the account. For more information regarding completing on-line account inquires, see IRM 21.1.3.20 (2), Oral Statement Authority.

To ensure that you provide quality service, when assisting callers who visit in person or who call on the telephone with tax law/technical inquiries, you must use the available ITLA Tax Law Categories (TLCs) or the relevant IRMs for account inquiries.

UsingITLAand taking the actions specified is mandatory on tax law/technical inquiries.

Use the Account Management Services (AMS) or CIS case notes, as appropriate, to document outgoing calls and actions taken.

When an account related call turns into a tax law/technical inquiry, you must use ITLA.

You can answer a call received on any tax law application, if you are trained and are certified, for the current filing season, on the tax law/technical topic in question. If you are not certified on that topic, offer the taxpayer a choice to go to IRS.gov or transfer the call to the proper application, using the TTG on SERP.

You must address all pertinent taxpayer/caller authentication probes, when necessary. See IRM 21.1.3.2.3, Required Taxpayer Authentication.

When you make outgoing phone calls, or when you leave a voice mail message in response to a caller's voice mail message (not a controlled case), state the following:

When you initiate an outgoing phone call, the taxpayer may be reluctant to give you his/her TIN. To ease any concerns that the taxpayer may have, provide the taxpayer with the last four digits of his/her TIN (social security number/employer identification number). Then, request that the taxpayer verify the first five digits. After you verify the TIN, follow IRM 21.1.3.2.3, Required Taxpayer Authentication.

When making outgoing calls, do not:

Employee personal cell phones and other electronic devices (IPads, tablets, etc.) may be brought into the work place, but are to be used ONLY during breaks and lunchtime, or prior to or after an employee's official tour of duty. Employees should not interrupt their calls and conversations with taxpayers, third parties, and/or other IRS employees to take an incoming call on their personal cell phones. This also includes incoming and outgoing phone media such as text messages and emails. All personal cell phones should be silenced to avoid distractions and disturbances during working hours. Additionally, SKYPE should only be used for work related matters.

When staffing account applications on the toll-free telephone lines, do not immediately ask the taxpayer for a notice or letter number to determine the reason they called, unless required by the IRM. It is not required and increases the amount of time it takes to handle the call. Perform routine account research to obtain notice and letter numbers. Ask the caller to identify the notice or letter if it is unobtainable from account research. The last notice (most recent notice) sent to the taxpayer can be found in the top section of Command Code (CC) TXMOD. Notices sent can also be identified in the Posted Transaction section of CC TXMOD in the miscellaneous field of a transaction code (TC) 971 action code (AC) 804. Additional notice information can be found in the history sections of CC TXMOD. Letter numbers can be found on CC ENMOD.

The PSTN is a menu-based, call-routing Voice Response Unit (VRU) application that permits callers to self-direct their calls to designated IRS resources/applications.

The PSTN systemically answers a call and initiates an automated greeting script. Through voice prompts, PSTN then routes the call to a requested destination. If a caller:

The information on e-Service products is now found in IRM 21.2.1.53, e-Services.

Contact Recording is a telephone application/tool/system that records incoming toll-free telephone contacts for the purpose of possible subsequent monitoring.

Incoming calls are answered with an additional announcement that states, "Your call may be monitored or recorded for quality purposes."

The system is implemented in all Accounts Management and Compliance Services call sites.

Managers and Quality Review use the tool to perform required random reviews (performance and product) of incoming telephone contacts.

While the system provides screen capture of account actions, as well as voice recording of the call, the recordings are NOT accessible by TIN, voice processing personal identification number (VPIN), personal identification number (PIN), or any other TIN.

The system stores data by employees' standard employee identifier (SEID) for a maximum of 45 days. For IUP sites, an Agent Number is used.

There is a procedure, within the system, to disable the recording if a caller indicates that he/she does not wish to be recorded. Use the Verint Agent Initiated Monitoring icon on the start task bar and select Stop Monitoring to stop recording if the taxpayer requests not to be recorded.

If the caller also asks to record the conversation, advise the caller that he/she may not record the call. Advise the caller that he/she may request a copy of the call under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Field Collection Action. See IRM 21.1.3.17.3, Taxpayer Request to Tape Record Conversation. Advise the caller this request must be in writing and contain the date, name and ID/badge number of the CSR, and the approximate time of the call. Also, in order for IRS to locate and associate the call with the requester, there must be some identification of the taxpayer (name, address, TIN, etc.) during the call. The FOIA request cannot be processed without this information. See IRM 21.1.3.17.1 (5), Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), for FOIA recording requests.