The provider should be made aware of their appeal rights regarding a written reprimand, suspension or expulsion. There are two levels of appeal for suspension and expulsion of participation in IRS e-file .

The first level of appeal is the "Administrative Review Process" . A provider that has been advised of a proposed sanction has the right to an administrative review. When the provider receives the letter proposing sanctions, the provider may submit a detailed written explanation with supporting documentation as to why the proposed sanction action should be withdrawn within thirty (30) calendar days of the date of the letter proposing sanctions from the EMC. This written response should be sent to the EMC’s office that issued the proposed sanctioning letter. A local Administrative Review Panel will review the provider’s written response and will either withdraw the proposed sanction (see Exhibit 4.21.1–16), or affirm it. The Administrative Review Panel generally consists of the EMC and the Penalty Screening Committee.

If the Administrative Review Panel upholds the sanction (suspension or expulsion), then the provider may proceed to the second level of appeal to the Office of Appeals. The appeal must be in writing and mailed to the IRS office that issued the recommended sanctioning letter within thirty (30) calendar days of the date of the letter recommending sanctions. The provider’s written appeal must contain detailed reasons, with supporting documentation, to show why the recommended sanctioning should not be imposed.

Failure to respond within thirty (30) days beginning with the date of either the proposed suspension letter or the recommended suspension letter irrevocably terminates the provider’s right to an administrative review or an appeal.

A provider that receives a recommended or continued suspension or expulsion letter after the administrative review, has a right to a formal appeal.

The appeal must be written and filed with the Area office that issued the suspension or expulsion. A letter requesting formal appeal must be submitted to the EMC within 30 days of the date of the final sanctioning letter. A provider’s written appeal must contain a detailed explanation, with supporting documentation, of why the suspension or expulsion should be reversed

In order for the Office of Appeals to sustain a suspension, the EMC must provide full documentation of the facts used in determining that the provider violated Revenue Procedure 2007-40, Publication 3112, or Publication 1345. In situations where the provider is alleged to have had knowledge of a specific fact, the EMC should provide substantiation of the provider's purported knowledge. The territory office must provide a TPDS summary of the provider's IRS e-file Application and a copy of the initial and final suspension or expulsion letters.

The office that issued the letter will, upon receipt of a written appeal from the provider, forward to the Office of Appeals its file, with all related materials the provider has submitted to the territory office. The case file must contain the following:

This is especially true if the provider:

The case file of an appeal to the Office of Appeals must be forwarded within 15 calendar days of receipt of the providers written request for appeal. The EMC should provide the appellant with correspondence stating that their appeal is being forwarded to the Office of Appeals. Forward the case to:

Failure to appeal within 30 days from the date of the suspension or expulsion letter terminates the provider's right to an appeal.

The Office of Appeals will send a letter to the EMC indicating the results of the formal appeal.

The EMC must send the appeals report to the area office. The area EMC coordinator will forward a consolidated report to Headquarters.

To ascertain the number of e-file monitoring receipts/dispositions such as planned/actual visits, referrals to CI and other actions during the calendar year, the following procedures will be used:

EMCs will maintain a "Master Log of Monitoring Cases" for all provider/preparer packages of random, targeted, referrals of follow-up visits whether the visits were completed or not. See Exhibit 4.21.1–13, EMC's Master Log of Cases. This information will assist you in the calendar year-end reconciliation of area e-file visits. This year-end reconciliation will be forwarded to the HQ Program Analyst to ascertain a final count for the year.

The log will contain, at a minimum the following information:

EMCs will maintain a "Master Log for Requests for EFIN Suspensions" for all faxes sent to the e-help for EFIN suspensions. See Exhibit 4.21.1–14,EMC's Control Log for Suspensions Sent to e-help Campus. EMCs will document all follow-up contacts needed with the e-help to ensure that the suspension actually occurred as requested EMCs will check the e-file application on TPDS and put an updated print in the provider’s case file.

The EMC is responsible for coordinating all field aspects of the monitoring of the e-file providers’ operations. Annually, SBSE HQ in conjunction with ETA will establish the number of the total visits required. This number is usually a percentage of the total number of active e-file providers in the database for the territory. Prior to the completion of the monitoring visits, the EMC will:

Subsequent actions required by the EMC after the monitoring visits are completed may include:

The majority of the time devoted to coordinating the program will range from October through the end of the filing season in April, but there will be some occasional referrals, quarterly reports, and case tracking after the filing season is complete.

The "Employee User Portal" is the internal IRS portal that allows employees to access IRS data and systems, such as tax administration processing systems, financial information systems, and other data and applications, including mission critical applications. Registration and authentication are required for access to sensitive and mission critical applications, and all user interactions with those systems are encrypted from workstation to portal across the IRS internal network. The EUP also allows IRS employee users with LAN accounts (Windows Network Login) to access Intranet sites, selected applications, non-sensitive data, and selected sensitive processing where network encryption and modernization logon are not required (e.g., employee access to selected elements of their own personnel data). IRS network authentication is required for access to any secure materials or services, and is required in order to access registration and authentication. IRS employees access internal IRS applications through a portal accessible only from the IRS Intranet. The EUP authenticates internal IRS users and provides role-based access control to modernized applications. All Web sites dealing with sensitive tax, identification, or financial data will be accessed via the EUP. At this time, modernized applications using the EUP for access include e-Services, Modernized e-file and Integrated Financial System (IFS). The database will be updated weekly throughout the year. Access to the website requires completion of Form 5081, Automated Information System (AIS) User Registration/Change Request.

The e-file application database contains the following information:

The database may be searched by the following parameters:

The EMCs should contact the respective SPEC Territory Office prior to visiting IRS sponsored VITA and TCE locations. SPEC is visiting many VITA and TCE locations and conducting Quality Reviews. Consideration must be given to each situation to determine if an e-file Monitoring visit is appropriate. Duplicate visits by SBSE and SPEC may not be necessary. Also, IRS does not want to give the wrong impression to volunteers. In some cases SPEC personnel may want to accompany you.