Field Managers are responsible for maintaining continuous statute controls using the Exempt Organization Inventory Control (EOIC) system for assigned and unassigned returns. All cases in which issues are being considered must be controlled on AIMS and EOIC, and the statute of limitations must be protected.

At a minimum, Field Managers will complete a monthly review of EOIC for the status of those returns where the normal period of limitations will expire within 270 days. Additionally, Field Managers should consider any delinquent return situations that may warrant statute control consideration.

The Field Manager will notify the Specialist of assigned returns when an assigned return is within 270 days of statute expiration. This notification will be accomplished by furnishing the Specialist with a partially completed Form 895 (Notice of Statute Expiration).

The Field Manager will maintain a suspense file to control Form 895 pending the Specialist’s return of the completed form.

Upon receipt of the completed Form 895, the Field Manager will review the tax return, Form 895 and BMFOLT to verify the accuracy of the statute date. Once the statute date has been verified, the Field Manager will initial the expiration date on Form 895 to indicate he/she has verified the accuracy of the form. At this time the Field Manager will provide any additional instructions to the Specialist. The Field Manager will retain a copy of the Form 895, which will be placed in a statute control file according to the month of the date of expiration. The original will be attached to the cover of the case file folder. The statute control file should be checked at least monthly and, where required, the Specialist should secure consents extending the statute and update AIMS as appropriate.

If a decision is made not to extend the statutory period, Form 895 will be appropriately noted and initialed by the Specialist and the Field Manager. The "Remarks" section will be used to indicate why an extension of the statutory period is unnecessary.

Appropriate notes should be made on both the original and manager’s copy of Form 895 for any follow-up action that is taken, such as the execution of an extension of the statutory period.

Upon transfer of returns, within or outside of the group, both copies of Form 895 will accompany the return file.

The Field Manager will attempt to ensure that agreed cases have at least 180 days remaining on the statute of limitations, and unagreed cases have 240 days remaining, when they are closed from the group. All cases submitted for technical advice must have at least one year remaining on the statute of limitations before being sent to CPM for mandatory review processing. A memo will accompany the case file providing an explanation by the Field Manager of the reasons the case was submitted with less time remaining than indicated in the above guidelines.

Any case with less than 8 months (240 days) remaining on the statutory period will be placed in a red folder . If the statute expiration is subsequently extended to a period greater than 8 months, the case should be removed from the red folder.

For any case being transferred (between locations/areas, closed to Processing, or closed to Review) with less than 60 days remaining on the statute, the Field Manager must notify the receiving manager of the transfer. This should be done with the knowledge and concurrence of both Field Managers. The Field Manager will hand carry, use overnight mail or use an express delivery service to ship the case to the receiving group. The Field Manager will follow up to ensure the case is received timely.

Field Managers are responsible for complying with the provisions of IRM 25.6.23.

Field Managers and Compliance and Program Management (CPM) staff are responsible for maintaining statute control for returns under their jurisdiction. This will be accomplished by the following procedures:

Upon receipt of Table 4.0, the listed cases will be checked against group statute control files and the returns or other return information, such as BMFOL, to ensure the current statute expiration dates are reflected on the table. When necessary, Form 5595 will be utilized for updating AIMS data to reflect the correct statute expiration date. The table will otherwise be used as a check to ensure that proper statute control actions are taken. Actions needed will be taken immediately and resultant AIMS update actions made. The following instructions are provided for processing the Table 4.0. To work the table correctly, the Field Manager must ensure that the following steps are taken and the proper comments written next to each line item.

If there is an account on Table 4.0 where the group cannot find any documentation relating to that specific account, but information was found on a related account, provide copies of that information to the AIMS Coordinator.

On accounts where the group records show the case is closed (other than 99 or 29 disposal codes), and the case forwarded to the appropriate Review, Classification, or Processing function, annotate Table 4.0 with closing date and disposal code. A copy of the acknowledged Form 3210 should also be attached. A "No Record" (NR) answer should not be used unless the Field Manager is certain that the case was never in the group.

When AIMS Table 4.0 is received from the groups, it will be forwarded to the FSLG AIMS Coordinator for processing as follows:

Within 10 days of discovery of a barred statute or assessment requiring a Statute Expiration Report, Form 3999, a preliminary Form 3999 will be completed and forwarded through the appropriate Field Manager or the Manager, CPM. A final Form 3999 can be prepared as the initial report, if all of the necessary information is available and the 10-day time-frame can be met.

The final Form 3999, if not submitted as the initial report, will be prepared within 60 days of the date of the preliminary report.

The individual discovering the potential statute expiration is responsible for preparing the preliminary barred statute report. This does not indicate that this person was solely, if at all, responsible for the expiration of the statute. However, this person should prepare the preliminary Form 3999 and a narrative of the facts and circumstances, with a time line, leading up to the statute expiration. The narrative will be based on a review of the case file.

The responsibility for preparation of the final Form 3999 lies with the manager of the function/area having possession of the return when the statute expired. This manager will prepare the final form because he/she is in a position to take corrective action and make recommendations to prevent recurrences.

Most items are self-explanatory; however, additional information may be found in IRM 25.6.23. In addition, close attention should be given to the completion of the following line items:

In general, only Boxes 1 through 12 are completed when a preliminary report is submitted. However, if all of the facts are known at the time of discovery and the 10-day time-frame can be met then a final report can be submitted in lieu of a preliminary report. A preliminary report will include a brief narrative of how the statute expired with a time line illustration of the processing of the case leading to the statute expiration.

Three copies and the original of the completed preliminary report should be distributed as follows:

Complete all items including the following additional information:

It is mandatory that management review any decisions that could result in disciplinary action with the Labor Relations staff prior to completion of this form and notification of the employee.

When the final Form 3999 is completed, three copies and the original are to be distributed as follows:

The Director, Government Entities will resolve any jurisdictional disputes.