Field Assistance established various measures and key indicators to determine the quality of service that we provide to our customers. An important key indicator is the timeframe in which we provide service to our customers and the time spent waiting in our lobbies for this service. The goal is to begin service to our taxpayers within 30 minutes of arrival without jeopardizing quality.

The following are recommendations that will assist you in controlling the traffic and customer service delays in your TACs:

The Wait Time Report (Weekly Score Card) measures the following categories:

All Field Assistance groups will use a standard process for directing customers on using Q-MATIC. The processes for Full Q-MATIC and Q-LITE/Hybrid sites are defined below.

Q-LITE/Hybrid Sites:

To ensure technical employees working in TACs have sufficient, effective training an ITAS curriculum has been developed. Topics in this curriculum include:

In addition to completing the ITAS curriculum, all technical employees must attend Continuing Professional Education (CPE) each year. Contact the Training Coordinator for your Area for information on CPE schedules.

Employee training history should be kept up-to-date on the Enterprise Learning Management System (ELMS). If corrections are needed, complete Form 12201 and forward to the Training Coordinator for your Area. Contact the Training Coordinator to enroll employees in training classes, or determine the course availability via CENTRA.

Field Assistance Group Managers (GM) must be trained in Field Assistance policies, procedures, and systems to effectively manage a TAC. All Field Assistance GMs are required to complete the "Managing A TAC" course. This course covers topics such as Manager Interaction, Evaluating Employees, Security, TAC Services, Filing Season Readiness, and Timekeeping. GMs should also plan to attend CPE each year.

GMs also share in the responsibility of ensuring employees are adequately trained. See IRM 1.4.11.13.1 for information that will assist GMs with this responsibility.

This section discusses the roles and responsibilities of those who develop, update, and review training material, and those responsible for training delivery. Project Leads, Program Analysts, and Training Analysts all have vital roles in ensuring quality training material exists and is taught in the most efficient, effective manner.

As a manager of a TAC, you need to help your employees achieve quality assistance goals. These goals consist of:

The most effective and efficient way to maintain and enhance the quality of service provided is by monitoring or directly observing the performance of employees.

Routine monitoring using Contact Recording and/or direct observation process allows you to:

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In order to monitor effectively, you should do the following:

When analyzing quality service performance trends, consider the following:

The effectiveness of a TAC operation is enhanced by the level of the managers involvement and commitment to the overall review process. See Exhibit 1.4.11-9 which contains a consolidated listing of all reviews, reports and certifications to be performed by the manager. See Exhibit 1.4.11-10for a listing of the mandatory reviews, reports and certifications to be performed by the manager. See Exhibit 1.4.11-11 Review Plan of Group Manager Mandatory Reviews as a tool for monitoring the completion of the mandatory reviews.

Field Assistance Contact Recording (FACR) and/or Direct Observation are the methods used in monitoring the quality of assistance that employees provide taxpayers.

You should ensure this is accomplished in such a way as to cause the least disturbance to the employee and taxpayer.

During Direct Observation avoid being drawn into the conversation between the taxpayer and the employee. As much as possible, you should attempt to stay in the background. ( Initiate a private conversation with the employee to ensure a customer doesn’t leave with inaccurate or incomplete information, such as asking the employee to step away to join you in the review of a new document related to the customer's issue. )

Technical accuracy and timeliness of responses should be evaluated, as well courtesy and professionalism.

Review written documents prepared by the FA employee to ensure a quality work product. The documents may include but are not limited to:

Review administrative documents to ensure they are timely and accurately completed. These include the following:

Q-MATIC reports provide information regarding types of contact(s), taxpayer waiting time, and time spent per contact. Locations without Q-MATIC must use Form 6148 to record this information.

The review of Form 3210 will assist you in determining the timely forwarding of returns, remittances and Forms W-7.

TACs where IAR/Secretary or Managers are located must reconcile Form 795 of other employees before submission to the appropriate Submission Processing Center. This reconciliation must be completed and not delay the transmission of the remittance packages. Remittance must be transmitted the day of receipt or the next business day.

The performance appraisal serves as a record of performance to support, recommend, and initiate such actions as within-grade pay increases, promotions, awards, reassignments, demotions, or separations and to provide the employee with a basis for further training and development, and to improve the performance of individual employees.

Annual appraisals will be completed for employees based upon the last digit of the employee’s social security number. They are due by the last day of the month following the end of the employee’s rating period.

Annual appraisals will be documented on Form 6850 BU, Bargaining Unit Performance Appraisal and Recognition Election. Form 6850 BU must be entered into HR Connect, e-Performance.

See Exhibit 1.4.11-13, Annual Appraisal Due Dates.

Operational Reviews will be conducted annually. Headquarters’ staff will conduct reviews of the Area Offices; the Area Offices will conduct reviews of the Territories; and the Territories will conduct reviews of the Groups.

The Director of Field Assistance on an annual basis, may suggest additional areas of emphasis based on the Program Letter and Commitments.

The reviews at a minimum will include:

An Operational Review Follow-Up will include a summary of actions described, date to be completed and the responsible official. The review may include best practices that can be shared with others. The follow-up items will be reported until the established monthly reporting processes have been completed.

Midyear Progress Review discussions should indicate progress on critical performance expectations as well as any necessary adjustments to those expectations providing employees with ongoing, formal feedback during the appraisal period.

The progress review must be documented in writing to aid discussion and to verify that it has taken place. However, you are not required to write a comprehensive narrative as you would for an appraisal. If the employee is performing at a fully successful or better level, the narrative need only address the employee's overall performance in general terms, without the specificity required for an annual appraisal.

However, if the employee's performance is less than fully successful, you need to give more specific information and include a plan of action to assist the employee to improve.

Elements must be noted in the progress review. The manager will advise the employee of the level of performance required and provide examples of both strong and weak areas of performance.

The date that the Midyear discussion was held must be entered into HR Connect, e-Performance.

Departure appraisals serve as a record of performance that is issued when an employee or the Group Manager (rating official) moves from a permanent or temporary assignment to another permanent assignment.

Departure appraisals must be completed within 30 days of the departure of either the employee or manager. To receive a departure appraisal, the employee's performance must have been observed under a signed performance plan for at least 60 days.

Departure appraisals will be documented on Form 6850 BU, Bargaining Unit Performance Appraisal and Recognition Election. A signature by a reviewing official is not required unless the departure appraisal will also be used as the employee’s annual rating of record.

Engaging employees in the decision making process impacts customer service and employee satisfaction.

You should collaborate with and involve employees in problem solving and in developing creative ideas to achieve business results.

Elements that are key to engaging your employees are:

It is recommended that you take time during regularly weekly scheduled group meetings to engage employees in this important part of their job.

Refer to the Management Tool for Engaging the Workforce Workshop, Student Guide at the following web address cledocs/engage_student_guide.pdf

The Field Media Relations Specialist serves as the focal point for contacts made by the media. Normally media representatives will contact the Field Media Relations to make inquiries or to arrange for contacts with other Service officials.

There have been instances where the media representative may come directly to the TAC. In such instances, it is important that the employee contacted refers the media representative to the Field Media Relations Specialist or the Field Media Relations Office.

Ensure compliance with the security standards contained in IRM 10.8, Information Technology(IT) Security. Additional guidelines can also be found in IRM 21.1.3, Operational Guidelines Overview.

It is important that you have a basic working knowledge of security requirements for tax return information, remittances, IDRS passwords, date and disclaimer stamps, and Law Enforcement Manuals (LEM). Minimum security standards for those areas are contained in IRM 10.8, Information Technology(IT) Security.

IRS laptop users shall be responsible for securing their laptops at all times. For additional information on protecting data using the Encrypted File System and securing your laptop see IRM 10.8.26.

Managers are required to conduct one functional security review per quarter for each TAC using Form 12149, Functional Security Review for Managers..

Disclaimer stamps are to be used by FA as well as other Service employees to stamp and date all self-help returns they have prepared. Only those returns that a FA employee has assisted in preparing and has been left by the taxpayer for further IRS processing must be stamped with a disclaimer.

FA employees must not write on returns, unless the taxpayer is present. Returns the taxpayer takes with him or her for further consideration or for the spouses's signature should not be stamped.

The FA employee is not required to stamp the taxpayer's copy of his/her return unless the taxpayer specifically makes the request.

All self-help returns prepared in the TAC and left for processing by the IRS should be done in accordance with instructions in IRM 21.3.4, Field Assistance.

The various stamps required within IRM 21.3.4 are:

Ensure your TAC has a date stamp that reads "Proof of Delivery Only - Not an Official Receipt" for stamping a photocopy of the taxpayer's check or money order when a taxpayer wants proof of a non-cash payment.

All official IRS stamps (UNITED STATES TREASURY, RECEIVED, RECEIVED WITH REMITTANCE, AND PROOF OF DELIVERY ONLY NOT AN OFFICIAL RECEIPT) must be stored in a locking container when not in use.

A centralized Form 795 and Form 3210 control file must be maintained by each manager. Form 795 will be used to submit all remittances to the appropriate Submission Processing Center (SPC). The Form 795 will be processed as stated in IRM 21.3.4. Form 3210 should be used when sending documents and used as a document to acknowledge receipt.

Each employee will prepare Form 795 and provide one copy to the group manager (or designee) for control purposes. When Form 3210 is used a copy should be provided for the centralized files and acknowledgements verified.

The manager (or designee) will establish a system to track acknowledged copies of Form 795 and Form 3210 that are not received from the SPC within 10 business days of the date sent to the SPC.

The manager (or designee) will document follow-up with the SPC when Form 795and Form 3210are not received from the SPC within the established timeframe.

The group’s copy of Form 795 and Form 3210 will be maintained for 3 years. Managers of small TACs (1-2 persons) can maintain their files at the office where they are physically located rather than the originating location.

The employee should maintain their copy of the Form 795 and Form 3210until the acknowledgement copy is received from the Submission Processing center. After the acknowledgement copy is received the employee is not required to maintain their copy of the Form 795.

Group managers will develop a system to notify employees when the acknowledged Form 795 and Form 3210 are received from the SPC. The manager can accomplish this by allowing employees access to the acknowledged copies of Form 795 maintained for the group.

The acknowledgement copy of Form 795 and Form 3210 received from SPC must be documented with the date it is received in the TAC.

Form 5919Teller’s Error Advice is issued by Submission Processing Centers to inform Field Assistance managers when critical errors are observed on any remittance documents. Forms 5919 are usually issued as an electronic document via E-mail to the TAC manager. Critical errors are those conditions that correlate to potential waste, fraud, abuse, theft, or embezzlement such as late remittances, remittance missing, official receipts issued out of sequence, incorrect money amounts, late cash conversion or missing cash conversion information.

Generally, Field Assistance managers are allowed 15 days from the date of issuance to respond to an electronic Form 5919. If there is a business need, such as a remittance missing, the timeframe for responding will be shortened. Occasionally, Forms 5919 are issued for information purposes only. If so, the block marked ""No Response Necessary" will be checked. An automatic response is generated when the electronic Form 5919is read.

If a Form 5919is not responded to within the requested timeframe, a second Form 5919will be issued by the Submission Processing Center. The E-mail will be clearly marked as "second notice" . The TAC manager will be allowed 5 days to respond to a second notice unless there is a business reason to shorten the response time.

If the second notice is not responded to timely, the territory manager will be contacted. If further information is needed to resolve a Form 5919issue, the issuing Submission Processing Center can provide a copy of the posting document, payment document and Form 795 to the group manager.

It is important to ensure that data on Microsoft Outlook is correct to ensure proper routing of Form 5919. Inform the designated Submission Processing Center Field Office Payment Processing liaison of any changes to managers and the employees assigned to them. An automatic response is generated when the electronic 5919 is read, the SPC uses the date the Form 5919is transmitted as the received date for the manager.

The manager must sign the Form 5919and forward it back to the issuing Submission Processing Center. Managers will share Form 5919notices with the responsible employee and obtain a signature and/or response from the employee.

A listing of the designated Submission Processing sites, a listing of key remittance processing contacts, and additional data regarding remittance processing is available on the Submission Processing website. Once on the site, select the following:

There must be a control file set up in a centralized area determined by the group manager for all Forms 5919 received by the group. Form 5919must be destroyed after 3 years from the date of issuance, except for 5919’s issued on 809 receipts. Retention of Form 5919on 809’s is 3 years from the date the last Form 809 in the book is issued.