Overview. The Commissioner of the IRS has authority to pay damages and attorney's fees from general appropriations in the settlement of the Service's liabilities on claims for violations of the automatic stay and discharge injunction. Awards are categorized as either:

Payment requests are processed through the Financial Management Service (FMS), and the treatment of the two categories of awards differs slightly. (See paragraphs (17) and (18) below.)

Processing Office. The processing office (Field Insolvency office or CIO) assigned to the case when the violation occurred will be responsible for processing claims for payment of damages up until a referral to Counsel is required. At that point the case becomes a complex issue and will be handled to conclusion by the assigned Field Insolvency office.

Who May File a Claim. The debtor, debtor's representative, or trustee may file a claim with the Service. The Service will directly pay the damages and/or attorney's fees if certain criteria are met.

Willfulness. The Service can only be held liable for damages and attorney's fees if it commits a "willful violation" of the stay or discharge injunction. "Willful" in this context means an act that was committed intentionally or knowingly. A willful violation occurs when the Service has received notice of a voluntary bankruptcy filing or of the court's granting of a discharge, and the Service does not respond timely to stop its collection activities.

Identifying Willfulness. To determine if a willful violation has occurred, Insolvency must verify the Service received notice of the bankruptcy or discharge order and:

Timeframes. Generally for a claim to be considered, the Service must have failed to take appropriate action within the timeframes of the Bankruptcy Code Compliance Program (BCCP). Those timeframes are reflected in the chart below.

Exceptions to Timeframes. Regardless of general timeframes, if an IRS employee initiates a collection action with knowledge of the stay or discharge, the action is a willful violation.

Claim Applications. Because no standard IRS form for requesting payment of a claim has been published, a claim request must be submitted by letter. Field Insolvency offices must provide a claimant the nature of the information to be included in the application letter. To be considered complete, claim request must:

Evaluating Claims. The Service evaluates all claim applications for damages and attorneys' fees arising from willful violations of the automatic stay (11 USC § 362) or the discharge injunction (11 USC § 524). Claims must be evaluated within ten work days from the date of the claim's receipt by the Service. Insolvency must review the claim to determine:

Incomplete Claims. Incomplete claims must be returned to the claimant with a letter of explanation identifying the incomplete items. ( See Exhibit 1.4.51-43.)

Non-Willful Violations. When Insolvency determines a willful violation of the automatic stay or discharge injunction did not occur, processing of the claim must halt. Insolvency must promptly forward its recommendation for rejection to Counsel.

Delegated Authorities. Delegation Order 25-10 found in IRM 1.2.52.4 outlines approval authorities based on dollar amounts.

Referral to Counsel. Any claim for more than $1,000 must be referred to Counsel for a legal opinion prior to its final disposition. A claim for any dollar amount that has been denied in part or in whole must be referred to Counsel for a legal opinion.

Denied Claims. If payment of a claim is denied wholly or partially by Insolvency, the rejecting office must prepare a rejection recommendation stating the reasons for the rejection and refer the claim application to Counsel. If Counsel renders an opinion contrary to the rejection recommendation, only the Area Managers or the CIO Program Manager has the authority to disregard the Counsel opinion.

Written Notification. Upon receipt and evaluation of a complete application, Insolvency must send the claimant a written response within 60 calendar days of the receipt date stating the claim has been either rejected or accepted. See Exhibits 1.4.51-44 and 45 for pattern letters.

Civil Damages. If a taxpayer's administrative damage claim is disallowed by Insolvency, or six months pass without a decision by the IRS or Insolvency, the taxpayer may seek civil damages as provided for in IRC § 7433.

Payment of Administrative Claims. When the claim application for administrative damages and/or attorney's fees is approved in whole or in part, Insolvency must follow the procedures set forth in IRM 25.3.3.5.3,Reimbursement of Damages and Costs, with the exception of using the letters named in that citation. Pattern letters applying specifically to Insolvency must be substituted. (See paragraph (15) above.)

Payment of Litigative Claims. Procedures in IRM 25.3.3.5.3,Reimbursement of Damages and Costs, should be followed when the claim application for litigative damages and/or attorney's fees with the exception of the forms to be used. For litigative award funding FMS Forms 194, 196, and 197A should be used.

Separate Payment Requests for Damages and Attorney's Fees. When both payment of damages and attorney's fees have been authorized, Insolvency must request funding separately. For example if FMS Forms 196 and 197 are used for the damages award, then FMS Forms 196 and 197 must be used for payment of attorney's fees.

Documentation. The AIS history must include detailed information on all aspects of claims for damages and/or attorney's fees including:

In addition, paper or electronic files of all forms and correspondence pertaining to the claim must be retained until the possibility of litigation expires. For partially or wholly denied claims, this is two years from the date of the violation.

Key Processes. Managers must monitor key Insolvency processes to minimize the risk of damage claims by ensuring bankruptcy freeze codes are input and released on IDRS timely.

Court Closure Report. Managers should review the number of cases on the Court Closure Follow-up Report to monitor inventories identified as "at risk" for backlogs or lack of timely processing. Closure actions on discharged and dismissed cases must be initiated within 30 days of notice. As a part of closing actions, managers must ensure liens are released timely when release is appropriate. IRM 5.9.17.11,Release of Liens, provides procedures for lien releases which may include requests for manual lien release.

Promoting Efficiency. Adherence to the following areas can promote efficiency in the flow of Insolvency work:

Case Grading. Insolvency managers are responsible for monitoring the assignment of case work to ensure cases are assigned to the appropriate case grade. The Case Assignment Guide (CAG) was developed to promote consistency in the assignment of graded Insolvency cases.

Pre-Assignment. AIS automates the grading and assignment of new cases received by Insolvency. The level of difficulty or grade of a case is based on characteristics apparent upon initial receipt. The pre-assignment grade is only an initial prediction and should be adjusted when post-assignment factors justify a change. Exhibits 1.4.51-33 and 34 contain the pre-assignment factors. Automated CAG uses the following four factors in the pre-assignment process:

Post-Assignment. Post-assignment factors are used either to reassign a case or to assign certain issues or tasks to an appropriately graded employee. Managers should be familiar with the post-assignment factors and take steps to reassign cases to the appropriate grade level of employee when the following post-assignment factors are identified:

Exhibits 1.4.51-36, 37, and 38 describe difficulty indicators for each of the post-assignment factors.

Post-Assignment Checklist. The post-assignment checklist, designed to perfect the post-assignment grade of an Insolvency case, is a guide for documenting final assignment. Managers are to measure cases against the three post-assignment factors before reassigning cases. While meeting all three factors is not necessary, cases will generally not be graded at a higher level unless a majority of the factors are met at the higher level or the case contains a difficulty indicator with significant impact. Exhibits 1.4.51-39, 40, and 41 contain the checklists for post-assignment factors.

Case Assignment Profile Matrix. Insolvency managers must designate employee assignment numbers for the inventories under their responsibility. All bankruptcy court jurisdictions must have an employee number assigned for every combination of chapter, case grade and alpha assignment. Once the inventory assignments have been designated, the manager must ensure the employee assignment information is entered in AIS for Automated CAG to work effectively. The Case Assignment Profile Matrix stores employee information so Automated CAG can assign cases to the appropriate employee. Employee assignment information cannot overlap. Exhibit 1.4.51-42 contains a template to be used as a guide in preparing the matrix. A template should be prepared for each court jurisdiction.

CAG Reports and Audit Trails. Automated CAG generates a suite of reports to assist Insolvency managers in monitoring the flow of newly assigned cases and in balancing inventories. These reports identify unassigned cases that may have to be manually assigned and are tools for selecting cases for review. ( See Exhibit 1.4.51-21.)

Level 1 Users. CAG has a Manager Only menu option whose access is limited to Level 1 users. This option allows Insolvency managers to supervise the assignment of work and facilitates conducting case reviews. Managers, particularly those in Field Insolvency, play a pivotal role in both the pre-assignment and post-assignment processes. They must monitor inventory receipts to ensure new cases are properly graded and assigned. They must also verify previously assigned cases are reassigned and re-graded timely when appropriate. Corrective actions must be taken immediately by the manager or designated employee in the following situations:

Case Grade Report. The Case Grade Report should be reviewed by Insolvency managers at least monthly to identify the distribution of graded case assignments. The report provides a list of employee assignment numbers and reflects the inventory distribution for each including the percentage of cases for each grade assignment. Reviewing this report will assist managers in monitoring inventories to ensure graded cases are assigned at the appropriate levels. ( See Exhibit 1.4.51-6.)

Grade Change Report. The Grade Change Report reflects the docket number, employee name and dates of cases where grades were changed. This report is useful as it reflects historical data relative to changes made to the grade of cases.

Last History Entry. The "Last History Entry" field is accessed from the Manager Only menu to identify the last AIS history update for cases. This feature can be used when conducting case reviews to identify specific date ranges for case actions.

Audit Feature. The "Audit" screen identifies specific actions taken on cases including the dates for adding the case to AIS, adding a TIN, transferring a case from one employee to another or between Field Insolvency and the CIO, or adding a dismissal or discharge date to the case.

Manager Menu. The Automated Proof of Claim (APOC) program systemically calculates and classifies liabilities to populate AIS fields so Forms B-10 can be produced for the bankruptcy court. A full discussion on employee instructions for generating and perfecting APOC data is found in IRM 5.9.14.2,Automated Proofs of Claim. This IRM 1.4.51 subsection deals with manager reports and APOC permissions, topics not covered in IRM 5.9.14.2. To access the APOC Manager Menu, the user must select option 5, "APOC" from the AIS/IIP Menu. From there the user selects option 3, Manager Menu. The two options available on the APOC Manager Menu are "Reports" and "User Access."

Manager Reports. By choosing the "Reports" option on the APOC Manager Menu, the user can generate either employee or manager reports. The employee report selection replicates the employee reports available to all technicians. (See IRM 5.9.14.2.5,APOC Report Access.) Manager reports are the following:

Assigning Permissions. APOC permissions are defined as:

Granting Employee Access. The steps for a manager to assign a user Employee Access follow.

Granting Operator Access. The steps to assign Operator Access follow.

Granting Manager Access. The steps to assign Manager Access follow.

Revoking APOC Access. The steps to revoke an APOC permission follow.

Timely Claims. In most cases to be timely, a POC must be filed no later than 180 days (the government bar date) from the date of the bankruptcy filing. (See 11 USC § 502.) Claims prepared through APOC processing should be filed prior to the first meeting of creditors. A full discussion of timeframes for filing claims can be found in IRM 5.9.13.8,Court Timeframes,IRM 5.9.13.8.1,Bar Date - Governmental, and IRM 5.9.6.8.1,Bar Date.

Bar Date Misrepresentations on AIS. The "Proof Required" field on AIS is not protected. Anyone with update capabilities can change the field from "Y" (a claim is required) to "N" (a claim is NOT required). Caseworkers can also alter the fictitious bar date field to the actual bar date. Inappropriate alteration of the fictitious bar date may give the impression more time is available to file a POC than legally exists. The audit trail available in the CAG Manager's Only menu records information when the Proof Required or Bar Date fields are updated.

Secured Assets. Where valid NFTLs have been filed and LEM 5.9.4 criteria are met, Insolvency should pursue adequate protection of the government's interest in assets that will lose significant value during the life of the plan . (Adequate protection primarily concerns Chapter 11 and 12 cases, because debtors in those cases are generally operating an ongoing business and using property subject to liens such as inventory or accounts receivable.)

Attendance by Insolvency. Representatives from Insolvency should attend § 341 first meeting of creditors when appropriate and staffing allows. (See IRM 5.9.2.4,First Meeting of Creditors.)

Significant Cases. Significant cases must be referred to Counsel regardless of chapter. (See IRM 5.9.4.15.3,Referrals on Significant Bankruptcy Case Issues.) The AIS history must annotate if Counsel has assumed the responsibility for plan review.

Review and Documentation. IRM 5.9 provides detailed text and procedures for reviewing and documenting plans. (See IRM 5.9.5.4.1(3),Chapter 13 Plan Documentation,IRM 5.9.5.4.1(4),Chapters 11 and 12 Plan Documentation,IRM 5.9.8.14.2,The Plan of Reorganization,IRM 5.9.9.5,Chapter 12 Plans,IRM 5.9.9.5.2,Plan Modification,IRM 5.9.9.6,Reasons to Object to the Plan, and IRM 5.9.10.5,The Chapter 13 Plan.)

Confirmed and Amended Plans. If proposed plan provisions affecting the treatment of the Service are deemed inadequate by the Insolvency specialist or advisor, the AIS history must include documentation of the confirmed plan or a statement that an inadequate plan has been confirmed. When a confirmed plan is amended, where the amendment affects the interests of the Service, the amended plan must be documented in the AIS history and the confirmed plan screen updated.

Multiyear Plans. Insolvency caseworkers should monitor postpetition compliance by the debtor when long term plans are confirmed. Some debtors make high payments mandated by trustees by lowering their withholding or by failing to make federal tax deposits, leading to unpaid postpetition taxes. BAPCPA added provisions to address postpetition tax compliance in bankruptcy cases. Any case filed on or after October 17, 2005, under any chapter, is subject to dismissal or conversion if the debtor fails to file a postpetition return. (See 11 USC § 521(j)). A specific provision regarding postpetition compliance was added for Chapter 11 cases. In Chapter 11 cases filed on or after October 17, 2005, failure to file a postpetition return is an express ground for dismissing or converting a case. (See 11 USC § 1112(b)(4)(I)). Because fewer options are available to address postpetition compliance in Chapter 12, (e.g., no provision in the Bankruptcy Code for filing postpetition claims), Insolvency should seek guidance from Counsel when appropriate. (See IRM 5.9.8.11,Postpetition/Preconfirmation BMF Monitoring,IRM 5.9.8.11.1,Postpetition Debts - Chapter 11 Individuals,IRM 5.9.9.9,Monitoring Compliance, and IRM 5.9.10.9,Postpetition Tax Liabilities.)

Fraud Detection. All caseworkers, regardless of grade or position title, should review cases with an eye for indications of bankruptcy fraud. However, Field Insolvency is responsible for referring accounts to the Area fraud technical advisor or to Counsel when warranted. (See IRM 5.9.4.10,Bankruptcy Fraud,and IRM 5.9.17.7.1,The Fraud or Willful Evasion Exception.)

Lien Refile. Procedures outlining the issues involved and the reviews required for potential lien refiles are found in 5.9.5.8.2,Refiling of Liens,5.9.8.16.2,Monitoring the Plan and Reviewing for Lien Refile, and 5.9.17.4.2(13),Lien Refiles.

Estimated Claims. Estimated claims for unfiled, unassessed tax periods impact collection of the correct amount of tax, because estimated claims prompt delinquent debtors to file tax returns. However, estimated claims filed by the Service can be the source of objections if debtors and their representatives are not aware of the unfiled returns.

BAPCPA Change. The Service has addressed compliance requirements brought about by BAPCPA by including annotations on claims and sending courtesy copies of Letter 1714 to trustees to provide information regarding unfiled returns. The Letter 1714 courtesy copy alerts the trustee that the Service may be amending its POC or filing a motion to dismiss or convert the bankruptcy. The trustee may wish to delay distributions or plan confirmation until this tax administration issue has been resolved.

Correcting the AIS Plan Screen. Managers must ensure estimated claims are amended when debtors' returns are filed and assessed if the debtors' returns do not reflect the amounts shown on our estimated claim. Whenever a claim is amended, the AIS plan payment screen must be adjusted to reflect the amended claim period(s), so collected funds are appropriately applied to tax rather than transferred to unidentified remittance.

Examination Controls. The automatic stay prevents the IRS from assessing non-agreed proposed deficiencies on prepetition periods. Examination staff monitor these unagreed proposals via a computer system called the Insolvency Noticing System (INS) generated by the Examination Returns Control System (ERCS). The Bankruptcy Exam Coordinator (BEC) in Technical Services, normally a revenue agent, coordinates with the Insolvency function to ensure the "open examination" field on the AIS entity screen indicates "Y" when an examination is pending.

BEC Responsibilities. Revenue agents and office examiners are instructed to contact the BEC when they identify TC 520s on audit transcripts or learn through the audit process a taxpayer is in bankruptcy. The information is passed on to Insolvency so the case can be added to AIS or updated and monitored until the proposed deficiency may be assessed.

Campus Examination-Related Processes. A process similar to that of field Examination governs Campus controlled cases. Campus exam cases are usually controlled by Campus correspondence units and the Automated Underreporter (AUR) units. Insolvency must coordinate actions with the lead of each SBSE Campus group for correspondence cases and with the lead of each Campus AUR group.

Campus Monitoring. Campus Examination employees have access to AIS to monitor modules with open controls on IDRS. Campus employees contact Insolvency caseworkers with the status of underreporter proposed deficiencies if they have not received agreements to their statutory notices of deficiency. Cases pertaining to prepetition periods receiving no response are classified as unagreed cases and are barred from assessment during the pendency of the bankruptcy if the bankruptcy petition was filed prior to the expiration of the time period for filing a petition in tax court.

Campus Access to AIS. Some Campus Exam units have been provided with read-only access to AIS and have received sufficient training to allow them to determine the status of a case without contacting Insolvency. Other Campus Exam units without AIS access or skills may monitor the proposed assessments in suspense status and contact Insolvency periodically for an update of the bankruptcy status.

Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA) Deficiencies. TEFRA applies to partnership examinations. After a partner files a bankruptcy petition, the Service has at least one year to assess a TEFRA deficiency. While the bankruptcy rules provide the Service is to receive notice of all Chapter 11 cases, no specific requirement exists for the debtor to provide the government notice of the bankruptcy in all TEFRA cases. These cases require immediate Insolvency attention when they are identified. Insolvency should consult the Bankruptcy Exam Coordinator for guidance.

Insolvency Responsibilities. Insolvency caseworkers are charged with:

Trust Fund Recovery ASEDs. A TFRP ASED is generally three years from the presumptive date of filing or actual date of filing, whichever is later, for quarterly periods involving trust fund 941s, collected excise taxes, and annual 943s and 944s with trust fund tax.

Limitation of Stay. Officers of corporations or limited liability companies (LLCs), or other parties with fiduciary responsibilities are not subject to the automatic stay in effect on the corporations or LLCs under bankruptcy protection.

Timely Trust Fund Liability Review. Specialists' identification and history documentation of debtors with trust fund liabilities upon initial case review is essential because the ASED may be imminent. (See IRM 5.9.6.7(10),Initial Review of Business Chapter 7 Asset Cases,IRM 5.9.8.4,Initial Case Review for Chapter 11, and IRM 5.9.9.4(8),TFRP Actions for Corporate Debtors.)

Responsible Parties. Where trust fund taxes are an issue and a TFRP investigation has not been initiated by field Collection, Field Insolvency must identify and document potentially responsible officers for the IRC § 6672 penalty. (See IRM 5.9.5.4.1(2)(g).)

Managers' Responsibility. Managers must ensure information concerning in-business individuals and entities responsible for paying trust fund taxes are documented on AIS and tracked appropriately throughout the life of the bankruptcy.

Reporting Expired ASEDs. If an ASED is identified as having expired while a case is governed by the bankruptcy freeze, the procedures in IRM 5.7.3.8,Reporting Expiration of the TFRP Statute, should be followed by Insolvency specialists and advisors.

CSED Extensions. Typically the time for which a bankruptcy stay is in effect plus six months is added to the collection statute after the stay of collection is terminated. IRM 5.9.4.2,ASED/CSED, provides more information on CSED computations.

Inappropriate Freezes. Caseworkers must monitor imminent CSEDs to ensure the automatic stay is still in effect. ( See Exhibit 1.4.51-28.) Managers should be aware of the potential for a bankruptcy freeze code to remain on a taxpayer's account when the taxpayer is no longer in bankruptcy. Procedures should include a review to identify these cases through use of the LTS potentially unreversed TC 520 report and the quarterly LAMS closed case listing.

Partnerships. Collection may proceed against the assets of general partners while a partnership itself is under bankruptcy protection unless the partner against whom collection is being pursued is in personal bankruptcy. Should collection proceed against an individual partner, a TC 520 with closing code 84 is usually placed on the liabilities owed by the partnership. Because closing code 84 does not suspend the CSED, upon case closure a TC 550 must be manually input on the partnership's non-dischargeable modules to extend the CSED to the proper date.

Imminent and Expired CSEDs. The procedures outlined in IRM sections 5.1.19.8 through 5.1.19.8.5 should be followed when addressing imminent or expired CSEDs under the bankruptcy freeze, substituting the words "Insolvency caseworker(s)" for "revenue officer(s)." Should a CSED expire without prior approval, a memo should be prepared and routed as follows:
• Field Insolvency - from group manager to Territory Manager, and, if warranted, to the Area Manager.
• Centralized Insolvency - from unit manager to Department Manager, and, if warranted, to the Operation Manager.

Service. One of Insolvency's objectives is to serve debtors and their authorized representatives, insofar as is possible, after a bankruptcy is filed. The Insolvency manager oversees the equitable treatment of taxpayers and IRS compliance with all aspects of bankruptcy law involving the automatic stay, pursuit of collection from exempt, abandoned, or excluded property, and discharge of debt.

Prompt Response. All legally authorized parties affected by a bankruptcy filing are entitled to prompt and confidential responses to inquiries, faxes, phone calls, referrals and correspondence. These responses must not approach guidance that might be construed as providing legal advice. IRM 21.3.3.2, defines what is considered correspondence, and IRM 21.3.3.3.4,Quality and Timely Responses, establishes that a final response to correspondence be initiated within 30 days of the IRS received date. IRM 5.9.19.5(4) requires phone messages be returned within one workday of receipt.

Protection of Taxpayer Information. Insolvency managers must enforce the protection of taxpayer and return information when caseworkers deal with third parties involved in bankruptcy litigation. Insolvency employees should be familiar with the contents of the Bankruptcy Disclosure Handbook and understand what may be disclosed to trustees, attorneys, escrow companies, IRS Counsel, Department of Justice (DOJ) Tax Division Attorneys, local Assistant US Attorneys and their staffs. The Exhibit in IRM 5.9.19-1provides a chart outlining to whom taxpayer information may be disclosed when a taxpayer is in bankruptcy.

IDRS Security. Managers must know IDRS security rules and understand the command codes used by their employees. ( See IRM 1.4.51.12.)

Manual Refunds. Most manual refund requests are prepared by the CIO, although Field Insolvency remains responsible for preparing manual refund requests for cases assigned to its inventory. (See IRM 5.9.16.4,Manual Refunds.)

Taxpayer Advocate. Managers must ensure the Taxpayer Advocate function receives responses to their inquiries by the date requested. (See IRM 5.9.3.7,Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS).)

Education. Insolvency provides technical and educational support to other IRS functions through its internal outreach programs. This support enables all IRS caseworkers to make appropriate collection or assessment determinations when a bankruptcy is open or after Insolvency has completed its work on a case.

Effective Communication. Managers can maintain an effective dialogue with Area Counsel, US/ DOJ attorneys, United States Trustees, and Chapters 7 and 13 trustees by attending forums, conferences, and workshops on bankruptcy related issues.

Practitioner Community. Managers may impact tax law compliance if they, with their staff and Counsel's assistance, attend bar association meetings. These venues can be used to acquaint practitioners with Insolvency's policies and procedures, particularly issues regarding unfiled tax returns. ( See IRM 1.4.51.6.8.)

Performance Based. Review efforts should concentrate on employees who require technical development to improve performance. Consistent review of reports, including a sampling of cases, can identify areas where additional training or direction is required. Because AIS reports or custom designed reports list cases where actions may be needed, employees who perform at a high level of efficiency or employees with low inventories may have few cases identified on these reports. The manager should focus on the number of cases each employee receives to ensure work is equitably distributed.

Review Documentation. Review results must be adequately documented, highlighting good performance as well as job elements requiring improvement.

Follow-up Reviews. Follow-up reviews of employees, operations, or programs should be scheduled and conducted as needed and shared with the employee according to the terms of the NTEU contract.

Performance Appraisal. Managers should expand annual summary performance appraisal (Form 6850BU) discussions with employees to include performance plans for the upcoming year. This is a logical time to examine individual competencies, develop job training plans, and career management plans.

Identifying Training Needs. Throughout the review process managers should be attuned to individual or group training needs concerning technical abilities, (e.g., knowledge of tax law and bankruptcy law), or skills (e.g., communication, organizational awareness, and automation).

Spotting Barriers. Managers must be able to recognize procedural or automated systemic problems that create barriers to the accomplishment of work. Suggestions to resolve issues of a national scope should be elevated via Form 5391 through Insolvency management channels to Collection Policy.

Staffing. Because the number of bankruptcy filings varies from week to week, managers should review the size of their inventories and prioritize casework frequently depending on the staffing available. Employee vacancies and long term absences may require managers to reassign inventories manually to maintain a balanced workload.

AIS and Custom Reports. Improving the caseworker's skills in managing inventory and prioritizing case work are the Insolvency manager's most significant responsibilities. Reports, whether standard AIS reports or custom reports, may be generated and worked to process Insolvency inventory efficiently and effectively. Other functions of the Service also provide reports that must be worked by Insolvency because of the specialized nature of bankruptcy processing.

Modeling Behaviors. To help managers model effective leadership behaviors, the IRS developed the "Transition to Leadership" course outlined on ELMS. The course focuses on six key front line manager competencies:

Managers are responsible for incorporating these messages into their daily interactions with employees.

Tools. The training tools provide skill-based modules and exercises for use in either one-on-one or group settings. Also included is guidance on including these messages during routine activities such as CPEs, staff meetings, and management training conferences.

Involving Customers. Field Insolvency and the CIO manage their own case inventories while delivering specialized advisory service to all operating divisions of the IRS. The Territory/Department Managers should be looking for opportunities to educate external and internal customers. Examples of activities that contribute to maintaining good relations and providing quality service are:

Process Improvements. Successful program management dictates a review of Insolvency's processes to determine if better ways can be found to perform the job. Both operational reviews and program reviews can be effective methods of recognizing procedural or systemic problems as well as identifying means of improvement.

Mandatory Reviews. Insolvency second-level managers must perform an operational review of each subordinate manager at least once each year along with midyear and annual reviews of support staff which may include a secretary, management assistant, or analyst.

Key Review Areas. Review activity should concentrate on three key areas:

EPFs. The Territory/Department Manager should review employee performance folders (EPFs) concentrating on the depth and scope of employee reviews, evaluations, individual development and team-building efforts to:

Management Skills. Workload management skills and quality control must be analyzed to: