Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Governmental Relationship and Communication Between the Internal Revenue Service and Indian Tribal Governments• Maximize face-to-face meetings and other personal, immediate contactsbetween ITG personnel and the Tribes; minimize contacts by U.S. mail• Adjust protocols used in ITG’s periodic “listening meetings,” so that Tribeshave a better chance through such meetings to learn about IRS initiativesthat might affect them, leading to more meaningful, two-way consultation• Increase cultural awareness training to ITG staff• Increase and improve outreach contacts with Tribal Governments• Make IRS protocols for day-to-day dealings with Tribal Governmentsavailable on ITG’s website• Develop a plan to better ensure that IRS personnel outside of ITG whodeal with Tribes and Tribal matters follow these protocols, consistentlywork within respectful government-to-government relationships with TribalGovernments, and understand their obligations to coordinate with ITGII.PROJECT PROCESSWe sought to obtain information from both the Tribes and the IRS so that we couldassess the state of the government-to-government relationships between the Tribes andthe IRS from the perspectives of both the Tribes and the IRS. As discussed in moredetail below, we gathered a variety of types of information from a variety of sources.A. Tribal Government SurveysWe developed a written survey that we sent to all of the 690 federally recognized TribalGovernments and Navajo Chapters with which ITG maintains contacts. The survey setforth 13 questions designed to elicit information about the respondent’s perception ofthe state of the relationship between the Tribe and the IRS.We sent the survey to the IRS’s primary contact at each Tribe and Navajo Chapter, witha cover letter explaining the purpose for the survey as well as the fact that the ProjectTeam would not share with the IRS any details of the survey responses that wouldidentify the survey respondent or the Tribe. If the IRS’s primary contact was not anelected Tribal official, we also sent a copy of the cover letter and survey to this electedofficial with an additional cover letter to the elected official explaining the Project. Acopy of the survey and the cover letters is attached as Exhibit A.The initial response rate to the survey was low, a factor which we presumed resulted atleast in part from the fact that the stated deadline for returning the survey was soonafter the survey was mailed. In an effort to gather more survey responses, weattempted to reach by telephone each of the IRS’s primary contacts at the Tribes thathad not yet responded to encourage the Tribe to respond to the survey. We succeededin speaking with the primary contact or other appropriate person at many of theseTribes, encouraged the Tribe to respond, and e-mailed to the Tribe another copy of thesurvey. A number of additional responses to the survey were received as a result ofthese telephone contacts. (Many of the persons we spoke with in these follow-up callsindicated that the appropriate contact person had not in fact received the survey thatwas sent by mail.)ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON TAX EXEMPT AND GOVERNMENT ENTITIES (ACT) June 11, 2008 2
Governmental Relationship and Communication Between the Internal Revenue Service and Indian Tribal GovernmentsAll told, we received 40 responses to the survey, for an overall response rate of 5.8%.Although we were disappointed in the overall response rate, we were pleased that theresponse rate was 10% in three of the five geographic regions within ITG,encompassing all the states other than California, Nevada, Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, andWashington. It is also worth noting that the relatively low response rate illustrates thechallenge for the IRS in communicating with the Tribes by mail. We followed up by e-mail with additional questions for those initial respondents that provided an e-mailaddress seeking additional information. A copy of the follow-up questions is attachedas Exhibit B.We also reviewed the tabulated results from ITG’s own surveys of Tribal Governments’customer satisfaction with ITG for 2005 to 2007, the earliest of which is attached asExhibit C and the later two of which are posted on the ITG website at and.B. Survey of ITG Specialists and Their ManagersITG employs specialists who work with assigned Tribal Governments to assist them inimproving their tax compliance through outreach, as well as to perform compliancechecks and examinations. As with the Tribal Governments, we developed a writtensurvey that the Director of ITG sent to all of the ITG specialists who are assigned tospecific Tribes in the five geographic regions within ITG and their managers, as well asto the specialists and their manager on the Abuse Detection and Protection Team(“ADAPT”) and the manager in the Compliance and Program Management group. Thesurvey set forth 14 questions designed to elicit information about the respondent’sperception of the state of the relationship between the Tribe and the IRS. A copy of thesurvey is attached as Exhibit D. The Director of ITG instructed the survey recipients tosend their responses directly to the Project Team and informed them that identifyingdetails regarding their responses would not be shared with the IRS. Consistent with theIRS’s collective bargaining agreement, the Director also informed the survey recipientsthat their participation in the survey was entirely voluntary.Overall, 55 surveys were sent out and 23 were returned, for a response rate of 42%.From the specialists and their managers in the five geographic regions within ITG, whohave the most significant and continual relationships with the Tribes to which they areassigned, the response rate was 40%. We were disappointed that not all of thespecialists and their managers responded, but the response rate was better than theTribes’ response rate. The response rate also was better from some regions thanothers, as noted below:ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON TAX EXEMPT AND GOVERNMENT ENTITIES (ACT) June 11, 2008 3
Page 5:
ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON TAX EXEMPT AN
Page 9 and 10:
MEMBER BIOGRAPHIESGOVERNMENT ENTITI
Page 11 and 12:
GENERAL REPORTOF THEADVISORY COMMIT
Page 13:
General Report of the Advis
Page 18:
Improving the Employee Plans Compli
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
Page 35 and 36:
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 49 and 50:
Page 51 and 52:
Page 53 and 54:
Page 55 and 56:
Page 57 and 58:
Page 59 and 60:
Page 61 and 62:
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
Page 69 and 70:
Page 71 and 72:
EXHIBIT DSubmission Type:(insert fr
Page 73 and 74:
EXHIBIT D (CONTINUED)18. Descriptio
Page 75 and 76:
EXHIBIT D (CONTINUED)VCP CHECKLISTT
Page 77 and 78:
EXHIBIT D (CONTINUED)23. Have you i
Page 79 and 80:
EXHIBIT D (CONTINUED)Instructions f
Page 81 and 82:
EXHIBIT D (CONTINUED)23. Under Exam
Page 83 and 84:
ADVISORY COMMITTEE ONTAX EXEMPT AND
Page 85:
The Appropriate Role Of The Interna
Page 88 and 89:
Page 90 and 91:
Page 92 and 93:
Page 94 and 95:
Page 96 and 97:
Page 98 and 99:
Page 100 and 101:
Page 102 and 103:
Page 104 and 105:
Page 106 and 107:
Page 108 and 109:
Page 110 and 111:
Page 112 and 113:
Page 114 and 115:
Page 116 and 117:
Page 118 and 119:
Page 120 and 121:
Page 122 and 123:
Page 124 and 125:
Page 126 and 127:
Page 128 and 129:
Page 130 and 131:
Page 132 and 133:
Page 134 and 135:
Page 136 and 137:
Page 138 and 139:
Page 140 and 141:
Page 142 and 143:
Page 144 and 145:
Page 146 and 147:
Page 148 and 149:
Page 150 and 151:
Page 152 and 153:
Page 154 and 155:
Page 156 and 157:
Page 158 and 159:
Page 160 and 161:
Page 162 and 163:
Page 164 and 165:
Page 166 and 167:
Page 168 and 169:
Page 170 and 171:
Page 172 and 173:
Page 174 and 175:
Page 176 and 177:
Page 178 and 179:
Page 180 and 181:
Page 182 and 183:
Page 184 and 185:
Page 186 and 187:
Page 188 and 189:
Page 190 and 191:
Page 192 and 193:
Page 194 and 195:
Page 196 and 197:
Page 198 and 199:
Page 201:
The Streamlined Closing Agreement F
Page 204 and 205:
Page 206 and 207:
Page 208 and 209:
Page 210 and 211:
Page 212 and 213:
Page 214 and 215:
Page 217:
ADVISORY COMMITTEE ONTAX EXEMPT AND
Page 220 and 221:
PROTECTING PLAN BENEFITS:IMPROVING
Page 222 and 223:
Page 224 and 225:
Page 226 and 227:
Page 228 and 229:
Page 230 and 231:
Page 232 and 233:
Page 234 and 235:
Page 236 and 237:
Page 238 and 239:
Page 240 and 241:
Page 242 and 243:
Page 244 and 245:
Page 246 and 247:
Page 248 and 249:
Page 250 and 251:
Page 252 and 253:
Page 254 and 255: PROTECTING PLAN BENEFITS:IMPROVING
Page 267: ADVISORY COMMITTEE ONTAX EXEMPT AND
Page 271 and 272: Tax Treatment Of Cellular Telephone
Page 279 and 280: IRC, 2007-CODE-VOL, SEC. 280F. LIMI
Page 281 and 282: PENIRC S 274 Page 1 of 12IIRC, 2007
Page 283 and 284: PENIRC S 274 Page 3 of 12relationsh
Page 285: Employee Cell Phones Page 1 of 1Emp
Page 289 and 290: 15. Special Rules for Various Types
Page 292: Withholding RequirementsACCOUNTING
Page 299: ADVISORY COMMITTEE ONTAX EXEMPT AND
Page 303: Governmental Relationship and Commu
Page 307 and 308: Governmental Relationship and Commu
show all

Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?