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Governmental Relationship and Communication Between the Internal Revenue Service and Indian Tribal GovernmentsF. ITG’s Primary Methods of Communicating with TribesIn addition to the periodic listening meetings and opportunities for issue-basedconsultation, ITG communicates with Tribal Governments in the following principalways:Specialist Contacts: As noted above, ITG employs a number of specialists who areassigned as the primary contact for a Tribal Government with ITG. There is anexpectation, but no formal requirement, that specialists will have one or more in-personand a number of telephone contacts each year with each of the Tribal Governments towhich they are assigned. According to our surveys and interviews with Tribes and ITGpersonnel, however, this is not always the case. Some Tribes have had no contact withtheir ITG specialist in well over a year.Although specialists may interact with elected Tribal leaders, they more commonly dealwith a Chief Financial Officer or other finance department personnel. The specialists’managers occasionally are involved in these in-person meetings and telephonecontacts. Most ITG specialists are responsible for Tribal Governments throughout awide geographic area. This means that in-person contacts with their assigned Tribesoften require overnight travel, which requires prior approval and can become verycostly.Specialist contacts with Tribes include “outreach” contacts and contacts in compliancechecks and examinations, as well as more informal contacts that are not considered tobe sufficiently prestructured or preplanned to constitute outreach.Most notices and letters from ITG that are mailed to Tribes are sent by the specialists ortheir managers.Public Appearances: ITG representatives, and in particular the Director of ITG, make anumber of speeches and other public appearances each year. For example, theDirector of ITG spoke at the recent annual conference of the Native American FinanceOfficers Association in San Diego, California, and one of the managers of ITGspecialists spoke at last year’s annual conference of the National Intertribal Tax Alliancein Tulsa, Oklahoma.ITG’s attendance at several regional and national meetings to educate its customersoften occurs in one of several break out sessions, which means that participants areforced to choose among important topics in order to attend an ITG session. This formof outreach is more cost effective for the IRS than one-on-one discussions but for avariety of reasons may be more limited in its effectiveness. In our surveys of Tribes weexplored ideas regarding alternative methods of outreach.ITG News: ITG publishes regional quarterly newsletters for eight regions of the country.These newsletters provide information about current developments and upcomingevents of interest to all Tribal Governments, as well as information tailored specificallyfor the identified region. The newsletters are sent out electronically to all those whorequest it and also are posted on ITG’s website. Most IRS newsletters, including theADVISORY COMMITTEE ON TAX EXEMPT AND GOVERNMENT ENTITIES (ACT) June 11, 2008 12
Governmental Relationship and Communication Between the Internal Revenue Service and Indian Tribal GovernmentsFSLG newsletter, can be subscribed to by clicking on a link on the IRS website. This isnot the case with the ITG newsletter, which can only be obtained by first calling or e-mailing the IRS to request automatic receipt or by checking the website regularly for itsposting.ITG Website: ITG maintains an extensive website at . Several Tribes use this website for research on tax issues affectingthem. Therefore, it is important that the IRS keep the website up to date on all taxmatters.G. IRS Contacts with Tribal Governments at Points Outside ITGAs noted above, there are IRS personnel outside of ITG who have contacts with TribalGovernments, principally SB/SE personnel who perform BSA examinations andCollection personnel. The IRS protocols for its day-to-day dealings with Tribes apply toall IRS personnel, not just those in ITG. In addition, in order to ensure that the protocolsare satisfied and that the government-to-government relationships between the IRS andthe Tribes are respected and preserved, the Internal Revenue Manual statesemphatically in a number of places that IRS contacts involving Tribes must becoordinated with ITG. For example, the Internal Revenue Manual states that “ITGSpecialists must stay involved in material interactions between the tribal governmentand the IRS” (IRM § 4.86.1.1.3), “[t]he [ITG] office… coordinates all aspects of taxadministration as it impacts Indian Tribes” (IRM § 5.1.12.21), “[t]he ITG office serves asthe central point for all Service contacts with Federally recognized Indian tribes” (id.),“ITG has been vested with the responsibility of ensuring that the Service is incompliance with the various Executive Orders outlining the relationships and protocolsrequired in working with Indian tribes” (id.), Collection officers must “[c]ontact the localarea ITG Group Manager before making initial contact on Indian tribal governmentaccounts. The ITG Manager will assign an ITG specialist to work with the RevenueOfficer” (IRM § 5.1.12.21.3 (emphasis in original)), and “[s]ummonses issued on a tribalgovernment or a third party for information concerning a tribal government must beapproved by the ITG Director before being served” (id.).We are concerned about reports suggesting that some IRS personnel outside of ITGeither are not aware of the protocols and their responsibility to coordinate with ITG, orprefer to flout these obligations. We are aware of one instance recently, for example, inwhich an IRS Collection agent and his manager arrived unannounced at a TribalGovernment headquarters prepared to serve a summons on the Tribe in connectionwith a collection matter involving a Tribal member, with no advance warning or evencontemporaneous notice to the Tribe’s authorized representative. We also are awarethat SB/SE personnel performing BSA examinations have made far-reaching requestsfor information and documents that appear to go well beyond the appropriate scope forsuch examinations, suggesting a failure to coordinate with ITG.ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON TAX EXEMPT AND GOVERNMENT ENTITIES (ACT) June 11, 2008 13
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