Commissioner of Internal Revenue; other officials

There shall be in the Department of the Treasury a Commissioner of Internal Revenue who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Such appointment shall be made from individuals who, among other qualifications, have a demonstrated ability in management. The term of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall be a 5-year term, beginning with a term to commence on November 13, 1997. Each subsequent term shall begin on the day after the date on which the previous term expires. Any individual appointed as Commissioner of Internal Revenue during a term as defined in subparagraph (B) shall be appointed for the remainder of that term. The Commissioner may be removed at the will of the President. The Commissioner may be appointed to serve more than one term. The Commissioner shall have such duties and powers as the Secretary may prescribe, including the power to— In discharging his duties, the Commissioner shall ensure that employees of the Internal Revenue Service are familiar with and act in accord with taxpayer rights as afforded by other provisions of this title, including— The Commissioner shall consult with the Oversight Board on all matters set forth in paragraphs (2) and (3) (other than paragraph (3)(A)) of section 7802(d). There shall be in the Department of the Treasury a Chief Counsel for the Internal Revenue Service who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the consent of the Senate. The Chief Counsel shall be the chief law officer for the Internal Revenue Service and shall perform such duties as may be prescribed by the Secretary, including the duty— The Chief Counsel shall report directly to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, except that— the Chief Counsel shall report to both the Commissioner and the General Counsel for the Department of the Treasury with respect to— All personnel in the Office of Chief Counsel shall report to the Chief Counsel. There is established in the Internal Revenue Service an office to be known as the “Office of the Taxpayer Advocate”. The Office of the Taxpayer Advocate shall be under the supervision and direction of an official to be known as the “National Taxpayer Advocate”. The National Taxpayer Advocate shall report directly to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and shall be entitled to compensation at the same rate as the highest rate of basic pay established for the Senior Executive Service under section 5382 of title 5, United States Code. The National Taxpayer Advocate shall be appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury after consultation with the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and the Oversight Board and without regard to the provisions of title 5, United States Code, relating to appointments in the competitive service or the Senior Executive Service. An individual appointed under clause (ii) shall have— An individual may be appointed as the National Taxpayer Advocate only if such individual was not an officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service during the 2-year period ending with such appointment and such individual agrees not to accept any employment with the Internal Revenue Service for at least 5 years after ceasing to be the National Taxpayer Advocate. Service as an officer or employee of the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate shall not be taken into account in applying this clause. It shall be the function of the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate to— Not later than June 30 of each calendar year, the National Taxpayer Advocate shall report to the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate on the objectives of the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate for the fiscal year beginning in such calendar year. Any such report shall contain full and substantive analysis, in addition to statistical information. Not later than December 31 of each calendar year, the National Taxpayer Advocate shall report to the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate on the activities of the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate during the fiscal year ending during such calendar year. Any such report shall contain full and substantive analysis, in addition to statistical information, and shall— Each report required under this subparagraph shall be provided directly to the committees described in clause (i) without any prior review or comment from the Commissioner, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Oversight Board, any other officer or employee of the Department of the Treasury, or the Office of Management and Budget. The preceding sentence shall not apply with respect to statistical information provided to the Secretary for review, or received from the Secretary, under section 6108(d). To the extent that information required to be reported under clause (ii) is also required to be reported under paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (d) by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the National Taxpayer Advocate shall not contain such information in the report submitted under such clause. The National Taxpayer Advocate shall— The National Taxpayer Advocate shall have the responsibility and authority to— The National Taxpayer Advocate may consult with the appropriate supervisory personnel of the Internal Revenue Service in carrying out the National Taxpayer Advocate’s responsibilities under this subparagraph. Before beginning any research or study, the National Taxpayer Advocate shall coordinate with the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration to ensure that the National Taxpayer Advocate does not duplicate any action that the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has already undertaken or has a plan to undertake. The Commissioner shall establish procedures requiring a formal response to all recommendations submitted to the Commissioner by the National Taxpayer Advocate within 3 months after submission to the Commissioner. Each local taxpayer advocate— Each local office of the taxpayer advocate shall maintain a separate phone, facsimile, and other electronic communication access, and a separate post office address. In the case of any Taxpayer Advocate Directive issued by the National Taxpayer Advocate pursuant to a delegation of authority from the Commissioner of Internal Revenue— The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration shall include in one of the semiannual reports under section 405 of title 5, United States Code— an evaluation of the compliance of the Internal Revenue Service with— information regarding any administrative or civil actions with respect to violations of the fair debt collection provisions of section 6304, including— The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration shall include in each semiannual report under section 405 of title 5, United States Code— The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration shall— There is established in the Internal Revenue Service an office to be known as the “Internal Revenue Service Independent Office of Appeals”. The Internal Revenue Service Independent Office of Appeals shall be under the supervision and direction of an official to be known as the “Chief of Appeals”. The Chief of Appeals shall report directly to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and shall be entitled to compensation at the same rate as the highest rate of basic pay established for the Senior Executive Service under section 5382 of title 5, United States Code. The Chief of Appeals shall be appointed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue without regard to the provisions of title 5, United States Code, relating to appointments in the competitive service or the Senior Executive Service. An individual appointed under subparagraph (B) shall have experience and expertise in— It shall be the function of the Internal Revenue Service Independent Office of Appeals to resolve Federal tax controversies without litigation on a basis which— The resolution process described in paragraph (3) shall be generally available to all taxpayers. If any taxpayer which is in receipt of a notice of deficiency authorized under section 6212 requests referral to the Internal Revenue Service Independent Office of Appeals and such request is denied, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall provide such taxpayer a written notice which— The Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall submit a written report to Congress on an annual basis which includes the number of requests described in subparagraph (A) which were denied and the reasons (described by category) that such requests were denied. The Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall prescribe procedures for protesting to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue a denial of a request described in subparagraph (A). This paragraph shall not apply to a request for referral to the Internal Revenue Service Independent Office of Appeals which is denied on the basis that the issue involved is a frivolous position (within the meaning of section 6702(c)). All personnel in the Internal Revenue Service Independent Office of Appeals shall report to the Chief of Appeals. The Chief of Appeals shall have authority to obtain legal assistance and advice from the staff of the Office of the Chief Counsel. The Chief Counsel shall ensure, to the extent practicable, that such assistance and advice is provided by staff of the Office of the Chief Counsel who were not involved in the case with respect to which such assistance and advice is sought and who are not involved in preparing such case for litigation. In any case in which a conference with the Internal Revenue Service Independent Office of Appeals has been scheduled upon request of a specified taxpayer, the Chief of Appeals shall ensure that such taxpayer is provided access to the nonprivileged portions of the case file on record regarding the disputed issues (other than documents provided by the taxpayer to the Internal Revenue Service) not later than 10 days before the date of such conference. If the taxpayer so elects, subparagraph (A) shall be applied by substituting “the date of such conference” for “10 days before the date of such conference”. For purposes of this paragraph— The term “specified taxpayer” means— Rules similar to the rules of section 448(c)(2) shall apply for purposes of clause (i)(II). There shall be in the Internal Revenue Service an Internal Revenue Service Chief Information Officer (hereafter referred to in this subsection as the “IRS CIO”) who shall be appointed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. The Commissioner of Internal Revenue (and the Secretary) shall act through the IRS CIO with respect to all development, implementation, and maintenance of information technology for the Internal Revenue Service. Any reference in this subsection to the IRS CIO which directs the IRS CIO to take any action, or to assume any responsibility, shall be treated as a reference to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue acting through the IRS CIO. The IRS CIO shall— consult with the Chief Procurement Officer of the Internal Revenue Service to ensure that the information technology acquired for the Internal Revenue Service is consistent with— The IRS CIO shall develop and implement a multiyear strategic plan for the information technology needs of the Internal Revenue Service. Such plan shall— The IRS CIO shall, not less frequently than annually, review and update the strategic plan under subparagraph (A) (including the plan for an integrated enterprise architecture described in subparagraph (A)(ii)) to take into account the development of new information technology and the needs of the Internal Revenue Service. For purposes of this subsection, the term “information technology” has the meaning given such term by section 11101 of title 40, United States Code. Any reference in this subsection to the Internal Revenue Service includes a reference to all components of the Internal Revenue Service, including—