SAVE Award 2011 Browse Recent Entries

IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TAC) are slowly being required to scan checks received from taxpayers using the RS-PCC (Remittance Strategy for Paper Check Conversion)tool. (Eventually all departments within IRS will be using this system). The program is great and allows the Treasury to recognize payments within days instead of weeks. However, to save some money, the requirement to key verify should be changed. Employees... more »

As a timekeeper, many times I have witnessed employee’s negligence to fill out their timesheets properly and accurately. The timesheet is also known as a Form 3081. This timesheet is input into a system, but a paper copy is also printed and filed. Today’s technology allows a paperless process and if this was incorporated as well we could save costs there too, but mostly I believe the Time & Attendance Processing costs... more »

eliminate all of Taxpayer advocate as a separate organization and put one employee in each office to deal with customer service issues. As it stands, TAS does not have a significant role and eliminate or reduce Collection Due Process. A lot of resources went into this area and no real benefit to the public was received. It did create more jobs and promotions for some employees, but I'm not sure of the value added otherwise.... more »

When a person who receives SSI (Title 16) is incarcerated in a County Jail, State Prison, or Federal Prison for more than 30 calendar days, SSA Regulations state their SSI checks CEASE. There is a prison reporting tool where detention facilities are to report to SSA the SSNs of people who are incarcerated, but it is NOT widely used by facilities. Many prison staff members have told me that they do not even ask if the... more »

Similar to the idea from 2010 regarding the Federal Register, we should not have a mass mailing of the Federal Tax Regulations which, for 2011, included 8 separate books. Instead, for those requiring a hard copy, each department can maintain a central library for use by its team members.

Taxpayer who file tax return with Sole-Proprietor/Self-Employed,Contract Labor,and/or Independent Contractor income should made to mail in their tax returns with 1099-MISC forms and expense reports attached. This could save on erroneous refunds

I have several ideas:

1. Each time there is an update to the Internal Revenue Manual (IRM), we receive a paper copy. These are generally voluminous and wasteful because we are notified via email immediately at time of update and have access to these updates ahead of the paper copies. There is no need for the paper copies and they are usually discarded upon receipt.

2. Each year we receive a paper copy of either... more »

Claimant's earning records are relevant to disability adjudication in our office. While preparing cases for Judges, I have discovered 1,000s of cases (TX, AR, MI, OR, GA, IN, IL, LA) where claimants have filed self-employment (9K-16K), when in fact they have NEVER worked. Self-employment appears on SSA earning records. Claimants state on the record in Court that they have never worked. This is a scam across the U.S.... more »

At the IRS, each group within the business units purchase and stock their own supplies within their budget. Managers are forced to guess what items the group will need in the future and what quantity and purchase items based on this guess. In many cases, groups have cabinets of unused office supplies. For large government buildings, I suggest using a room in the building to serve as the building’s supply store. All... more »

Each month a copy of the W&I Offline is available online via the IRWeb page. We then receive a paper copy of this same publication for distribution to approximatly 500 employees in our office. This to me is a waste of money. Most times, to many paper publications are sent and then shredded.I'm sure that most employees are also shredding their copies. These publications are in color and I'm sure are very costly to print... more »

With the ever changing IRM's and daily Alerts, should be made Read-only. This could save thousand's on paper and ink.

every year we give away millions of dollars in "refundable credits" for children / dependents who are not physically present in the U.S. The Mexicans can claim children in Mexico as per the tax treaties between the 2 countries. However, to receive the child tax credit & additional child tax credit, the child is supposed to be here living with the person who claimed them. Very, very often this is not the case ! We must... more »

OUR AUTOMATED COLLECTION SYSTEM HAS A PLACE FOR TELEPHONE NUMBER CHANGES, WHERE WE ALSO HAVE TO ACCESS ANOTHER IDRS SCREEN ON COMMAND CODE "ENMOD", BY INPUTTING TELEA TO ADD A PHONE NUMBER, OR TELEC TO CHANGE A PHONE NUMBER, OR TELED TO DELETE A PHONE NUMBER.TOO TIME CONSUMING WHILE WORKING ON CASES IN ACS.THE ACS SCREEN SCREEN SHOULD ALLOW A DIRECT LINK TO IDRS COMMAND CODE ENMOD THAT AUTOMATICALLY CHANGES THE TELEPHONE... more »

COVR will list job descriptions, all duties and additional duties as assigned from PD's, IRM'S DESK PROCEDURES, UNIT DAILY REPORTS, etc, used in the successful completion of individual and collective job tasks. Employees interested in continuing their careers can volunteer (check off) the various duties of the operation they have not had the opportunity to perform. Then through Cross Training, Details, Shadowing, and... more »

STOP MAILING PAPER COPIES OF THE IRM. WE USE THE COMPUTER FOR ALL RESEARCH. THIS PAPER COPY IS A WASTE OF PAPER, POSTAGE AND HANDLING TIME