Tax Law Specialist - Term Not to exceed 1 Year, May be extended to 4 Years, May be made permanent (GS-11/12)

Summary

WHAT IS Taxpayer Services? A description of the business units can be found at: https://www.jobs.irs.gov/about/who/business-divisions Position(s) are to be filled in following area(s): TS - CARE-Customer Assistance, Relationship and Education - CARE-Customer Assistance, Relationship and Education- Tax Forms and Publication REVIEW THE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BELOW FOR FURTHER DETAILS

Duties

The following are the duties of this position at the full working level. If this vacancy includes more than one grade and you are selected at a lower grade level, you will have the opportunity to learn to perform these duties and receive training to help you grow in this position. Performs research, analysis, and interpretation of federal tax law, including the Internal Revenue Code, Treasury regulations, revenue rulings, revenue procedures, judicial decisions, legislative history, and proposed and enacted legislation. Evaluates legislative and regulatory changes affecting taxpayer reporting requirements, tax administration activities, and assigned tax products. Develops, revises, and implements tax forms, schedules, instructions, publications, and related taxpayer guidance products that communicate federal tax requirements and support tax administration activities. Determines reporting requirements, develops implementation approaches, and ensures consistency among related products and guidance materials. Analyzes legislative intent, evaluates operational impacts, and recommends appropriate implementation of tax law requirements within taxpayer products and related guidance. Resolves technical issues involving incomplete, conflicting, or evolving guidance and develops recommendations supporting consistent administration of federal tax law requirements. Coordinates assigned products through established review and clearance processes involving operating divisions, Chief Counsel, Treasury officials, and other stakeholders. Evaluates feedback from taxpayers, practitioners, and stakeholders and incorporates findings into product revisions and improvement efforts. Exercises independent judgment in completing assignments involving complex tax law provisions, technical analysis, and legislatively mandated implementation deadlines.

Qualifications

Federal experience is not required. Experience may have been gained in the public sector, private sector or through Volunteer Service. One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-timework is considered on a prorated basis. To ensure full credit for your work experience, please indicate dates of employment by month/day/year, and indicate number of hours worked per week, on your resume. You must meet the following requirements by the closing date of this announcement. SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE:GS-11 Level: You must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes: Experience with legal, tax accounting, or other experience that required knowledge of Federal tax laws, regulations, precedent decisions, or other areas related to the position to be filled. Examples of qualifying specialized experience includes: Preparing, reviewing, or applying rulings, advisory letters, memoranda, etc. related to Federal taxation. Analyzing and adjudicating tax claims, appeals, settlement offers, or similar work related to Federal tax operations. Work as an attorney that required legal research, analysis, and preparation of briefs or similar documents interpreting laws and regulations. Work as an accountant, auditor, or investigator that required application of Federal tax accounting principles and/or the Internal Revenue Code and related laws. OR LL.M. degree with specialization in taxation. OR A combination of qualifying graduate education and experience as described above. SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE GS-12 Level: You must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-11 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes: Experience with legal, tax accounting, or other experience that required knowledge of Federal tax laws, regulations, precedent decisions, or other areas related to the position to be filled. Examples of qualifying experience include: Preparing, reviewing, or applying rulings, advisory letters, memoranda, etc. related to Federal taxation. Analyzing and resolving tax claims, appeals, settlement offers, or similar work related to Federal tax operations. Work as an attorney that required legal research, analysis, and preparation of briefs or similar documents interpreting laws and regulations. Work as an accountant, auditor, or investigator that required application of Federal tax accounting principles and/or the Internal Revenue Code and related laws. In addition, your experience must be sufficient to demonstrate the following: Experience with federal tax laws, regulations, revenue rulings, revenue procedures and other technical related matters to address taxpayers' needs; Experience with tax laws to convert these and other technical matters into clear concise, logical and easy to understand explanatory material; Experience in accounting methods to interpret new tax laws and assist in addressing customers' needs; Experience researching using on-line and paper methods to analyze tax issues; Experience with learning theory and cognitive thinking, as they apply to the writing, design, and presentation of materials; Experience with printing and design requirements and techniques, computer specifications and programming requirements, and of Standard Generalized Mark-up Language (SGML) or other designated electronic composition and publishing system to compose documents and other materials. AND You must also meet the following requirement(s): PERFORMANCE RATING: Current federal employees must have at least a fully successful or equivalent performance rating to receive consideration. TIME AFTER COMPETITIVE APPOINTMENT (TACA): By the closing date (or if this is an open continuous announcement, by the cut-off date) specified in this job announcement, current civilian employees must have completed at least 90 days of federal civilian service since their latest non-temporary appointment from a competitive referral certificate, known as time after competitive appointment. For this requirement, a competitive appointment is one where you applied to and were appointed from an announcement open to "All US Citizens" TIME IN GRADE (TIG): Federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements. For positions above the GS-05, applicants must meet applicable time-in-­grade requirements to be considered eligible. One year (52 weeks) at the next lower grade level is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the grade you are applying for. For positions at the GS-05, you cannot advance to the GS-05 if you have held a GS-02 in the past 52 weeks. There is no TIG restriction for GS-02, 03, or 04 positions. For more information on qualifications please refer to OPM's Qualifications Standards.

Requirements

Probationary Period - All newly appointed employees to the competitive (or excepted) service are subject to a probationary (or trial) period. During this time, your performance, conduct, and suitability for continued employment will be evaluated. You will not automatically convert to permanent status at the end of the probationary (or trial) period. Your supervisor must affirmatively determine that continued employment is in the best interest of the Federal service. If no certification is made before the probationary (or trial) period ends, your appointment will be terminated. You are encouraged to actively engage with your supervisor, seek feedback, and understand role expectations. Additional guidance and support will be provided during onboarding. Probationary Period - A person who is required to go through a probationary period and then is transferred, promoted, demoted, or reassigned before he or she completes such period is required to complete the remainder of the probationary period in the new position. Key Eligibility Requirements: U.S Citizenship - Must be a U.S. Citizen or National and provide proof of U.S. Citizenship. Selective Service Registration - Males born after December 31, 1959 are required to be registered with the Selective Service System or prove they are exempt from having to do so. Personal Identity Verification (PIV) - Must provide 2 forms of identification from the Form I-9. Federal law requires verification of the identity and employment eligibility of all new hires in the U.S. These documents must be unexpired original or certified copies. ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS SHOWN IN QUALIFICATIONS OR ADDTIONAL INFORMATION SECTIONS

Education

A college or university degree generally must be from an accredited (or pre-accredited) college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For a list of schools which meet these criteria, please refer to Department of Education Accreditation page. FOREIGN EDUCATION: Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the requirements. You must show proof the education credentials have been deemed to be at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education program. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying. Click here (Section 3, Explanation of Terms) or here for Foreign Education Credentialing instructions. We recommend choosing an evaluator from a member organization of one of the following national associations of credential evaluation services: National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) or Association of International Credentials Evaluators (AICE).

How you will be evaluated

Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position. Applicants who disqualify themselves will not be evaluated further. You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics): Attention to Detail Customer Service Decision Making Flexibility Integrity/Honesty Interpersonal Skills Learning Reasoning Self-Management Stress Tolerance Teamwork The USA Hire Assessments includes a cut score based on the minimum level of required proficiency in these critical general competencies. You must meet or exceed the cut score to be considered. You will not be considered for the position if you score below the cut score or fail to complete the assessment. Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration. Rating: Your application will be evaluated in accordance with the Service's Merit Promotion Plan. A quality group rating will be used to rank and select eligible candidates. If qualified, you will be assigned to one of three quality level groups, Superior/Best Qualified, Highly Qualified and Qualified Category rating will be used to rank and select eligible candidates. Referral: Eligible applicants rated in the highest quality group, may be referred to a selecting official for consideration. Candidates, if required to participate in a selection interview (telephonic and/or in person at the discretion of the Selecting Official in accordance with hiring practices), will be interviewed in quality group order. We will not reimburse costs related to the interview such as travel to and from the interview site. If you are a displaced or surplus Federal employee (eligible for the Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)/Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP), you must receive a rating of Highly Qualified or better to be rated as "well qualified" to receive special selection priority. If you are selected, you may be subject to all requirements listed in the Requirements, Qualifications, and Additional Information sections of this announcement which includes, Prior Employment/Tax Checks, Fingerprint/Criminal History checks.

How to apply

Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply for and be considered for this position, you must complete all required questionnaires, assessments and submit all required documentation as specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement in order to receive an invitation to complete the USA Hire Assessment. We are available to assist you during business hours (normally 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. ET, Monday - Friday). If applying online poses a hardship, please contact us by noon ET on 11/02/2026. To begin the application process, click the "Apply Online" button. You will be re-directed to USA STAFFING to continue your application process; answer the online questions. To preview the Application Questionnaire, please click the following link:https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13099374. Upload all required documents. (To submit supporting documents, import documents from USAJOBS to the appropriate document types. If the document you need is not imported from USAJOBS, you may upload it directly into this application.) Click the Submit Application button. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability. Set aside up to 3 hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources. Visit USA Hire Online Help for online assessment information, system requirements, reasonable accommodations, and what to expect next. Reasonable Accommodations (RA): We provide reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis; contact us if you require this for any part of the application and hiring process. To review reasonable accommodation policies and procedures please visit https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/disability-employment/reasonable-accommodations/. USA Hire Assessment Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments. (https://appsupport-usastaffing.opm.gov/hc/en-us/sections/45063131363475-Reasonable-Accommodation-Information) To update your application, including supporting documentation: Visit USAJOBS - How to Update Application during the announcement open period, make updates or add supporting documentation, then continue through the entire application process and click Submit Application to send updates to the hiring agency. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed.

Other information

Suitability Requirements: Prior IRS Employment - Former employees will be subject to a screening of their prior conduct with the Service. The Taxpayer First Act of 2019, 26 U.S. Code 7804, prohibits the IRS from rehiring certain former employees who were removed from service. Tax Check - Must undergo a review of income tax verification. To check the status of your tax record go to: (https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript). If you are not in compliance, you will be determined unsuitable for employment with IRS. Fingerprint/Criminal History Check - This position requires that the successful candidate undergo personnel vetting, which includes a background investigation and enrollment upon onboarding into "Continuous Vetting." Enrollment in Continuous Vetting will result in automated record checks being conducted throughout one's employment with Treasury. The successful candidate will also be enrolled into FBI's Rap Back service, which will allow Treasury to receive notification from the FBI of criminal matters (e.g., arrests, charges, convictions) involving enrolled individuals in near real-time. For more information regarding your rights refer to Noncriminal Justice Applicant's Privacy Rights - FBI, FD-258 Privacy Act Statement - FBI, and SEAD-3-Reporting-U.pdf (dni.gov). Additional Information: Consider each location carefully when applying. If you are selected for a location, that location will become your official post of duty. In the event that a building is closed due to rent management, new hires may be placed in a local commuting location. Additional jobs may be filled from this announcement or any other source to fill these vacancies. Alternative work schedule, staggered work hours may be available. Salary: General Schedule (GS) Locality Pay tables may be found under Salaries & Wages. Cost-of-Living Allowances (COLA): Puerto Rico includes COLA. See COLA Rates 2026. Formal Development Plan - If this position is covered by a formal development plan, pay retention will be offered where applicable based on law and regulation. Term Appointment: If you are a current federal employee on a permanent competitive service appointment and accept this appointment, you will voluntarily relinquish your permanent status and will not be returned to your previous position upon completion of appointment. You will not be eligible to apply for job announcements open to only permanent employees. Term Conversion Potential This Term Appointment has potential for conversion to a permanent appointment under the Restructuring and Reform Act (RRA) of 1998. To be eligible, you must apply and compete for a vacancy announcement that is in the same line of work and open to term employees. In addition, you must have completed 2 years of current continuous service under a term appointment (or any combination of term appointments under competitive procedures) and received at least a fully successful performance rating.