Senior Level Counsel (Employee Benefits, Exempt Orgs, Employment Taxes)

Office of Chief Counsel, IRS, seeks enthusiastic individuals to serve taxpayers fairly and with integrity by providing correct and impartial interpretation of the internal revenue laws and the highest quality legal advice and representation for the IRS. Please click "Learn more about this agency" to find out more about Chief Counsel's various offices, to view some of the workplace attributes that Chief Counsel's workforce rates most favorably, and to hear from employees themselves. For positions with an education requirement, or if you are qualifying for this position by substituting education or training for experience, submit a copy of your transcripts or equivalent. An official transcript will be required if you are selected.

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: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. If you are qualifying based on foreign education, you must submit proof of creditability of education as evaluated by a credentialing agency. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

To qualify for this position of Senior Level Counsel you must meet the following requirements:

• Possess at least the first professional law degree (LL.B. or J.D.) from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association; AND
• Applicants must be an active member in good standing of the bar of a State, U.S. Commonwealth, U.S. territory, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
• Desired Education/Experience: An LL.M. in Taxation is desired but not required. 7 years of professional legal tax experience is desired.

To meet the minimum requirements for a Senior Level position, candidates must be a recognized subject matter expert with directly related experience. Typically, experience of this nature will have been gained at the GS-15 grade level or its equivalent in Federal service. Candidates must demonstrate their experience in the narrative responses to the Mandatory Technical Qualifications; and this experience must have been at a sufficiently high level of difficulty to clearly show the candidate possesses the required subject matter expertise and technical qualifications set forth below. This specialized experience should also be reflected within the resume.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Mandatory Technical Qualifications (MTQs):

All candidates must show evidence of the following mandatory technical competencies to meet basic qualifications for this position. The narrative statements should demonstrate your specialized knowledge and technical competence. Please give concrete examples of your experience and demonstrate the complexity of the knowledge and skills you possess. You should address each MTQ separately, with the total narrative not exceeding ten pages.

Mandatory

1. Comprehensive in-depth expert knowledge and understanding of the legislative process, Federal tax statutes and regulations, decisions, rulings, precedents, and IRS tax policies.
2. Demonstrated ability and experience providing legal advice and guidance on qualified retirement plans matters, assisting with formulation of compliance efforts, settlement initiatives, and litigation strategies, and overseeing investigations and suits.
3. Demonstrated expert knowledge and substantial high-level experience in the tax field, including the tax legislation and guidance processes, tax litigation, or transactional work.
4. Demonstrated ability to research complex legal issues and analyze and forecast the ramifications of alternative resolutions or courses of action.
5. Manages highly complex and significant special projects in Qualified Retirement Plans: rules for qualified retirement plans; certain employee annuity plans; individual retirement arrangements (IRAs) and Roth IRAs; certain eligible deferred compensation plans; governmental plans; church plans; exemption from tax for qualified retirement plan trusts; taxation of distributions from qualified retirement plans; withholding rules for designated distributions from retirement arrangements; penalties and excise taxes related to qualified retirement plan failures.

(Note: Failure to address these factors will result in your application being rated ineligible.) Narrative responses to the MTQs and Desirable Qualifications should not be more than two pages for each. Please provide responses to MTQs and Desirable Qualifications each on separate sheets of paper.