Tax Advice Restrictions

Submitted by admin on Tue, 05/04/2021 - 15:37
Policy: 

F/EA staff never provides tax advice to participants, representatives, workers or other stakeholders. All staff are trained, within 15 days of hire, to not ever provide tax advice to any stakeholders with whom F/EA staff communicate.

Any staff member overheard or reported as providing tax advice to participants, representatives, workers or other stakeholders is reported to their supervisor. Supervisor will issue a verbal warning to the staff member to desist from this action. In addition, <<Staff Title>> sends an e-mail reminder to all staff not to provide tax advice. In certain cases, staff receives a written warning for providing unauthorized tax advice.
 
F/EA staff offer stakeholders seeking tax advice contact information for tax agencies and other resources.
Procedure: 

 

  1. If a caller requests tax advice, inform them that F/EA staff cannot provide tax advice.
  2. Commonly requested tax advice regards:
  • Earned Income Credit information 
  • How many allowances to use on form W-4
  • Impact of completing form SS-4 on personal tax situation

 3.  Advise the caller to contact their tax professional or seek information from one of the following resources:

Internal Controls: 

The internal controls used by F/EA to monitor this process establish responsibility, segregate duties, document procedures and ensure independent internal verification.

  1. All staff are trained, within 15 days hire, to never provide tax advice to consumers, surrogates, workers or other stakeholders
  2. Any staffs overheard or reported as providing tax advice receive an e-mail reminder not to provider tax advice from the <<Staff Title>>. 
  3. In certain cases, staff receives a written warning for providing unauthorized tax advice.