This is Part [1] of a series of a Chapter in the eBook “Corporate Tax Audit Survival – A View of The IRS Through Corporate Insider Eyes” by Cliff Jernigan.
You can download the entire eBook here.
Sample From Chapter 4: “I am the CTM SIA from the POD San Jose. I am from Mars”
Most individuals who move from the private sector to the public sector have an agenda they want to accomplish during their public term. I was no different.
Prior to my term with the IRS, I spent over 20 years engaging members of the U.S. Congress and their staffs on a variety of tax and other policy issues. I noticed that most of them came to Washington with clear personal agendas.
Some felt that government was too intrusive, and they wanted to lessen its impact on our lives. Others felt just the opposite. Some came to further a social cause. Some came to help create high-paying U.S. jobs and increase U.S. competitiveness around the world. Some wanted to make government processes run more efficiently.
I hoped to pursue four main agenda items:
1. Improve relations between industry and the IRS.
2. Reduce the audit time and cost burden for industry and the IRS.
3. Help U.S. industry become more competitive.
4. Introduce private industry efficiency to the IRS.
Throughout the remaining chapters of this book, I will make observations and reflections relating to this agenda. With respect to items 1 and 2, I believe I was part of a success story. I found the going a little harder for items 3 and 4.
The title of this chapter: “I am the CTM SIA from the San Jose POD—I am from Mars,” summarizes how ill-prepared I was to join the IRS.
Even though I had years of experience dealing with the U.S. Congress and various regulatory agencies, including the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the IRS, I had always engaged them as an industry representative. To change sides was to enter a whole new world.
My first 30 days on the job were a challenge. I was met with suspicion, and I had trouble with government acronyms, Big Brother warnings, and an unfamiliar environment.
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