Last week at home I received an envelope in my mail box that bore a return address from the IRS, my employer and yours. My first involuntary thought was, “Are they coming after me now?” I looked closely at the return address and saw that it was not from the Employee Tax Compliance (ETC) unit in Cincinnati. I knew, by virtue of my experience as a union steward, that if it were a TIGTA contact, it would not be made by mail; TIGTA would simply tell my manager that they wanted to see me, and I would be told when to report. I opened it and saw that it was just a “Congratulations on reaching geezerhood – You need to attend a retirement seminar” message. Then I thought, “How shameful is it that a person with years of loyal, professional service to this agency and ultimately to the United States of America, and with twenty-one years of uniformed military service, would see a return address from his employer and immediately feel a wave of trepidation.

Because of my years as a union steward, I know better than most what our rights are, what the rules are that the agency is supposed to follow, what protections we federal employees have from unfair, unreasonable prosecution and persecution.

Because of my years as a union steward, I know better than most how our rights are violated, how the safeguards of due process are twisted or ignored, what we, as federal employees have to fear from our employer, who all too often is unfair and unreasonable.

One of the most common inquisitions that we face has to do with our taxes. To begin with, have you considered – do you even know – that each of our tax returns is “reviewed” each year by a special unit in Cincinnati called the Employee Tax Compliance unit (ETC)? How can it be constitutional for one group, us, to be singled out for unceasing scrutiny by a unit that exists for the sole purpose of catching employees making mistakes on their tax returns when every other citizen of the United States is protected from that kind of persecution? How can it be constitutional for that group to be held to a higher standard than any other citizen of the United States, including those who wrote the law that imposes this double standard upon us? They say that it is because we, as IRS employees, must “set an example,” yet even they have no right to expose our tax data to the public. How then are we setting an example, and for whom?

You should know that two of the “ten deadly sins” of Section 1203 (b) of the Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 speak directly to us and our taxes. 1203(b)(8) is willful late filing of one’s tax return. 1203(b)(9) is willful understatement of federal tax liability.

One of the maddening aspects of responding to the queries of ETC is that no matter what you tell them, they almost always respond that your response failed to fully answer all of their questions, so your case is being referred to management for possible disciplinary action. The only time I have ever seen any response from ETC except that one was once when an employee received a query about the same issue the employee had been queried on the year before. In that case, when we send a copy of the prior year’s correspondence, there was nothing further.

On the same day a few weeks ago, I spoke with two employees who had received letters from ETC.

The first was an employee of some forty years whose first remark to me was, “Are they going to take my retirement away from me?” That employee had paid a CPA to prepare the tax return. When I started here some years back, my class was taught, “When you see a return that was prepared by a CPA, you better realize that that CPA knows more than you do.” In this case, the employee’s CPA had supplied a statement to the employee admitting that he, the CPA, had made an error that resulted in a higher tax liability. The CPA had caught the mistake before Underreporter ever did, and prepared a 1040X, an Amended Return. The CPA even paid the penalty and interest because it was his mistake.

The second employee had a similar situation. That employee had inherited a trust fund from the estate of a family member. The CPA who prepared the return, as did the first one, made a mistake and provided the employee with a statement admitting it. That employee too asked me if the situation would result in termination (even though the employee had done nothing whatsoever wrong).

Both employees’ statements and the accompanying CPAs’ statements were sent off to ETC. Again on the same day a few weeks later, both employees came to see me. Both had received a response from ETC. Both responses were that the cases were referred to management for possible Removal or other Adverse Action.

For what it is worth, the manager of one of the employees had the integrity and common sense to inform the employee that it would go no further; the case was closed. The other employee is still being forced through hoops for some unfathomable reason.

It is shocking how often employees come to the union office for help with a “tax case” that should be no case at all. One of the most common scenarios we see results from some discrepancy stemming from the spouse of an employee. Let me say, very pointedly, that there are now very few financial penalties for a married couple to file separately.

If you are employed at the IRS, it is pitiable but evident that you must do everything possible to protect yourself. If you are married, I suggest that you seriously study the effect of filing your taxes in Filing Status 3 – Married Filing Separately. It might save you serious difficulties down the line.

Remember too that the act of paying a professional to prepare your taxes is no defense. The IRS position is that we are responsible for whatever is on our returns, whether we understand it or not.

Perhaps you wondered, when you saw the heading of this piece that says “Dear Management,” just what that means. I would like to say to the powers that be, “Dear Management, you should be ashamed. You have fostered a climate of fear where dedicated, professional employees who year-after-year deliver loyalty and integrity to you receive in exchange suspicion, distrust, and an ominous shadow on the wall of an axe on the downswing. How can you be so heartless, so cruel?” Yes, I know that there are plenty of managers out there who do not deserve the contempt I am offering here, but it is patently obvious that there are not enough of them in high enough places to dispel the dread that is felt by far too many.

Some of our managers have as much fear as any of employee. I recall a manager who was a personal friend of mine for several years prior to becoming a first-line manager. When I was representing an employee in that new manager’s workgroup, the manager refused to provide copies of the employee’s Forms 3081, first to the employee, then to me, the designated representative. The manager squeaked, “I want to keep my job.” I next went to the Department Manager for the 3081’s and was told that they would not be provided because, in essence, Labor Relations had said not to. I doubt that Labor Relations had prohibited the provision of 3081’s, but the Department Manager interpreted a denial of an Information request to mean that nothing whatsoever should be given to the employee or to me, and the Department Manager was apparently afraid to ask.

Perhaps one day the persons whom we elect to the Congress and the White House will appreciate the federal employee workforce. Perhaps one day the management of our agency will appreciate that almost all of us came here to do an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay, that we value our integrity, and that we are no worse – maybe not even as bad – as the rest of the citizenry of the United States of America. Perhaps one day we can even expect fairness from our agency and our government.

Until then, protect yourself. When you can’t protect yourself, let us help you. Until then, Dear Management, you should be ashamed.