Do you live in Alaska and have a spare 200 to 300 hours per year to donate to a good cause? You may want to think about volunteering as a member of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP).
TAP is “a federal advisory committee that listens to taxpayers, identifies major taxpayer concerns, and makes recommendations for improving IRS services.” As a TAS committee member, one of your primary responsibilities will be to put together an annual report (containing said recommendations) for the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS), the Treasury Department Secretary, and the IRS Commissioner.
The IRS is actually seeking TAP committee members in several states (19 to be exact), not just Alaska. They want alternates in a handful of states as well. And they need one member to represent international taxpayers. If you’re interested in the international position, don’t worry too much about travel; it looks like the IRS is not requiring any in-person meetings from the international member.
The great thing about this service opportunity is you don’t have to be a tax preparer, accountant, tax attorney, or any kind of tax professional to join the panel. You have to be accepted to the panel, but you don’t need to have any special connection to the IRS or the tax community at all. Federal advisory committees in general are required to seek out people from a variety of backgrounds and viewpoints. The “underrepresented groups” sought by TAP include U.S. taxpayers living abroad and Native Americans.
April 11th is the deadline to apply to become a member of the panel.