Economist

Duties

WHAT IS THE LARGE BUSINESS AND INTERNATIONAL (LB&I)DIVISION?

A description of the business units can be found at: https://www.jobs.irs.gov/about/who/business-divisions

Vacancies will be filled in the following specialty areas: Large Business and International Director Treaty and Transfer Pricing Operations

TPP announcements: WHAT IS THE TRANSFER PRICING PRACTICE? The Transfer Pricing Practice (TPP) primarily focuses on compliance activities for transfer pricing issues and is part of Treaty and Transfer Pricing Operations (TTPO) in the Large Business & International (LB&I) division of the IRS. Transfer pricing involves the pricing of goods, services and intellectual property transferred between related entities of multinational enterprises (typically corporations with a common parent company). When these transactions involve transfers between a U.S. and foreign related entity, tax issues arise over how much income should be reported in each country. The United States and foreign tax administrations have complex tax rules about how to determine intercompany pricing which leads to how much taxable income should be reported in each country. It is an area of significant tax controversy. The IRS Transfer Pricing Practice conducts many types of compliance activities related to transfer pricing including examinations, Compliance Assurance Process (CAP) audits, Campaigns (which may or may not include examinations), assistance with Advance Pricing Agreements and other efforts. Within TPP, there are four field territories (East, North, South and West) as well as the Practice Network. The Transfer Pricing Practice Network supports examiners working on transfer pricing issues by performing risk assessments and identifying emerging issues or issues of strategic importance and develops training and tools for transfer pricing issues, provides advice on campaigns, and assists agents in transfer pricing examinations.

The following are the duties of this position at the full working level. If this vacancy includes more than one grade and you are selected at a lower grade level, you will have the opportunity to learn to perform these duties and receive training to help you grow in this position.

• Performs assignments based on breadth or depth of research and analyses involved in examinations thatinclude complex issues covering an extensive range of industries and fields of specializations.
• Conducts various kinds of microeconomic research and analyses that require the study of economic structure,

business practices and functions, competitive conditions, trade barriers, government imposed barriers,

financial markets, interest rates, technology transfers, and product life cycles.

• Reviews and analyzes economic, statistical, and tax data to determine the existence of a potential economic

issue; recommends formal or limited assistance or withdrawal; develops an effective work plan, conducts

research in source materials that include databases, professional journals and publications, government

publications, and studies by other economists.

• Performs analyses to determine the arm's-length value of tangible and intangible products, services, and

assets, and evaluates the values and analyses reported by taxpayers.

• Explains and defends research findings to the taxpayer, taxpayer's representatives, exam team, Appeals,

Counsel, and other IRS personnel.

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Requirements

Conditions of Employment

STANDARD POSITION DESCRIPTIONS (SPD):

PD95080

Visit the IRS SPD Library to access the position descriptions.

• If you are in a telework eligible position, you may be directed to temporarily telework on a full-time basis due to COVID 19. Employees must be within a 200-mile radius of their official assigned post-of-duty (POD) while in a telework status. Once normal operations resume, employees may be directed back to the office to perform the duties of their position. Telework eligibility does not guarantee telework; employees must meet and sustain IRS telework eligibility requirements and supervisor's approval to participate in the IRS Telework Program. As a reminder - If you are selected for a position, you are responsible for reporting to your designated POD (location) on the negotiated start date or as directed by management.
• File a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report within 30 days of appointment and annually from then on.
• Obtain and use a Government-issued charge card for business-related travel.

Qualifications

Federal experience is not required. The experience may have been gained in the public sector, private sector or Volunteer Service. One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-time work is considered on a prorated basis. To ensure full credit for your work experience, please indicate dates of employment by month/year, and indicate number of hours worked per week, on your resume.

You must meet the following requirements by the closing date of this announcement:

BASIC IOR REQUIREMENT : To be eligible for this position at this grade level, you must meet the basic requirements below.

Bachelor's or higher degree in economics that included at least 21 semester hours in economics and 3 semester hours in statistics, accounting, or calculus.

OR

COMBINATION OF EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE: Courses equivalent to a major in economics as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

Examples of qualifying experience include:

Individual economic research assignments requiring planning, information assembly, analysis and evaluation, conclusion, and report preparation. Supervisory or project coordination assignments involving a staff of professional economists and requiring the evaluation and interpretation of economic information; or Teaching assignments in a college or university that included both class instruction in economics subjects and include one of the following (1) personal research that produced evidence of results (2) direction of graduate theses in economics, or (3) service as a consultant or advisor on technical economics problems. The quality of the combination of education and experience must be sufficient to demonstrate that the applicant possesses the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform work in the occupation, and is comparable to that normally acquired through the successful completion of a full 4-year course of study with a major in economics.

In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below:

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: GS-13 LEVEL: In addition to the basic requirements, you must have ONE (1) year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-12 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes: Experience with microeconomic concepts applied to industry and businesses, functions performed, tangible and intangible assets utilized, risks borne, types products produced and pricing, comparative and competitive advantages, market structures and pricing power, geographic and trade risk, useful life of assets, opportunity costs, regulatory risks, intangible development risks, market risks, international competitive risks; experience analyzing economic, financial and statistical information to recognize and evaluate significant and critical factors, solve problems, draw rational economic conclusions, and prepare comprehensive reports; oral communications to explain and defend research findings, hold conferences with taxpayers and their representatives and maintain professional relationships. Experience with project management techniques to ensure timely delivery of work product.

AND

MEET TIME IN GRADE (TIG) REQUIREMENT: For positions above the GS-05, applicants must meet applicable time-in-grade requirements to be considered eligible.Under merit promotion procedures, Federal applicants must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade to satisfy time-in-grade restrictions contained in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F. Time is credited based on calendar time served in a grade, regardless of the number of days or hours worked. If you currently hold or have previously held a position at the same (or equivalent) or higher grade/level in the Federal government as of this announcement, you will meet the TIME IN GRADE REQUIREMENTS.

AND

TIME AFTER COMPETITIVE APPOINTMENT: By the closing date (or if this is an open continuous announcement, by the cut-off date) specified in this job announcement, current civilian employees must have completed at least 90 days of federal civilian service since their latest non-temporary appointment from a competitive referral certificate, known as time after competitive appointment. For this requirement, a competitive appointment is one where you applied to and were appointed from an announcement open to "All US Citizens".

For more information on qualifications please refer to OPM's Qualifications Standards.

Education

A copy of your transcripts or equivalent documentation is required for positions with an education requirement, or if you are qualifying based on education or a combination of education and experience. An official transcript will be required if you are selected. If the position has specific education requirements and you currently hold, or have previously held, a position in the same job series with the IRS, there is no need to submit a transcript or equivalent at this time. Applicants are encouraged, but are not required, to submit an SF-50 documenting experience in a specific series.

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: Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the requirements. You must show proof the education credentials have been deemed to be at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education program. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying. Click here for Foreign Education Credentialing instructions.

Additional information

• We may select from this announcement or any other source to fill one or more vacancies. Additional jobs may be filled.
• The salary range indicated in this announcement reflects the minimum locality pay up to maximum locality pay for all duty locations listed. The range will be adjusted for selected duty location. General Schedule locality pay tables may be found under Salaries & Wages.
• This is a bargaining unit position.
• Tour of Duty: Monday-Friday, Day Shift with start and stop times between 6:00 am and 6:00 pm.
• Alternative work schedule, staggered work hours or telework may be available.
• Relocation expenses - No.

Please consider each location carefully when applying. If you are selected for a position at one of your location selections, that location will become your official post of duty.

This is an open continuous announcement which allows applicants to apply up to the closing date of the announcement, 10/10/2023. The announcement will be used to fill an anticipated 15 vacancies. Selections may be made from certificates issued up to 9 months after the 1st cut-off date 02/10/2023. Contingent upon funding and space requirements, one or more vacancies may be filled at the locations listed in this announcement as they become available. This announcement may be amended to include additional cut-off dates within the 9-month period if needed, not later than 10 days prior to the additional cut-off date or the final selection date.

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