The Internal Revenue Service Has Implemented Some Screening Procedures, but Employees With Recent Tax and Conduct Issues Continue to Receive Awards

The Human Capital Officer should expand misconduct screening to consider employees with any level of disciplinary action prior to issuing awards.

The Human Capital Officer should examine the Federal tax compliance status of all employees before issuing awards.

The Human Capital Officer should implement the Department of the Treasury policies on awards for employees with conduct issues by: Issuing a report to the Deputy Secretary of Human Resources and Chief Human Capital by December 15 each year detailing each form of monetary recognition granted to an employee who engaged in misconduct that warranted a suspension or higher penalty along with a copy of the relevant disciplinary action (to include the proposal and final decision), the justification for the monetary recognition, the amount of the award, and the name of the employee; and having the IRS Commissioner, or an official designated by the Commissioner (who must be at least one level higher than the recommending official), approve any requests to grant monetary recognition to any employee involved in misconduct that warranted a suspension or higher penalty within the applicable time period.