Jurisdictional responsibility must be determined upon receipt of a taxpayers proposal to compromise. This section provides instructions for initial case processing on new offers. It also provides directions for processing payments, powers of attorney, and emergency case processing.

All initial offer receipts that are submitted based on Doubt as to Collectibility (DATC), Effective Tax Administration (ETA), or Doubt as to Liability (DATL) for either Trust Fund Recovery Penalty (TFRP) or Personal Liability for Excise Tax (PLET) must be processed by the appropriate Centralized Offer In Compromise (COIC) site. Form 656 instructions advise taxpayers to send offers to the appropriate COIC site based on the taxpayers state of residence.

Doubt as to Liability (DATL) offers other than those mentioned above are to be forwarded to the taxpayers Area office Examination function. Forward the offer to the appropriate Area office using Form 3210, Document Transmittal.

Offers that are received elsewhere by Service employees must be immediately date stamped and forwarded to their respective Centralized Offer in Compromise (COIC) site for processing within 24 hours of receipt. When an offer is received on an assigned case by a field revenue officer (RO), Form 657, Offer in Compromise Revenue Officer Report, must be completed and attached to the offer package. This form is to be signed by the RO and approved by the manager. The RO should retain all information related to the collection case and forward only the following information to COIC:

The above information should be transmitted to the appropriate COIC site using Form 3210, Document Transmittal, and must be sent by traceable methods if an application fee and/or deposit is attached.

Individuals or self-employed taxpayers filing an offer based on Doubt as to Collectibility (DATC) or Effective Tax Administrations (ETA) should complete and attach the Form 433-A, Collection Information Statement for Wage Earners and Self-Employed Individuals, and a Form 433-B, Collection Information Statement for Business , if the taxpayer is self-employed.

All other forms of business entities (partnerships, corporations, limited liability corporations (LLC), etc.) should submit the Form 433-B, Collection Information Statement for Business.

Taxpayers that submit an offer to compromise individually owed tax and also have a substantial interest in an ongoing business may also be required to submit a Form 433-B for that business.

When corporate offers are being considered, corporate officers, shareholders, or others determined to be responsible for a Trust Fund Recovery Penalty (TFRP) may be required to submit a Form 433-A. When partnership or LLC offers are being considered, the general partners and the LLC's owners may be required to submit a Form 433-A as well.

In conjunction with an acceptance letter, Form 656 constitutes a binding agreement between the government and the taxpayer.

Each taxpayer that is party to an offer should personally sign the Form 656. When unusual circumstances prevent this (e.g. the taxpayer is incapacitated), an authorized representative may sign the Form 656, Offer in Compromise, for the taxpayer.

The case file should include a copy of the properly executed Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative, Form 8821, Tax Information Authorization, or CFINK print as verification of the representative's authority.

Since Collection Information Statements (CIS) require certification under penalty of perjury, the taxpayer(s) must personally sign the Form 433-A and/or 433-B.

In the case of joint offers in compromise, all parties, or their designated representative as indicated in paragraph (1) above, must sign the Form 656 to ensure the provisions of the agreement bind all parties.

Offers submitted for corporations should reflect the corporate name on the first signature line. The signature name and title of the authorized officer should be reflected on the second line.

An offer submitted by the fiduciary of an estate of a deceased taxpayer will be binding on the taxpayers estate to the extent that it would be binding on a taxpayer who submits an offer on their own behalf. Include in the case file a copy of the fiduciary's appointment document.

If an offer is submitted on behalf of a deceased taxpayer, when there is no estate or fiduciary, the individual who signs the offer must have authority. This authority can be designated by a will appointing that individual as the executor or by written authorization from the probate court.

When an offer is received in the Centralized Offer in Compromise (COIC) site, an employee will:

Taxpayers may request that their offer be expedited due to an emergency or perceived emergency situation. Situations that may warrant expediting case processing include:

Offers received with request for expedite processing should be referred to management for a decision on whether or not expedite treatment is warranted.

Deposits are defined as payments of part or all of the offered amount submitted prior to acceptance. Offers do not require deposits, but deposits may be received with new offers or any time while an offer is being considered. A deposit may be required when considering a compromise of an accepted offer as discussed in IRM 5.8.9.3, Potential Default Cases .

Deposits are held in a special deposit fund commonly referred to as the "4710 Account." The deposit is not reflected on IDRS nor applied to any specific tax period until the offer is accepted. For those offers previously loaded on AOIC, the amount will be annotated on the Deposit Screen of the taxpayers AOIC record by the Monitoring OIC (MOIC) employee processing the remittance.

COIC sites will establish local procedures with their remittance processing office, for handling remittances and ensuring that deposits are timely processed.

During the course of an investigation an offer investigator must process any deposit received on a pending offer within 24 hours of receipt. The employee who receives the deposit will:

Once the Centralized Offer in Compromise (COIC) sites have loaded the offer to AOIC and completed initial processing, pending offers in the following categories will be transferred to the appropriate compliance area to be worked in a field group, except for those self-employed taxpayers meeting the criteria listed in paragraph 3 below.

Prior to the transfer of self-employed cases to an Area office, COIC will:

Only those self-employed taxpayers meeting the following criteria, will be retained and processed in the COIC sites.

All offers forwarded to Area offices for investigation will be sent to a central point designated by the Area office. Within five (5) business days of receipt of the offer case file from the COIC site, the Area office will:

Offer cases may be transferred from one office or site to another if:

Misdirected offers without remittances should be transferred from one Centralized Offer in Compromise (COIC) site to the proper COIC site while in "U" (undetermined) status, before a processability determination is made.

Misdirected offers with remittances will be reviewed by the COIC sites for processability determinations.

Misdirected offers received and determined to be under the jurisdiction of Appeals as a result of a Collection Due Process (CDP) hearing, will not be transferred between COIC sites. Follow the procedures outlined in IRM 5.8.3.4.2, Determining Processability for Appeals Collection Due Process Offers.

Transfers from one office or COIC site to another should be made if the taxpayer relocates and either the investigation has not been started or there is a substantial change in circumstances. Transfer letters should be generated and sent to the taxpayer by the transferring office or COIC site.

To transfer cases, the transferring office should take the following steps:

Taxpayers who wish to be represented must submit a properly executed Form 2484, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative . Input the representative's information on AOIC and retain a copy of the form in the paper case file. Forward the original for recording on the Centralized Authorization File (CAF).

Send all original correspondence to the taxpayer and provide a copy to the representative unless the taxpayer has indicated otherwise by checking any item on line 7 of Form 2848.

Unenrolled preparers may accompany taxpayers to meetings and receive and provide information that relates to the offer investigation. They are not authorized to represent taxpayers or sign documents relating to offers in compromise.

If the Form 2848 does not include liabilities that are included on the offer, a letter cannot be sent to the representative covering these periods. Instead send a redacted letter to the representative. The letter sent to the taxpayer can request completion of a Form 8821, Tax Information Authorization or a Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative, to cover the missing periods.

Form 4442, Inquiry Referral, will be prepared by Automated Collection System (ACS), Toll Free and/or Walk-in operations to provide information submitted by the taxpayer on a previously filed offer in compromise. Normally, these forms will be prepared if the offer was submitted for processing more than 45 calendar days and the taxpayer has yet to be contacted or notified of the status of the offer.

Form 4442 will be faxed to the appropriate Centralized Offer in Compromise (COIC) sites. The forms should be reviewed within 48 hours of receipt and any necessary action taken on the account based on the information provided.