IRS manager? Check your pay stub, you might owe the agency money

A new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that multiple IRS managers were subjected to salary calculation errors at the agency due to confusion surrounding its pay rules.

The March 29 report details how the complexities of the IRS pay system for managers led to overpayments of $4.2 million to approximately 600 employees, while another 900 managers were shortchanged $2.7 million between 2006 and 2015.

Related: Read the report

Investigators said the breakdowns occurred in the agency’s IRS Payband System, which determines performance-based pay for managers and is separate from the General Schedule.

The system provides certain raises for employees promoted to manager positions — such as 10 percent of base pay for a permanent position or 8 percent for a temporary position — but if an employee has previous managerial experience or returns to a GS-level salary job, things start to get complicated.

“For example, employees who are promoted to a similar position to one they previously held may be entitled to receive increases that exceed the 10 percent and 8 percent increases generally paid for permanent and temporary positions,” the report said.

“In addition, there are specific rules for setting pay when managers move out of the management pay system. These rules depend specifically on whether the position the manager is receiving is a promotion, a demotion, or a return to the position they occupied prior to receiving a temporary promotion.”

(Carten Cordell, Federal Times, April 3)

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