‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Internal Revenue 
Service Independent Office of Appeals shall be 
under the supervision and direction of an official 
to be known as the ‘Chief of Appeals’. The Chief 
of Appeals shall report directly to the Commis-
sioner of Internal Revenue and shall be entitled 
to compensation at the same rate as the highest 
rate of basic pay established for the Senior Exec-
utive Service under section 5382 of title 5, 
United States Code. 
‘‘(B) APPOINTMENT.—The Chief of Appeals 
shall be appointed by the Commissioner of Inter-
nal Revenue without regard to the provisions of 
title 5, United States Code, relating to appoint-
ments in the competitive service or the Senior 
Executive Service. 
‘‘(C) QUALIFICATIONS.—An individual ap-
pointed under subparagraph (B) shall have expe-
rience and expertise in— 
‘‘(i) administration of, and compliance 
with, Federal tax laws, 
‘‘(ii) a broad range of compliance 
cases, and 
‘‘(iii) management of large service or-
ganizations. 
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‘‘(3) PURPOSES
AND
DUTIES
OF
OFFICE.—It 
shall be the function of the Internal Revenue Service 
Independent Office of Appeals to resolve Federal tax 
controversies without litigation on a basis which— 
‘‘(A) is fair and impartial to both the Gov-
ernment and the taxpayer, 
‘‘(B) promotes a consistent application and 
interpretation of, and voluntary compliance 
with, the Federal tax laws, and 
‘‘(C) enhances public confidence in the in-
tegrity and efficiency of the Internal Revenue 
Service. 
‘‘(4) RIGHT OF APPEAL.—The resolution process 
described in paragraph (3) shall be generally avail-
able to all taxpayers. 
‘‘(5) LIMITATION ON DESIGNATION OF CASES AS 
NOT ELIGIBLE FOR REFERRAL TO INDEPENDENT OF-
FICE OF APPEALS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If any taxpayer which 
is in receipt of a notice of deficiency authorized 
under section 6212 requests referral to the Inter-
nal Revenue Service Independent Office of Ap-
peals and such request is denied, the Commis-
sioner of Internal Revenue shall provide such 
taxpayer a written notice which— 
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‘‘(i) provides a detailed description of 
the facts involved, the basis for the decision 
to deny the request, and a detailed expla-
nation of how the basis of such decision ap-
plies to such facts, and 
‘‘(ii) describes the procedures pre-
scribed under subparagraph (C) for pro-
testing the decision to deny the request. 
‘‘(B) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Commis-
sioner of Internal Revenue shall submit a writ-
ten report to Congress on an annual basis which 
includes the number of requests described in sub-
paragraph (A) which were denied and the rea-
sons (described by category) that such requests 
were denied. 
‘‘(C) PROCEDURES
FOR
PROTESTING
DE-
NIAL OF REQUEST.—The Commissioner of Inter-
nal Revenue shall prescribe procedures for pro-
testing to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue 
a denial of a request described in subparagraph 
(A). 
‘‘(D) NOT APPLICABLE TO FRIVOLOUS POSI-
TIONS.—This paragraph shall not apply to a re-
quest for referral to the Internal Revenue Service 
Independent Office of Appeals which is denied on 
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the basis that the issue involved is a frivolous po-
sition (within the meaning of section 6702(c)). 
‘‘(6) STAFF.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—All personnel in the In-
ternal Revenue Service Independent Office of Ap-
peals shall report to the Chief of Appeals. 
‘‘(B) ACCESS TO STAFF OF OFFICE OF THE 
CHIEF
COUNSEL.—The Chief of Appeals shall 
have authority to obtain legal assistance and ad-
vice from the staff of the Office of the Chief 
Counsel. The Chief Counsel shall ensure, to the 
extent practicable, that such assistance and ad-
vice is provided by staff of the Office of the Chief 
Counsel who were not involved in the case with 
respect to which such assistance and advice is 
sought and who are not involved in preparing 
such case for litigation. 
‘‘(7) ACCESS TO CASE FILES.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In any case in which a 
conference with the Internal Revenue Service 
Independent Office of Appeals has been scheduled 
upon request of a specified taxpayer, the Chief of 
Appeals shall ensure that such taxpayer is pro-
vided access to the nonprivileged portions of the 
case file on record regarding the disputed issues 
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(other than documents provided by the taxpayer 
to the Internal Revenue Service) not later than 
10 days before the date of such conference. 
‘‘(B) TAXPAYER
ELECTION
TO
EXPEDITE 
CONFERENCE.—If the taxpayer so elects, sub-
paragraph (A) shall be applied by substituting 
‘the date of such conference’ for ‘10 days before 
the date of such conference’. 
‘‘(C) SPECIFIED TAXPAYER.—For purposes 
of this paragraph— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘specified 
taxpayer’ means— 
‘‘(I) in the case of any taxpayer 
who is a natural person, a taxpayer 
whose adjusted gross income does not 
exceed $400,000 for the taxable year to 
which the dispute relates, and 
‘‘(II) in the case of any other tax-
payer, a taxpayer whose gross receipts 
do not exceed $5,000,000 for the tax-
able year to which the dispute relates. 
‘‘(ii) 
AGGREGATION
RULE.—Rules 
similar to the rules of section 448(c)(2) 
shall apply for purposes of clause (i)(II).’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 
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(1) The following provisions are each amended 
by striking ‘‘Internal Revenue Service Office of Ap-
peals’’ and inserting ‘‘Internal Revenue Service Inde-
pendent Office of Appeals’’: 
(A) Section 6015(c)(4)(B)(ii)(I). 
(B) Section 6320(b)(1). 
(C) Subsections (b)(1) and (d)(3) of section 
6330. 
(D) Section 6603(d)(3)(B). 
(E) Section 6621(c)(2)(A)(i). 
(F) Section 7122(e)(2). 
(G) Subsections (a), (b)(1), (b)(2), and 
(c)(1) of section 7123. 
(H) Subsections (c)(7)(B)(i) and (g)(2)(A) 
of section 7430. 
(I) Section 7522(b)(3). 
(J) Section 7612(c)(2)(A). 
(2) Section 7430(c)(2) is amended by striking 
‘‘Internal Revenue Service Office of Appeals’’ each 
place it appears and inserting ‘‘Internal Revenue 
Service Independent Office of Appeals’’. 
(3) The heading of section 6330(d)(3) is amended 
by inserting ‘‘INDEPENDENT’’ after ‘‘IRS’’. 
(c) OTHER REFERENCES.—Any reference in any pro-
vision of law, or regulation or other guidance, to the Inter-
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