Federal Daily - February 21, 2008
IRS Should Embrace New Policies, NTEU Says
To improve recruitment and retention, the IRS should back away from practices such as its private
debt collection program, and replace them with employee-friendly policies, National Treasury Employees
Union (NTEU) President Colleen Kelley advised the agency. Kelley spoke Feb. 19 at a meeting of the
Independent IRS Oversight Board, which was exploring ways the federal government can attract, develop
and retain qualified employees. Kelley said a credible and transparent compensation system should be
at that top of that list. The IRS at the same time should jettison a variety of other practices, she
said, such as the privatization of the debt collection process and an unpopular pay-banding system
in place for IRS managers. The agency also could improve morale by increasing salaries, which lag behind
those in the private sector, Kelley said. On a governmentwide scale, Kelley said, the Office of Personnel
Management could help recruitment and retention by encouraging all agencies to use existing workforce
flexibilities, such as telecommuting; special salary rates and recruitment/retention bonuses. To see
more, to go: www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=1220.
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GSA Breaks Ground on New Border Facility
The General Services Administration (GSA) broke ground Feb. 15 for a new commercial port of entry
along the United States-Mexico border in the southwest corner of Arizona, the agency announced in a
statement. Once completed, the new $42 million San Luis II land port of entry (LPOE) will handle only
cross-border commercial traffic. All pedestrian and private vehicle traffic will be directed through
the current LPOE San Luis I, GSA said. San Luis II is the first new LPOE to be built in Arizona in
over two decades. San Luis, a community of about 20,000, is located on the southwest corner of Arizona,
within Yuma County about 10 miles south of the city of Yuma. San Luis I has been a U.S. port of entry
into Mexico since 1930. “I have committed GSA to building what we can, where we can, as fast
as we can,” said GSA Administrator Lurita Doan. To see more, to go: www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?pageTypeId=8199&channelId=-13259&P=XAP&contentId=24096&contentType=GSA_BASIC.
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IRS Rolls Out Special 1040A for Stimulus Package
The IRS on Feb. 15 unveiled a special Form 1040A for Social Security recipients or veterans who do
not typically file a tax return but want to receive rebate checks from the economic stimulus package.
The package, H.R. 5140, recently signed by President Bush, authorizes a payment of $300 ($600 on a
joint return) if taxpayers had at least $3,000 of qualifying income last year. That qualifying income
includes not only earned income, but also Social Security benefits, certain Railroad Retirement benefits
and certain veterans’ benefits. However, taxpayers who normally are not required to file—such
as those who receive Social Security benefits or veterans’ disability compensation, pension or
survivors’ benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs—but who are eligible for the
stimulus payment, must file a 2007 tax return. To make things easier, the IRS produced a special version
of the Form 1040A which shows the specific sections of the form these taxpayers need to fill out. Also,
the IRS noted that taxpayers who don’t have any other requirement to file a tax return—but
still submit a tax return to qualify for the economic stimulus payments—will not create any additional
tax or trigger a tax bill. In addition, the stimulus payments will not have any effect on eligibility
for federal benefits, the IRS said in a statement. To see more, to go: www.irs.gov/irs/article/0,,id=179182,00.html.
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