Compliance expertise IRS taxation of disputed ownership funds regulations.
Pass/Fail Prior Experience Factor: The Judiciary will evaluate whether the Offeror has provided evidence that it has prior experience on at least one project as a tax administrator of Disputed Ownership Funds or other escrow funds subject to 26 U.S.C. §468B for the federal government within five years of the solicitation release date. Failure to provide such evidence will render a proposal ineligible for award.
Task 1. Operational Analysis of the DOF Single Fund Concept. This will require working closely with Judiciary staff in designing a process that would allow a Tax Administrator to file tax reports, returns, and payments for the DOF fund and maintain the necessary accounting for all subaccounts. The contractor would provide assistance in determining:
the information necessary to file quarterly and annual returns for the DOF Single Fund
how best to capture this information
how best to assess the percentage of interest earnings for remittance to the IRS.
The information gathered above will be used in finalizing procedures for compliance with IRS regulations; modifying the Case Management/Electronic Filing System and any other relevant Judiciary systems; and developing approved procedures for handling DOF deposits in federal court registries. The contractor may be required to make presentations about this process to Judiciary staff and the IRS.
Deliverable:
The contractor will provide a written set of instructions with regard to the filing of the appropriate tax returns and reports and compilation of the information, together with relevant templates and any other necessary documentation.
Task 2. Tax Administrator Services (optional).
The contractor will provide Tax Administrator Services for the DOF Single Fund in accordance with the process to be defined upon completion of analysis in Task 1. The contractor will be responsible for preparing the annual Form 1120SF for the Fund, as well as quarterly tax returns, Form 1099s, Form 1042s, and any other necessary tax reports.
Task 3. Enhancement of the Case Management System (CMS) to accommodate the DOF Single Fund operations (optional).
The CMS System is a web based system where courts input their registry cases for investment in the CRIS program. Currently, it does not capture any information that could be used for tax reporting or filing. The contractor would work with the Judiciary and the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS) to define Requirements for enhancement to the system to make ongoing reporting and filing (as defined in Task 1) with the IRS a more streamlined process.
The work will include participation in Requirements gathering sessions, reviewing documented requirements prepared by the BFS, defining test "scripts", participating in execution tests of the system enhancements, and documenting the results of the tests. (Test Scripts definition includes, but not limited to, a set of instructions that will be performed which will test that the system functions as expected.)
Deliverables:
Memorandum documenting the review of the written "use cases" (requirements document) provided by BFS based upon input from requirements gathering sessions.
Test Cases/Scripts: a set of instructions that will be performed on the system under test to test that the system functions as expected. The expected results should also be provided.
Documentation of Test Results in JIRA: The contractor will assist in executing the Test Cases/Scripts defined above and document the results in an existing Judiciary tracking systems called JIRA, which was developed by Atlassian, Inc. Contractor will also perform any retesting after corrections are made.
Task 4. Other Tax Advice Services (optional).
The contractor will provide expert advice regarding tax reporting and payment requirements for funds held in federal court registries on an "as needed" basis, as directed by the COR.
Robert K. Grinstead, Contracting Officer, Phone (202) 502-2053, Fax (202) 502-1066, Email [email protected] - Larry Field, Supervising Contracting Officer, Email [email protected]
