Section 205.4 - Submitting rules for public hearing; developing and assembling guidelines into employee handbook; publishing and distributing handbook for taxpayers and tax preparers. - Michigan Statutes

REVENUE DIVISION OF DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY (EXCERPT)
Act 122 of 1941

205.4 Submitting rules for public hearing; developing and assembling guidelines into employee handbook; publishing and distributing handbook for taxpayers and tax preparers.

Sec. 4.

(1) Not later than 1 year after the effective date of this section, the department of treasury shall submit rules for a public hearing pursuant to the administrative procedures act of 1969, 1969 PA 306, MCL 24.201 to 24.328, that provide for all of the following:

(a) Standards to be followed by department officers and employees for the fair and courteous treatment of the public, and a system for monitoring compliance with those standards.

(b) The procedures governing an informal conference held under section 21. These procedures shall include at least all of the following:

(i) A method by which the department attempts to schedule the informal conference at a mutually convenient time and place.

(ii) A requirement that the department include in the notice for the informal conference the scope and nature of the subject of the informal conference.

(iii) Authorization for the taxpayer at whose request the informal conference is being held to make a sound recording of the informal conference with prior notice to the department and for the department to do the same with prior notice to the taxpayer.

(2) Not later than 1 year after the effective date of this section, the department shall develop guidelines to govern departmental employee responses to inquiries from the public and standards for tax audit activities. The guidelines shall explicitly exclude the use of a collection goal or quota for evaluating an employee. The department shall assemble the guidelines required by this subsection into an employee handbook. However, the handbook shall not disclose information or parameters excluded from disclosure under section 28(1)(f). The department shall distribute the handbook to all departmental employees involved in the collection or auditing of taxes and shall make the handbook available to the public.

(3) The department shall publish a handbook for taxpayers and tax preparers. The handbook shall be made available at a reasonable cost, not to exceed the actual cost of publication, and shall contain all of the following:

(a) The audit and collection procedures used by the department.

(b) The procedures governing departmental communications with taxpayers in the audit and collection process.

History: Add. 1993, Act 14, Imd. Eff. Apr. 1, 1993 ;-- Am. 2002, Act 657, Imd. Eff. Dec. 23, 2002
Compiler's Notes: Former MCL 205.4, which prohibited commissioner and employees from taking part in political campaigns, was repealed by Act 188 of 1970, Eff. Aug. 6, 1970.
Popular Name: Revenue Act
Admin Rule: R 205.1001 et seq. of the Michigan Administrative Code.