Sec. 601. Office of Participant and Plan Sponsor Advocate
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Section 7803 is amended by adding at the end the following: There is established in the Internal Revenue Service an office to be known as the Office of the Participant and Plan Sponsor Advocate . The Office of the Participant and Plan Sponsor Advocate shall be under the supervision and direction of an official to be known as the Participant and Plan Sponsor Advocate . The Commissioner shall select the Participant and Plan Sponsor Advocate without regard to the provisions of title 5, United States Code, relating to appointments in the competitive service or Senior Executive Service.
The Participant and Plan Sponsor Advocate shall— act as a liaison between the Internal Revenue Service, sponsors of sponsors of qualified retirement plans (as defined in section 4974(c)), and participants in such plans; advocate for the full attainment of the rights of such plan sponsors and participants; assist pension plan sponsors and participants in resolving disputes with the Internal Revenue Service; identify areas in which participants and plan sponsors have persistent problems in dealings with the Internal Revenue Service; to the extent possible, propose changes in the administrative practices of the Internal Revenue Service to mitigate problems; identify potential legislative changes which may be appropriate to mitigate problems; and refer instances of fraud, waste, and abuse, and violations of law to the Office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
If the Participant and Plan Sponsor Advocate is removed from office or is transferred to another position or location within the Internal Revenue Service, the Commissioner shall communicate in writing the reasons for any such removal or transfer to Congress not less than 30 days before the removal or transfer. Nothing in this paragraph shall prohibit a personnel action otherwise authorized by law, other than transfer or removal. The annual rate of basic pay for the Participant and Plan Sponsor Advocate shall be the same rate as the highest rate of basic pay established for the Senior Executive Service under section 5382 of title 5, United States Code, or, if the Commissioner so determines, at a rate fixed under section 9503 of such title.
Not later than December 31 of each calendar year, the Participant and Plan Sponsor Advocate shall report to the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee of the Senate, the Committee on Finance of the Senate, the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives on the activities of the Office of the Participant and Plan Sponsor Advocate during the fiscal year ending during such calendar year.
Each report submitted under subparagraph
(A)shall— summarize the assistance requests received from participants and plan sponsors and describe the activities, and evaluate the effectiveness, of the Participant and Plan Sponsor Advocate during the preceding year; identify significant problems the Participant and Plan Sponsor Advocate has identified; include specific legislative and regulatory changes to address the problems; and identify any actions taken to correct problems identified in any previous report. The Participant and Plan Sponsor Advocate shall submit a copy of each report to the Secretary of the Treasury, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, and any other appropriate official at the same time such report is submitted to the committees of Congress under subparagraph (A). . The amendment made by this section shall take effect on January 1, 2014.