State of Maryland

A Tax Consultant I is the intermediate level of work conducting informal hearings or staff legal work in a Revenue Division of the Comptroller of Maryland, involving professional responsibilities of a broad scope.  Employees in this classification conduct hearings with taxpayers and their representatives to determine the accuracy, validity and legality of assessments levied and refund claims denied under all the revenue tax laws administered by the Comptroller of Maryland and may be responsible for performing legal research, preparing trial briefs, reviewing and revising administrative rules, regulations and procedures, and performing other legal work.  Employees in this classification, as staff legal advisors, are frequently called upon to give advice to the heads of the major sections and programs of the Division on matters involving administrative, constitutional and substantive tax law.  Employees in this classification do not supervise other positions.

Employees in this classification receive moderate supervision from an Assistant State Comptroller or Program Manager.

Positions in this classification are evaluated by using the classification job evaluation methodology.  The use of this method involves comparing the assigned duties and responsibilities of a position to the job criteria found in the Nature of Work and Examples of Work sections of the class specification.

The Tax Consultant I and Tax Consultant II are differentiated on the basis of the degree of supervisory control exercised by the supervisor over these employees.  The Tax Consultant I performs duties under close supervision at times and under general supervision at other times depending on the complexity of the specific duty being performed while the Tax Consultant II performs the full range of duties and responsibilities under general supervision.

Assists the agency’s Assistant Attorney General’s Office in representing a division of the Comptroller’s Office in the lower courts and the Court of Appeals of Maryland;

Conducts informal hearings in contested tax cases;

Confers with accountants and attorneys in resolving cases concerning their clients;

Studies proposed legislation concerning the Maryland Tax Laws and advises as to its effect and legal sufficiency;

Gives legal opinions and advice to the Division and program heads of the Division;

Summarizes and submits briefs on the facts applicable to a given case;

Performs research on the common law, case law precedents, statutory changes and the legislative history of statutes;

Performs other related duties.

Knowledge of trial court procedure, practices and jurisdiction;

Knowledge of the basic constitutional and administrative laws/principles applicable to the rules and procedures of administrative agencies;

Knowledge of the rules and procedures of the Maryland Tax Court, the Circuit Court and the Courts of Appeals of Maryland;

Knowledge of Maryland Tax Laws, of the rules and regulations of the Comptroller’s Office pertaining to revenue collections;

Knowledge of the United States Internal Revenue Code and its applicability to Maryland Tax Laws;

Ability to perform legal research;

Ability to prepare briefs, pleadings, petitions, motions and other legal documents;

Ability to organize, prepare and effectively present evidence, witnesses and other information;

Ability to analyze and evaluate statutes and related cases for their applicability to a given set of facts;

Ability to evaluate evidence and judicial opinions and to determine their relevance.

Education:   A Juris Doctor degree or equivalent degree from an accredited school of law.

Experience: None.

Note: Candidates may substitute U.S. Armed Forces military service experience as a commissioned officer in judge advocate classification or judge advocate specialty codes in the tax law specialist field of work on a year-for-year basis for the required education.   

1. Candidates for this classification must be admitted to the Maryland Bar.

2. Employees in this classification may be assigned duties which require the operation of a motor vehicle.  Employees assigned such duties will be required to possess a motor vehicle operator’s license valid in the State of Maryland.

Class specifications are broad descriptions covering groups of positions used by various State departments and agencies. Position descriptions maintained by the using department or agency specifically address the essential job functions of each position.

This is a Skilled Service classification in the State Personnel Management System.  All positions in this classification are Skilled Service positions.  Some positions in Skilled Service classifications may be designated Special Appointment in accordance with the State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 6-405, Annotated Code of Maryland.

This classification is not assigned to a bargaining unit, as indicated by the designation of S (Supervisor), M (Manager), T (Agency Head), U (Board or Commission Member), W (Student), X (Used by Agency or Excluded by Executive Order), or Z (Confidential).  As provided by State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 3-102, special appointment, temporary, contractual, supervisory, managerial and confidential employees are excluded from collective bargaining.  Additionally, certain executive branch agencies are exempt from collective bargaining and all positions in those agencies are excluded from collective bargaining.

This classification is one level in a Non-Competitive Promotion (NCP) series.  NCP promotions are promotions by which employees may advance in grade and class level from trainee to full performance levels in a classification series.  In order to be non-competitively promoted to the next level in a NCP series, an employee must: 1) perform the main purpose of the class as defined in the Nature of Work section of the class specification; 2) receive the type of supervision defined in the class specification, and 3) meet the minimum qualifications of the classification.