SECTION 8. AGREEMENT TO

MEDIATE

.01 Written agreement . Upon approval of the request to mediate, the taxpayer and Appeals will enter into a written agreement to mediate. See Exhibit 2 of this revenue procedure for a model agreement to mediate. A representative from the Appeals Office of Tax Policy and Procedure may participate in the negotiation. The agreement to mediate should:

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(a) Be as concise as possible; (b) Specify the issue(s) that the parties have agreed to mediate;

(c) Contain an initial list of witnesses, attorneys, representatives, and observers for each party;

(d) Identify the location and the proposed date of the mediation session; and

(e) Prohibit ex parte contacts between the mediator and the parties.

The Appeals Team Manager, in consultation with the Team Case Leader or Appeals Officer, will sign the agreement to mediate on behalf of Appeals.

Generally, it is expected that the parties will complete and execute the agreement to mediate within three weeks after being notified that Appeals has approved the mediation request, and will proceed to mediation within 60 days after signing the written agreement to mediate. A taxpayer’s inability to adhere to these timeframes, without reasonable cause, may result in Appeals’ withdrawal from the mediation process.

.02 Participants . The parties to the mediation process will be the taxpayer and Appeals. Each party must have at least one participant with decision-making authority attending the mediation session. The written agreement to mediate will set forth the procedures by which the parties inform each other and the mediator of the participants in the mediation, and will set forth any limitation on the number, identity, or participation of such participants. The parties are encouraged to include, in addition to the required decision-makers, those persons with information and expertise that will be useful to the decisionmakers and the mediator. To minimize the possibility of a last minute disqualification of the mediator, each party must notify the mediator and the other party of the participants on the party’s mediation team no later than two weeks before the mediation. See Exhibit 3 of this revenue procedure for a model participants list.

.03 Disclosure . To participate in mediation under this revenue procedure, the taxpayer must consent under section 6103(c) to the disclosure by the IRS of the taxpayer’s returns and return information incident to the mediation to the mediator and any participant or observer identified in the initial list of participants and observers and to any subsequent participants

and observers identified in writing by the parties. The taxpayer must execute a separate consent to disclose the taxpayer’s return and return information. See Exhibit 4 of this revenue procedure for a model consent. If the agreement to mediate and consent are executed by a person pursuant to a power of attorney executed by the taxpayer, that power of attorney must clearly express the taxpayer’s grant of authority to consent to disclose the taxpayer’s returns and return information by the IRS to third parties, and a copy of that power of attorney must be attached to the agreement.