Publication 5547 — Job Aid: IRS Over-the-Phone Interpreter (OPI) Service for SPEC Partners, Site Coordinators & Employees

Official source: IRS Forms, Instructions & Publications (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p5547.pdf), retrieved 2026-10-03. U.S. Government work (17 U.S.C. § 105).

---

To assist limited English proficient (LEP) taxpayers comply with their federal tax obligation, the IRS offers translation interpreter services at every VITA/TCE return preparation site.

The IRS is dedicated to servicing our multilingual customers by offering over-thephone interpreter (OPI) services in LEP communities. OPI is a federally funded program.

OPI offers real-time interpretation services for numerous languages (Attachment 1). Virtual call centers are open 24 hours a day, year-round. The SPEC OPI service is free and available to all VITA/TCE partners.

OPI services are used in all aspects of the SPEC business model, including:

• Income tax return preparation

• Return and Quality site reviews

• Field site visits

• ITIN applications

• Financial education and asset building (FEAB) services

• Outreach and education: Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Tax Credit,

education credits, identity theft, refund inquiries, questions about IRS correspondence, etc.

If partners want to use OPI services for purposes other than return preparation, they must obtain prior written authorization from the partner/site. The request must be sent to the relationship manager (RM) to obtain approval.

Contact your relationship manager if you are interested in participating in OPI services. If you are not sure who this is, please send a message to *SPEC.OPI.Service@irs.gov.

Publication 5547 (Rev. 8-2025) Catalog Number 54267X Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service www.irs.gov

Job Aid: IRS Over-the-Phone Interpreter (OPI) Service for SPEC Partners, Site Coordinators, & Employees

• An OPI assigned personal identification number (PIN) – OPI PINs cannot be

shared.

• Phone access - VITA/TCE landline or a partner provided cell phone, or

volunteer’s personal cell phone that allows 3-way calling.

• OPI Tracking Sheet – To be completed by the volunteer.

• Step 1: A certified VITA/TCE volunteer will call the taxpayer.

  • Step 2: The volunteer will call the interpreter’s toll-free line at 1-877-384

4474. Using three-way calling, the phone lines will merge to form a conference call with the taxpayer, the volunteer and the interpreter.

      • Step 3: After completing OPI training, the volunteer will enter the unique

personal identification number (PIN) assigned to them.

• Step 4: Press number for preferred language:

  • Press 1 for Spanish

  • Press 2 for Haitian Creole

  • Press 3 for Mandarin

  • Press 4 for Russian

  • Press 5 for Portuguese

  • Press 6 for Arabic

  • Press 7 to speak with an operator

  • For other languages, press 0, then say the language name or enter the

first three letters on your keypad.

• Step 5: Secure the interpreter’s name and identification number, PIN or

phone number.

• Step 6: After all questions are answered, the volunteer ends the call and

completes the OPI log (Attachment 2).

• Step 7: All volunteers will give their OPI log to the site coordinator.

• Step 8: The site coordinator will merge all data to one form and send their

completed OPI log to their relationship manager weekly.

2

Job Aid: IRS Over-the-Phone Interpreter (OPI) Service for SPEC Partners, Site Coordinators, & Employees

The volunteers, partners and site coordinators will:

• complete annual SPEC OPI training on Link & Learn Taxes (LLT).

• track each call on the weekly SPEC OPI log in its entirety

• submit the completed log weekly to the relationship manager. If there is no

OPI usage for the week, the partner/site will provide an email to the relationship manager saying there is no usage

• assist with the reconciliation of SPEC OPI logs monthly

The relationship managers will:

• complete annual SPEC OPI training on Link & Learn Taxes (LLT).

• request SPEC OPI PINs timely for activation or deactivation

• promptly respond to partner/site inquiries in a timely manner

• follow up with their assigned partners/sites weekly for OPI usage

• ensure partners/sites are completing the log accurately

• send completed SPEC OPI logs to their territory subject matter expert

• ensure SPEC OPI logs are reconciled timely each month, and obtain any

missing logs

The subject matter expert will:

• complete annual SPEC OPI training in Link and Learn

• request SPEC OPI PINs timely for activation or deactivation

• remind relationship managers weekly to follow up with their partner/site of the

responsibility to submit the weekly SPEC OPI logs

• input all weekly territory logs on the SPEC OPI SharePoint

• ensure SPEC OPI logs are monthly reconciled in a timely manner and obtain

any missing logs.

The territory managers will:

• complete annual SPEC OPI training on Link & Learn Taxes (LLT).

• ensure logs are uploaded to OPI SharePoint and completed accurately each week

3

Job Aid: IRS Over-the-Phone Interpreter (OPI) Service for SPEC Partners, Site Coordinators, & Employees

• ensure SPEC OPI logs are reconciled in a timely manner each month and

obtain any missing logs.

• submit SPEC OPI log to area point of contact

  • Area 1: Grace Torres – Grace.Toress@irs.gov

  • Area 2: Joe Hayek – Joseph.P.Hayek@irs.gov

  • Area 3: Sandra Cobos – Sandra.D.Cobos@irs.gov

The area point of contact will:

• complete annual SPEC OPI training on Link & Learn Taxes (LLT).

• ensure all SPEC OPI PINs are requested timely for activation or deactivation

• promptly respond to partner/site inquiries in a timely manner

• weekly remind relationship managers to contact partners/sites for the SPEC

OPI log usage

• verify the accuracy of the weekly SPEC OPI logs from subject matter experts/

territory manager

• confirm that weekly logs are uploaded accurately on the SPEC OPI

SharePoint

• ensure SPEC OPI logs are reconciled and certified timely each month.

FS&A will:

• complete annual SPEC OPI training on Link & Learn Taxes (LLT).

• ensure the SPEC OPI log is reconciled timely with the OPI bill

• ensure the SPEC OPI log is posted to the SharePoint

• FS&A points of contact are:

• Primary: Phoebe Walton– Phoebe.Walton@irs.gov

• Back-up: Tami Mierzwiak – Tamra.L.Mierzwiak@irs.gov

4

Job Aid: IRS Over-the-Phone Interpreter (OPI) Service for SPEC Partners, Site Coordinators, & Employees

Attachment 1:

Attachment 2:

5

Job Aid: IRS Over-the-Phone Interpreter (OPI) Service for SPEC Partners, Site Coordinators, & Employees

Attachment 2 (Breakdown):

6