Two senior members from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), flew to Washington, D.C. from Atlanta, Ga., to present Lt. Ericka Droguett, judge advocate assigned to Office of the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Assistance Policy Division, with their Stakeholder Partnerships, Education and Communication Service Award at the Washington Navy Yard, Nov. 13, 2014.  Robin Taylor, Chief of the IRS's Wage and Investment Division's Grant Program presented the award to Droguett with Capt. Kirk Foster, assistant judge advocate general for civil law, and Gregory Ford, the IRS's Chief of National Partnerships, on hand to witness.

Ford gave brief remarks about the role Droguett and the Navy took in adapting a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance/Electronic Filing (VITA) program that is smarter, leaner, and ultimately more effective in helping service members file their taxes.  The JAG Corps, who runs the Navy's VITA program, has completely transitioned to a self-service model in which Sailors are learning to file their taxes on their own through numerous free software programs, including Military One Source.  Ford stated that the Navy is the service that is truly leading the way forward in terms of empowering its members to file their taxes electronically on their own, which is an important skill that will stay with service members long after they leave the service.  This change, in the words of Ford, has even made the IRS rethink what a VITA tax center can and should look like.