Maria Dooner is an Attorney-Advisor within the Office of Tax Policy at the U.S. Dept. of Treasury where she works on individual income tax issues. She previously served as an Acting Director/Practitioner-in-Residence of the Janet R. Spragens Federal Tax Clinic at American University Washington College of Law. Prior to joining American University, she represented individual taxpayers and small businesses before federal and state tax agencies. Throughout the past decade and prior to joining the government, she focused on providing pro bono representation to low-income taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), served as Chair of Community Tax Aid, Inc. (CTA), which operates many of the free tax preparation sites in the District of Columbia metropolitan area, and helped prepare taxes for low-income taxpayers. She continues to serve as a volunteer income tax assistance (VITA) volunteer through CTA.