Tax Administration: Tracking Taxpayer Information About IRS Notices Could Reduce Burden
GGD-00-54
Published: Mar 28, 2000. Publicly Released: Mar 28, 2000.
Skip to Highlights
Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) efforts to track taxpayer information about IRS notices, focusing on: (1) whether IRS tracks information about notices from individual taxpayers who call IRS; and (2) if not, whether such a tracking system could be useful and feasible.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Internal Revenue Service | To help IRS' efforts to improve notices, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue should direct responsible staff to explore, as soon as possible, the cost-effectiveness of tracking information from taxpayers who call about notices by modifying one of IRS' existing systems in the short term. IRS also should explore the cost-effectiveness of doing such tracking by enhancing one of the planned systems being developed as part of IRS' long-term modernization effort. |
Closed – Implemented
The IRS considered and explored the cost effectiveness of certain existing systems. On the basis of this, the IRS began tracking taxpayers' feedback about notices during spring 2000. The IRS is using its quality review system (as discussed in the report) to track the feedback over the short term. GAO has received documentation to verify this tracking.
|
| Internal Revenue Service | In determining the cost-effectiveness of doing the tracking through both the existing and planned systems, IRS should consider the gains to customer service from improving the notices and the impacts on other IRS systems and priorities. To the extent that cost-effectiveness is determined for these existing and planned systems, IRS should make the modifications and the enhancements as soon as possible. |
Closed – Implemented
In April 2000, the Quality Review Database (QRDB) was modified to allow collecting information on taxpayer calls on notices using a statistically valid sample. The IRS decided that the QRDB was the best of the three systems and that the other two could work in conjunction with the QRDB. The completion date for the planned systems and the IRS analyses of notice feedback is targeted to the implementation of the modernization systems, which is estimated to be December 15, 2005. The IRS had been considering using/enhancing CRM, CADE, and CDDI as well as the already modified QRDB, which was enhanced and incorporated into the EQRS (Embedded Quality Review System) by January 2005. Since then, the IRS has stopped developing these other systems, leaving the EQRS as the remaining alternative for doing the tracking over the long term. As of September 2005, the IRS was still considering whether to continue using EQRS and hoped to make a decision before the end of 2005. During October 2005, IRS provided documentation on its decision to continue to use the EQRS to track notice feedback for a statistical sample. The IRS believes this approach is better than any of the other options, including the initial version of the QRDB.
|
Full Report
Office of Public Affairs
Topics
Cost effectiveness analysisCustomer serviceData collectionFederal formsFederal taxesReporting requirementsTax administration systemsTax returnsTaxpayersWritten communication