Tax Administration: Planning for IRS's Enforcement Process Changes Included Many Key Steps but Can Be Improved
GAO-04-287
Published: Jan 20, 2004. Publicly Released: Feb 19, 2004.
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Highlights
In recent years, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has experienced declines in most of its enforcement programs, including declines in audits and in efforts to collect delinquent taxes. Increasing enforcement productivity is one strategy that can help reverse these declines. To this end, IRS is currently planning and has begun implementing enforcement process improvement projects. GAO was asked to assess the extent to which the planning for the projects followed steps consistent with both published GAO guidance and the experiences of private sector and government organizations. Specifically, GAO assessed the extent to which four judgmentally selected projects followed the 20 planning steps.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Internal Revenue Service | The Commissioner of Internal Revenue should ensure that Small Business/Self Employed Division (SB/SE) put in place a framework to guide planning of future SB/SE process improvement projects. The framework that GAO developed for this report is an example of such a framework. |
Closed – Implemented
According to the Director of Business Process Reengineering for IRS's Small Business/Self Employed (SB/SE) operating division, as of September 2005, SB/SE reengineering projects employ a framework consistent with the model described in the GAO report.
|
| Internal Revenue Service | The Commissioner of Internal Revenue should ensure that SB/SE invest in enforcement productivity data that better adjust for complexity and quality, taking into consideration the costs and benefits of doing so. |
Closed – Implemented
According to the Director of Business Process Reengineering for IRS's Small Business/Self Employed (SBSE) operating division, as of September 2005, SB/SE reengineering projects are guided by a productivity model developed by SB/SE Research. The model uses a balanced measures approach to performance data and includes workload quality and complexity.
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Topics
AuditsDelinquent taxesInternal controlsPerformance measuresStrategic planningTax administrationTaxpayersBusiness process reengineeringIndustrial productivityPrivate sector