Tax Administration: IRS' 1992 Filing Season Was Successful But Not Without Problems
GGD-92-132
Published: Sep 15, 1992. Publicly Released: Sep 15, 1992.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) performance during the 1992 tax filing season, focusing on: (1) service center processing of returns; (2) accuracy and accessibility of IRS toll-free telephone assistance; and (3) the availability of tax materials at IRS distribution centers and walk-in offices.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Internal Revenue Service | The Commissioner of Internal Revenue should gather the necessary information to make correct EIC eligibility determinations in the future. |
Closed – Implemented
IRS revised its procedures for processing returns involving earned income credit claims. That change should provide IRS with better information on which to make credit eligibility decisions. GAO monitored application of the new procedures during its assessment of the 1993 filing season and found that they had achieved their purpose.
|
| Internal Revenue Service | The Commissioner of Internal Revenue should develop a reliable measure of toll-free telephone accessibility. |
Closed – Implemented
IRS has begun using a measure called level of access, but that does not satisfy the recommendation because it is computed by dividing the number of calls answered by the number of callers. As such, it does not take into account the number of calls not answered or reflect the difficulty a caller had to go through (e.g., the number of times the caller dialed and got a busy signal) before getting through to IRS. Because GAO has since reiterated this recommendation in a later report, it is closing the recommendation here.
|
| Internal Revenue Service | The Commissioner of Internal Revenue should develop a reliable measure of distribution center performance in filling mail and phone orders. |
Closed – Implemented
GAO's recommendation resulted from a finding that the methodology used by a contractor IRS had hired to measure distribution center performance in 1992 was flawed and thus produced unreliable results. In hiring a contractor for 1993, IRS took steps to correct those flaws, as confirmed by GAO during its assessment of the 1993 filing season.
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