Tax Administration: IRS' New Business Vision

GAO discussed the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) plans to change its business operations, focusing on its: (1) new business vision; (2) efforts to increase electronically-filed tax returns; and (3) retention and redeployment of staff. GAO noted that: (1) the new IRS business vision incorporates concepts such as a single IRS contact for taxpayers trying to solve problems, expanded electronic filing, and return-free filing; (2) the new IRS business vision involves shifting from a paper-based to an electronic tax processing system, consolidating telephone assistance operations into fewer locations, and developing a readily available database containing all pertinent account information; (3) IRS has also considered some form of return-free filing; (4) these business concepts should improve taxpayer service at less cost to the government and result in substantial organizational restructuring; (5) increased electronic-filing of returns will decrease costs and processing times, and increase accuracy; (6) IRS is considering proposing legislation that would require certain taxpayers to file electronically and authorize alternatives to paper signatures; (7) IRS has developed a strategy to make electronic filing accessible to more taxpayers; and (8) IRS has promised to retrain its current staff to handle electronic tax processing, but its staffing needs are changing as its plans evolve.