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GAO-19-108R 1 (2018-10-03)

handle is hein.gao/gaobacpse0001 and id is 1 raw text is: G A U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 October 3, 2018 The Honorable Orrin Hatch Chairman The Honorable Ron Wyden Ranking Member Committee on Finance United States Senate The Honorable Kevin Brady Chairman Committee on Ways and Means House of Representatives Tax Administration: Status of IRS Future State Vision Funding the federal government depends largely upon the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) ability to collect taxes. This includes providing taxpayer services that make voluntary compliance easier, and enforcing tax laws to ensure compliance with tax responsibilities. For several years, we have recommended that IRS develop strategies to improve taxpayer services such as a long-term strategy for providing web-based services to taxpayers.1 In 2014, during a period of budget reductions and aging information technology (IT) systems at IRS, IRS officials began discussing a new longer-term vision of tax administration that came to be known as the IRS Future State. Prior to the Future State, IRS had launched other initiatives to transform taxpayer services and IRS operations.2 You asked us to describe the changes that IRS plans under the Future State. In this report, we describe (1) the Future State, its objectives, and its history, and (2) the current status of the Future State. To answer these objectives, we reviewed IRS internal documents such as documents on the development of the Future State vision, and its relation to IRS's strategic planning process. We also reviewed IRS public documents about the Future State as well as IRS officials' speeches and congressional testimony. Additionally, we reviewed cost estimates and timeframes for implementing the Future State. Further, we interviewed IRS officials from the 1GAO, 2015 Tax Filing Season: Deteriorating Taxpayer Service Underscores Need for a Comprehensive Strategy and Process Efficiencies, GAOo1 6-151 (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 16, 2015), IRS Website: Long-Term Strategy Needed to Improve Interactive Services, GAO-i 3-435 (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 16, 2013), and 2011 Tax Filing: Processing Gains, but Taxpayer Assistance Could Be Enhanced by More Self-Service Tools, GAO-12-176 (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 15, 2011). 21n 2006, IRS developed the Taxpayer Assistance Blueprint (TAB) and added, in the following year, a 5-year plan for improving services. In a 2013 report to Congress, IRS reported that under the TAB, it had developed some online tools and other options for taxpayer self-service. In November 2013, IRS launched Service on Demand, which was an initiative to prioritize IRS efforts to better meet taxpayers' needs and preferences for interacting with IRS. In a fiscal year 2015 update to Congress on the TAB, IRS reported that the Service on Demand initiative had been folded into the IRS Concept of Operations Initiative, which evolved into the IRS Future State. GAO-19-108R IRS Future State Page 1

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