[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 211 (Monday, November 2, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67492-67493]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-27810]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Internal Revenue Service


Proposed Collection; Comment Request for Consumer Tipping Survey 
Study

AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Treasury.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Department of the Treasury, as part of its continuing 
effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general 
public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment 
on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 
3506(c)(2)(A)). Currently, the IRS is soliciting comments concerning 
the consumer tipping survey study.

DATES: Written comments should be received on or before January 4, 2016 
to be assured of consideration.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to Christie Preston, Internal 
Revenue Service, Room 6129, 1111 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, 
DC 20224.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of the form and instructions should be directed to R. Joseph 
Durbala, (202) 622-3634, at Internal Revenue Service, Room 6129, 1111 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20224, or through the internet 
at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Consumer Tipping Survey Study.
    OMB Number: 1545-2261.
    Form Number: Survey.
    Abstract: The IRS is charged with collecting revenue legally owed 
to the federal government. One important category of income comes in 
the form of tips. Previous empirical research has shown income from 
tips to be significantly underreported, limiting the IRS's ability to 
collect the proper amount of tax revenue. The IRS believes a new study 
of consumer tipping practices is needed in order to better understand 
current tip reporting behavior so tax administrators and policy makers 
can make the tax system fairer and more efficient. Therefore, the IRS 
wishes to develop updated estimates of consumer tipping revenue across 
numerous services where tipping is prevalent.
    In support of this mission, IRS is seeking a standard clearance to 
conduct a minimum, one-year fielding of a nation-wide consumer tipping 
survey. The sample that would be used for this study, Ipsos' non-
probability online panel, was only selected after a pilot study was 
conducted which compared the results from this vendor to another panel 
source (GfK KnowledgePanel, a probability-based online panel) and an 
independent source of tipping data in order to determine which method 
yielded the most accurate results while reducing respondent burden and 
cost to the IRS. The findings from the pilot study demonstrated that 
there were no consistent differences in the results gathered from the 
panels when compared against each other or when compared against the 
3rd party source of data. As such, the decision was made to use the 
non-probability panel due to the reduced cost per completed survey, 
which will allow for a larger data collection and more precise 
estimates of tipping behavior for certain, low-incidence services.
    This initiative flows from Goal 1 of the IRS Strategic Plan for FY 
2014-2017: Deliver high quality and timely service to reduce taxpayer 
burden and encourage voluntary compliance.
    Current Actions: The main goal for this survey effort is to 
generate statistically valid estimates of tipped income in a variety of 
services for which no such estimates exist, in addition to providing 
information on other correlates of tipped income and behavior 
including, but not limited to, regional or seasonal fluctuations in 
tipped income. As such, this survey effort requests a full-fielding of 
the previously tested pilot survey for the course of calendar year 
2016. This will result in an estimated burden increase of 6,427 hours. 
This form is being submitted to update the current OMB approval.
    Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Affected Public: Individuals or Households.
    The burden hour estimates breakdown as follows:

                                             Non-Probability Sample
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                                                                   Number of      Participation
                Category of respondent/activity                   respondents    time (minutes)    Burden hours
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Read Invitation Email.........................................         461,540               0.5           3,846
Read Reminder Email *.........................................         431,540              0.25           1,798
Complete Survey...............................................          60,000            ** 5.5           5,500
                                                               -------------------------------------------------
    Total Burden Hours........................................  ..............  ................         11,144
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* The estimate for the Reminder emails is based on the assumption that 50% of the needed respondents will
  complete the survey online in time to not receive the Reminder email.
** Participant time is based on mean completion time for non-probability panel members during pilot survey
  fielding.


[[Page 67493]]

    The following paragraph applies to all of the collections of 
information covered by this notice:
    An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required 
to respond to, a collection of information unless the collection of 
information displays a valid OMB control number.
    Request for Comments: Comments submitted in response to this notice 
will be summarized and/or included in the request for OMB approval. All 
comments will become a matter of public record. Comments are invited 
on: (a) Whether the collection of information is necessary for the 
proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether 
the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 
agency's estimate of the burden of the collection of information; (c) 
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on respondents, including through the use of automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and (e) 
estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, 
maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.

    Approved: October 27, 2015.
R. Joseph Durbala,
IRS, Tax Analyst.
[FR Doc. 2015-27810 Filed 10-30-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4830-01-P