[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 232 (Tuesday, December 5, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57524-57526]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-26117]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Internal Revenue Service


Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request for the IRS 
Taxpayer Burden Surveys

AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Treasury.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Internal Revenue Service, 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 
continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995. The IRS is soliciting comments concerning the 
2016, 2017 and 2018 IRS Taxpayer Burden Surveys.

DATES: Written comments should be received on or before February 5, 
2018 to be assured of consideration.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to L. Brimmer, Internal Revenue 
Service, Room 6526, 1111 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20224, 
or at [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Please send separate comments for each 
specific information collection listed below. You must reference the 
information collection's title, form number, reporting or record-
keeping requirement number, and OMB number (if any) in your comment. 
Requests for additional information, or copies of the information 
collection and instructions, or copies of any comments received, 
contact Elaine Christophe, at (202) 317-5745, at Internal Revenue 
Service, Room 6526, 1111 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20224, 
or through the Internet, at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: IRS Taxpayer Burden Surveys.
    OMB Number: 1545-2212.
    Form Number: CS-11-276.
    Abstract: Each year, individual taxpayers in the United States 
submit more than 140 million tax returns to the Internal Revenue 
Service (IRS). The IRS uses the information in these returns, recorded 
on roughly one hundred distinct forms and supporting schedules, to 
administer a tax system whose rules span thousands of pages. Managing 
such a complex and broad-based tax system is costly but represents only 
a fraction of the total burden of the tax system. Equally, if not more 
burdensome, is the time and out-of-pocket expenses that taxpayers spend 
in order to comply with tax laws and regulations.
    The IRS has conducted prior surveys of individual taxpayers in 1984 
(OMB 1545-0802), 1999 (OMB 1545-1688), 2000 (W&I taxpayers OMB 1545-
1688, Self-employed taxpayers OMB 1545-1740), 2007 (OMB 1545-1349), 
2010 through 2015 (this OMB Control Number). CY2010 and CY2014 Taxpayer 
Compliance Burden Surveys were conducted under this OMB Control Number.
    The IRS has conducted Business Taxpayer Burden Survey for TY2009 
(OMB 1545-1432) and TY2012 (this OMB Control Number). The IRS also 
conducted the TY2010 Tax Exempt Organization Burden Survey, and the 
CY2014 Business Compliance Burden Survey under this OMB Control Number.
    The purpose of the taxpayer burden surveys is to gather data that 
will be used to update and expand the IRS Taxpayer Burden Model, a 
robust predictive model based on an improved burden estimation 
methodology. Information gathered by the surveys is not available in 
the administrative tax return data, so survey data are a critical input 
to the model.
    The critical items on the surveys concern respondents' time and 
cost burden estimates for complying with tax filing requirement (or 
resolving a post-filing issue in the case of the Individual and 
Business Taxpayer Compliance Surveys). Additional items on the survey 
will serve as contextualizing variables for interpretation of the 
burden items. These items include information regarding tax preparation 
methods and activities, tax-related recordkeeping, gathering materials, 
learning about tax law, using IRS and/or non-IRS taxpayer services, and 
tax form completion.
    Changes in tax regulations, tax administration, tax preparation 
methods, and taxpayer behavior continue to alter the amount and 
distribution of taxpayer burden. Data from updated surveys will better 
reflect the current tax rules and regulations, the increased usage of 
tax preparation software, increased efficiency of such software, 
changes in tax preparation regulations, the increased use of electronic 
filing, the behavioral response of taxpayers to the tax system, the 
changing use of services, both IRS and external, and related 
information collection needs.

[[Page 57525]]

    Current Actions: New surveys are being added to this collection. 
Surveys Covered Under This Clearance Request.

Individual Taxpayers

2016 Individual Taxpayer Burden Survey
2017 Individual Taxpayer Burden Survey
2018 Taxpayer Compliance Burden Survey
2018 Individual Taxpayer Burden Survey

Entity Taxpayers

2016 Business Taxpayer Burden Survey
2017 Tax-Exempt Organization Burden Survey
2018 Business Compliance Burden Survey

Other

2017 Trust and Estate Burden Survey
2017 Employment Tax Burden Survey
2017 Information Return Burden Survey

    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Affected Public: Individuals, Businesses, Tax-Exempt Organizations, 
Trusts and Estates.
    Each survey respondent will receive a letter inviting them to 
complete the survey which they may spend about one minute reading. Each 
potential respondent will participate only once. The potential response 
rate, which varies depending on the type of survey, is indicated in the 
burden estimate charts below.
    Estimated time to complete the surveys is based on results from 
prior cognitive interviews. We estimate that it will take approximately 
the same time to complete the mail, Web and phone versions of the 
questionnaire. The content included in each instrument will be the 
same.
    Prior to conducting a survey with a new taxpayer group, focus 
groups will be conducted with internal and external stakeholders during 
the survey instrument development phase to ensure that the instrument 
survey items cover the main burden drivers for that group.
    The total annual burden estimates for the covered surveys is as 
follows:

TY 2016 Surveys 14,083.33 hours
TY 2017 Surveys 29,497.53 hours
TY 2018 Surveys 17,550.00 hours

    The estimated burden for each survey is itemized below:

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                                                     Number of     Frequency of    Average time     Annual hour
                    Activity                        respondents      response        (minutes)        burden
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                                    TY2016 Individual Taxpayer Burden Survey
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reading prenote & reminder postcards............          20,000               1               1          333.33
Survey Completion...............................          20,000               1              15           5,000
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............        5,333.33
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                                     TY2016 Business Taxpayer Burden Survey
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reading prenote & reminder postcards............          25,000               1               1          416.67
Survey Completion...............................          25,000               1              20        8,333.33
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............           8,750
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                                    TY2017 Individual Taxpayer Burden Survey
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reading prenote & reminder postcards............          25,000               1               1          416.67
Survey Completion...............................          25,000               1              15           6,250
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............        6,666.67
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                                  TY2017 Tax-Exempt Organization Burden Survey
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Reading prenote & reminder postcards............          25,000               1               1          416.67
Survey Completion...............................          25,000               1              15           6,250
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............        6,666.67
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                                     TY2017 Information Return Burden Survey
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reading prenote & reminder postcards............          20,000               1               1          333.33
Survey Completion...............................          20,000               1              15           5,000
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............        5,333.33
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                TY2017 Trust and Estate Income Tax Burden Survey
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answering screener questions *..................              60               1               1               1
Participating in the focus group *..............              36               1              90              54
Cognitive Testing *.............................              36               1              60              36
Reading invitation letter & reminder postcards..          20,000               1               1          333.33
Survey Completion...............................          20,000               1              15           5,000
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............        5,424.33
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                                       TY2017 Employment Tax Burden Survey
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reading prenote & reminder postcards............          20,000               1               1          333.33

[[Page 57526]]

 
Survey Completion...............................          20,000               1              15           5,000
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............        5,333.33
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                    TY2018 Taxpayer Compliance Burden Survey Pre-Work (Conducted in 2017) **
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answering screener questions....................              64               1               3             3.2
Participating in the focus group................              32               1              90              48
Answering screener questions....................              40               1               3               2
Participating in the focus group................              20               1              60              20
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............           73.20
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                                    CY2018 Business Compliance Burden Survey
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reading prenote & reminder postcards............          25,000               1               1          416.67
Survey Completion...............................          25,000               1              20        8,333.33
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............           8,750
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    TY2018 Individual Taxpayer Burden Survey
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reading prenote & reminder postcards............          20,000               1               1          333.33
Survey Completion...............................          20,000               1              15           5,000
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............        5,333.33
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                                    CY2018 Taxpayer Compliance Burden Survey
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reading prenote & reminder postcards............          13,000               1               1          216.67
Survey Completion...............................          13,000               1              15           3,250
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............        3,466.67
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The annual burden cost to respondents is estimated to total $336,038 (14,083.33 hours x $23.86) for 2016,
  $70,811 (29,497.53 hours x $23.86) for 2017, and $418,743,968 (17,5500 hours x $23.86) for 2018. This estimate
  is derived using $23.86, the May 2016 average wage rate from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics Occupational
  Employment Statistics Survey.
* The TY2017 Trust and Estate Income Tax Burden Survey will be the first attempt to collect information from
  this taxpayer segment. To better inform the survey efforts and to ensure adequate feedback from relevant
  survey strata during the cognitive testing phase, we are requesting burden hours to conduct focus groups to
  inform survey instrument design and additional respondents for testing the draft survey instrument.
** This work will be conducted as part of the CY2018 Taxpayer Compliance Burden Survey data collection, but it
  will occur in 2017.

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. Books or records 
relating to a collection of information must be retained as long as 
their contents may become material in the administration of any 
internal revenue law. Generally, tax returns and tax return information 
are confidential, as required by 26 U.S.C. 6103.
    Request for comments: Comments submitted in response to this notice 
will be summarized and/or included in our request for Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) approval of the relevant information 
collection. All comments will become a matter of public record. Please 
do not include any confidential or inappropriate material in your 
comments.
    We invite comments on: (a) Whether the collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the agency's functions, 
including whether the information has 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 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 the 
requested information.

    Approved: November 28, 2017.
L. Brimmer,
Senior Tax Analyst.
[FR Doc. 2017-26117 Filed 12-4-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4830-01-P