United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office General Government Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1997-03-18 monographic deposited born digital 22 p. GA 1.13:T-GGD/AIMD-97-66 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-AIMD-97-66 P0b002ee1803a0b0e f:g197066t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-AIMD-97-66 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-AIMD-97-66 T-GGD/AIMD-97-66 Customer service Tax returns Tax administration systems Electronic forms Personal income taxes Systems conversions Tax refunds Telephone Information resources management Strategic planning IRS Tax System Modernization Program TSM IRS Corporate Accounts Processing System IRS Integrated Case Processing System IRS Workload Management System IRS TeleFile Program IRS Questionable Refund Program IRS Distribution Input System IRS Remittance Processing System Testimony GGD AIMD GAO discussed: (1) its review of the administration's fiscal year (FY) 1998 budget request for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS); (2) the interim results of its review of the 1997 tax return filing season; (3) a review of IRS' FY 1997 spending plans for information systems; and (4) GAO's past work on Tax Systems Modernization.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) IRS' FY 1997 appropriation act and accompanying conference report indicated that Congress was concerned about, among other things, the level of taxpayer service and IRS' lack of progress in modernizing its systems; (2) in response to congressional concerns about taxpayer service, IRS added more staff this year to answer the telephone and revised its procedures for handling more complicated calls for assistance; (3) as a result, IRS answered 52 percent of taxpayers' call attempts during the first 2 months of this filing season, compared with 21 percent during the same period last year; (4) this filing season has also seen a large increase in electronic filing; (5) to respond to congressional concerns about modernization, IRS realigned its FY 1997 information system spending plans; (6) GAO's review of eight projects showed that the spending plans appeared to be consistent with congressional direction; (7) however, IRS has since cancelled projects that it had estimated would cost a total of $36 million in FY 1997, and decided not to start any new systems modernization efforts until at least the second quarter of FY 1998; (8) included in IRS' budget request for FY 1998 is $131 for developmental information systems; (9) in addition, the administration is proposing a $1-billion capital account for information technology investments at IRS; (10) neither the $131 million nor the $1 billion is supported by the type of analysis required by the Clinger-Cohen Act, the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), and the Office of Management and Budget; (11) IRS' budget request also includes $84 million for its turn-of-the-century date conversion effort; (12) there is reason to question the sufficiency of that amount because IRS has not yet determined its total conversion needs; (13) IRS expects the funding limits it faces in FY 1997 and anticipates for FY 1998 to continue until at least 2002; (14) fiscal constraints as well as long-standing concerns about the efficiency of IRS operations make consensus on IRS strategic goals and the measures for assessing progress against those goals critically important; (15) in recent years, Congress has put in place a statutory framework for accomplishing this; and (16) this framework includes as its essential elements the Chief Financial Officers Act, the Clinger-Cohen Act, and GPRA. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-AIMD-97-66/html/GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-AIMD-97-66.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-AIMD-97-66/pdf/GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-AIMD-97-66.pdf GAO/T-GGD/AIMD-97-66 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-AIMD-97-66 Testimony GAO/T-GGD/AIMD-97-66; Tax Administration: IRS' Fiscal Year 1997 Spending, 1997 Filing Season, and Fiscal Year 1998 Budget Request; Customer service Tax returns Tax administration systems Electronic forms Personal income taxes Systems conversions Tax refunds Telephone Information resources management Strategic planning IRS Tax System Modernization Program TSM IRS Corporate Accounts Processing System IRS Integrated Case Processing System IRS Workload Management System IRS TeleFile Program IRS Questionable Refund Program IRS Distribution Input System IRS Remittance Processing System Public Law 104-52 Public Law 104-208