However, under the PRA, federal agencies are required to minimize the  paperwork burden they impose. Governmentwide Paperwork Burden Estimate Has Increased

At the end of fiscal year 1995—just before the PRA of 1995 took effect— federal agencies estimated that their information collections imposed  about 7 billion burden hours on the public. One such change required OIRA to set  a goal of at least a 10-percent reduction in the governmentwide burden- hour estimate for each of fiscal years 1996 and 1997, a 5 percent  governmentwide burden reduction goal in each of the next 4 fiscal years,  and annual agency goals that reduce burden to the “maximum practicable  opportunity.”  Therefore, if federal agencies had been able to meet each of  these goals, the 7-billion burden-hour estimate in 1995 would have  decreased about 35 percent to about 4.6 billion hours by September 30,  2001. As of September 20, 2002, IRS accounted for about 99 percent of the  Department of the Treasury’s burden-hour estimate—nearly 6.7 billion  burden hours. For example, DOT indicated in its  summary table that virtually all of the department’s 165 million burden- hour increase in its estimate was driven by program changes—specifically,  an “agency action.”  However, the narrative that the department submitted  to OMB indicated that almost all of this change was driven by the  reinstatement of a collection that had been in violation (“Driver’s Records  of Duty Status”) and an adjustment to the collection’s burden estimate. Reasons for Changes in IRS Burden Estimate

The increase in the IRS burden-hour estimate during fiscal year 2002 (about  330 million burden hours) was more than the increase in the rest of the  government combined. An IRS  official told us that this adjustment was largely driven by an increase in the  number of taxpayers using Form 1040. Number of Violations Has Declined in Recent Years

As figure 5 shows, the number of PRA violations that the agencies  identified has fallen markedly during the past 5 fiscal years—from 872  violations during fiscal year 1998 to 244 during fiscal year 2002. OIRA Efforts to Reduce Violations

OIRA deserves a great deal of the credit for the reduction in the number of  PRA violations during the past year.
Why GAO Did This Study

The Paperwork Reduction Act requires federal agencies to minimize the paperwork burden they impose on the public. The act also requires agencies to obtain approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) before collecting covered information. GAO examined changes during the past fiscal year in federal agencies' paperwork burden estimates and their causes, focusing on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). GAO also examined changes in the number of violations of the Paperwork Reduction Act.

What GAO Found

As of September 30, 2002, federal agencies estimated that there was about 8.2 billion "burden hours" of paperwork governmentwide. IRS accounted for about 6.7 billion burden hours (81 percent) of this estimate. The federal paperwork estimate increased by about 570 million burden hours during fiscal year 2002--nearly double the previous record increase for a 1-year period. IRS and the Department of Transportation (DOT) accounted for almost 90 percent of the increase. IRS increased its paperwork estimate by about 330 million burden hours during fiscal year 2002, which the agency said was primarily caused by growth in the number of taxpayers using Form 1040. DOT's burden estimate rose by about 165 million burden hours, an increase that the department said was almost entirely attributable to the reintroduction and reestimation of one information collection. Federal agencies identified 244 violations of the PRA during fiscal year 2002--a significant reduction from the number of violations reported during the previous fiscal year. OMB deserves a great deal of credit for this decrease in violations. However, 244 violations of the law during a single fiscal year are still troubling and should not be tolerated. Also, although some longstanding violations have been resolved, others remained open at the end of the fiscal year and, in some cases, had been open for 2 years or more.