However, the level of service declined in 1999, and the quality of service was mixed in the 2000 tax filing season and below IRS’ long-term goal of providing world-class customer service. IRS Made Limited Progress Toward Providing World-Class Telephone Service

IRS made limited progress in the 2001 tax filing season toward its long- term goal of providing world-class telephone service. When compared with the 2000 tax filing season, access and accuracy performance improved by 2 percentage points or less in three of the six comparable measures. Although it met or exceeded the 2001 quality targets, IRS did not meet the current year’s higher targets for providing taxpayers with correct responses. The “assistor response level” is to measure the percentage of taxpayers that waited 30 seconds or less to speak with an assistor. IRS also measures its performance in answering calls through the use of automation. IRS Missed Some Opportunities to Better Understand Telephone Performance

IRS missed some opportunities to better understand the factors that affected performance and to plan evaluations of the actions it took to improve performance. Field directors sometimes reached conclusions about the factors affecting access and accuracy without conducting analyses to test their conclusions. IRS Missed Opportunities to Plan Evaluations of Actions to Improve Access and Accuracy

IRS missed opportunities to plan evaluations to determine the effectiveness of actions it took to improve the access and accuracy of its telephone assistance.
What GAO Found

Congress has long been concerned about the quality of service that taxpayers receive when calling the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for help in understanding and meeting their tax obligations. IRS has taken steps to improve its responsiveness to the tens of millions of telephone calls it receives each year, from expanding the hours of service to increasing the use of automation. In the 2000 tax filing season, the quality of telephone assistance was mixed and below IRS' long-term goal of providing world-class service. Overall, IRS made limited progress toward its goal of providing world-class telephone service. When compared with the 2000 tax filing season, access and accuracy in 2001 improved in two of six comparable measures, declined in one, and changed two percentage points or less in the others. IRS fell considerably short of its target to reduce the time that taxpayers spend waiting to speak with an assistor. Although assistors exceeded quality-of-service targets when responding to taxpayer questions, they did not meet higher targets for providing correct answers and account adjustments. IRS officials missed opportunities to analyze data to better understand the factors affecting telephone performance, including the actions it took to improve performance. IRS managers sometimes reached conclusions about key factors without conducting analyses to test their conclusions. IRS officials also missed opportunities to plan evaluations to determine the effectiveness of the actions taken to improve access and accuracy.