Frequent changes to the tax laws necessitate revisions to both forms and publications. Tax forms and instructions are written by tax law specialists in the Forms Branch. Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

Our objectives were to (1) evaluate IRS’ forms and publications development and revision process, (2) identify IRS’ efforts to improve this process, and (3) identify IRS’ initiatives to increase involvement of taxpayers in this process. To evaluate the reasonableness of IRS’ process for developing and revising forms and publications, we considered whether its procedures provided for clear lines of responsibility and accountability, specific timeframes, adequate management oversight, sufficient opportunities to evaluate suggestions from internal and external sources, and appropriate strategies for coping with sudden tax law changes. To identify IRS’ efforts to improve the process and to increase taxpayers’ involvement in it, we interviewed IRS officials. As part of its annual revisions process, IRS obtains suggestions for improving both the accuracy and clarity of its forms and publications from a variety of internal and external sources such as organizations representing tax professionals and tax preparers, taxpayers, and employees. IRS Needs Data to Better Identify Concerns of Individual Taxpayers

While IRS gets information on the clarity of forms and publications for individual taxpayers from several sources, IRS officials acknowledge that there is not a systematic way for obtaining input from the many individual taxpayers not represented by particular interest groups or associations. We agree that IRS has made efforts to improve its forms and publications.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the accuracy and clarity of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) forms and publications, focusing on: (1) the adequacy of the process IRS uses to revise its tax forms; (2) IRS efforts to improve this process; and (3) IRS efforts to increase taxpayer involvement in the process.

What GAO Found

GAO found that: (1) IRS efforts to provide taxpayers with accurate and easy-to-read tax forms have been hampered by increasingly complex tax codes, frequent tax code revisions, and taxpayers' reading ability; (2) the IRS process for developing and revising its tax forms and publications appears reasonable and provides clear lines of responsibility and accountability, specific timeframes, adequate management oversight, sufficient opportunities to evaluate suggestions from internal and external sources, and appropriate strategies for coping with sudden tax law changes; (3) IRS periodically reviews and revises its publications and tax forms so that accurate forms and publications are available to taxpayers for each filing season; (4) IRS considers comments from taxpayers and tax preparers, payroll professionals, accountants, and lawyers regarding clarity improvements; (5) IRS has initiated several special projects to study taxpayer comprehension problems and to further improve its forms and publications; (6) despite its ongoing commitment to improvement, IRS does not have a systematic way to identify the specific areas that cause individual taxpayer confusion; and (7) IRS needs to find ways to readily identify the specific concerns of individual taxpayers.