Supporting Statement

Background/Overview: The My Tax Account web application, located on www.irs.gov (the IRS public web site) will allow individual taxpayers to view their tax account information online through a secure process over the internet. Internally the application is known as Internet Customer Account Services (ICAS). The application will provide 1040-series taxpayers access to their tax account information, including viewing their tax return online and requesting tax transcripts. Context-sensitive help will be available to assist taxpayers understand tax terminology and procedures. At the end of the taxpayers experience through the application, they will have the opportunity to participate in a customer satisfaction survey.

Objectives of Data Collection: The ICAS application will provide 1040-series taxpayers read-only tax account status via the Internet The feedback we seek from the ICAS Customer Satisfaction survey is necessary to gauge the web site usability of the ICAS application. The feedback questions are intended to provide qualitative data on the effectiveness of this public service effort. Consequently, the results of the feedback will be used to develop, refine and target effective marketing strategies and to improve the effectiveness of the site in servicing taxpayers in an online environment.

Methodology

Sample Design:

My Tax Account Status Survey

Thank you for taking the time to spend to the Internal Revenue Service My Tax Account Survey. Based on your feedback, we hope to continue to improve our service to taxpayers.

1. Using this web site was easy.

Please Rate: Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

2. I was able to find the information I needed quickly.

Please Rate: Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

3. I knew how to get help if I needed it.

Please Rate: Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

4. Using this web site was easier than calling the IRS.

Please Rate: Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

5. It was easy to understand the language used.

Please Rate: Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

THANK YOU FOR COMPLETING THIS SURVEY

The paperwork Reduction Act requires the IRS to display an OMB control number on all approved public information request. If you have any comments about the time estimate or suggestions for simplifying this survey, please write IRS, Tax Products Coordinating Committee, SE:W:CAR:MP:T:T:SP, 1111 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20224

.

OMB Number 1545-1432

Data to be Collected: Qualitative responses to the questions will be aggregated to determine usability of the application and to further refine the application to meet taxpayers’ needs.

How Collected & Used: Aggregated responses to the five questions will be tabulated from the web application anonymously and used in a Customer Satisfaction Summary Report.

Dates Collection Begin/End :) 7/20/2008 –11/2009

Who is Conducting the Research/Where: IRS SE: W: CAS: BSBA

Cost of Study: N/A

Stipend N/A

Recruitment Efforts N/A

Location-Region/City and Facility N/A

Expected Response Rate: With regard to the low response rate, the IRS will assume that all data collected from this survey is qualitative in nature, and that no critical decisions will be made by Wage & Investment solely from the analysis of data from this survey.  The results from this survey are simply one piece of a larger set of information needed to assess taxpayer needs related to services provided by the IRS.

Methods to Maximize Response Rate: N/A

Test Structure/Design: N/A

Efforts to not Duplicate Research: N/A

Participants Criteria: N/A

Privacy/Disclosure/Confidentiality/Security Issues: The Paperwork Reduction Act requires that the IRS display an OMB control number on all public information requests along with the address where you can send comments regarding the study. The OMB number for this study is 1545-4232. If you have any comments regarding this study, please write to:

IRS, Tax Products Coordinating Committee,

SE:W:CAR:MP:T:T:SP, 1111 Constitution Avenue, NW,

Washington, DC 20224

Burden Hours: The target population for this study consists of all 1040-series taxpayers who want to view their tax account and have access to the ire web site. Because of the qualitative nature of the study, emphasis is not place on identifying unique respondents to this internet survey. Rather, we intend to gain a general understating of the aggregated perceptions held by users of the My Tax Account application.

We estimate our target population using assumptions about existing channel delivery of tax account information via telephone and our experience with existing IRS internet self services applications. We have projected that this new application will handle 962,051 tax account inquiries in the first full year of operation. This figure is based on historical IRS Internet self-service data. We estimate that 30% of the 962,051 application’s prospective users will actually access the survey. This information is based on a comparable web-based survey developed by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Since this is an optional survey, the rate is wholly dependent on the behavior of taxpayers. 

962,051 x .70 x 0.1 minute response time/60 = 1122 hours of burden (non-responders)

962,051 x .30 x 2.0 minute response time/60 = 9621 hours of burden (responders)

Total Burden: 10743 hours of burden

Attachments: Screenshot