Supporting Statement

OMB Clearance Package Criteria

Oversight Board Taxpayer Attitude Survey

2009

OMB #1545-1432

SOI #____

1. Introduction

Background/overview

The IRS Oversight Board was created by the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (RRA 98), which was enacted to improve the IRS so that it could better serve the public and meet the needs of taxpayers. The Oversight Board is a nine-member independent body charged to oversee the IRS in its administration, management, conduct, direction, and supervision of the execution and application of the internal revenue laws and to provide experience, independence, and stability to the IRS so that it may move forward in a cogent, focused direction. In this role, the Oversight Board conducts studies to help develop a taxpayer compliance strategy based on the needs and demands of taxpayers that would be consistent with the IRS’ strategic objectives.

Objective of data collection

The IRS Oversight Board is conducting a survey with the objective of understanding what influences taxpayers’ tax compliance, their opinions of IRS, and their customer service preferences.

2. Methodology

This study will be conducted as a Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) of a nationally representative base of randomly selected and screened general public respondents who are 18 years of age or older.

Sample design

The study will be conducted via a 16-minute (15 minutes for the questionnaire plus 30 seconds for the screening) telephone survey conducted among a sample of 1,100 respondents. The 16-minute survey will include a total of approximately 27 questions. It is assumed that the incidence of qualifying respondents will be 90% - that is 90% of those that are screened for the survey would be qualified to take the survey, leaving about 1,000 usable responses.

Data to be collected

• Public attitudes regarding tax compliance

• Deterrents to noncompliance

• Ensuring compliance among different taxpayer levels

• Importance of IRS-provided information

• Receptivity to IRS customer service offerings

• Satisfaction with interaction with IRS

• Attitudes toward IRS funding

• Demographics

• Age

• Income

• Education

• Ethnicity

• Geography

• Gender

• Use of Paid Tax Preparer

How data will be collected and used

The data will be collected using a telephone survey. The data will be analyzed through cross-tabulations to help the IRS Oversight Board to further develop a taxpayer compliance strategy based on the needs and demands of taxpayers that would be consistent with the IRS’ strategic objectives.

Data collection date

The survey would be conducted between August 1 and August 31, 2009, pending receipt of OMB clearance.

Who is conducting the research

GfK will conduct this research. Analysis will be conducted in New York City, NY.

Cost of study

The study will cost an estimated $23,000.

Stipend

Not applicable.

Recruitment efforts

The survey will be completed via random digit dialing.

Location-Region/City and Facility

Data will be collected using Roper’s telephone centers located in the following cities:

• Rexburg, ID

• Costa Rica

• Cebu, Philippines

Dialing may occur across multiple centers but all calls will be conducted during nighttime hours, 5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. respondent time during weekdays and day-time hours 5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. weekends.

Expected Response Rate

The anticipated response rate is 21%. Because the expected response rate is less than 50%, no critical decisions will be made solely from the analysis of the data from this survey. The results of this survey are simply one piece of a larger set of information needed to assess taxpayers’ attitudes and needs.

Methods to maximize response rate

When feasible, up to five attempts will be made to reach each selected household (an original attempt, plus four more attempts to reach households that did not answer earlier calls). All attempts will be made during evening and weekend hours, since those are the times when working respondents are most likely to be at home. Calling attempts will be scheduled for different days of the week and weekends and will be spaced as far apart as is possible, within the restraints of the survey schedule. This will increase the chance of including respondents who are away from home on vacation or business the first time we call. If a respondent is unable to be interviewed when called, or if he or she begins but is unable to finish an interview, interviewers will attempt to schedule a day and time to call back to complete the interview. The CATI system will automatically present the phone numbers for scheduled call-backs at the specified time.

Test structure/design

The vendor will pre-test the survey (approximately 9 completes total) to ensure that survey language is appropriate and easily understood by respondents. Further, it will fully brief field staff responsible for data collection on this study. The fieldwork will be monitored, including incidence of key variables and will include regular field reports. All data will be cleaned and aggregated into a single database. The vendor is a member of CASRO and ESOMAR and adheres to the CASRO Code of Standards and Ethics for Survey Research Organizations as well as to internal quality assurance standards that address all components of the research process.

Efforts to not duplicate research

In conducting this research, the Board will coordinate closely with the IRS to ensure that the research is conducted in such a way that it will provide maximum benefit to sound tax administration. IRS staff from the Office of Research, Analysis, and Statistics will assist in survey design. Additionally, information from past Oversight Board surveys, IRS research, and other research by non-profit organizations will be considered.

3. Participants Criteria

Taxpayers over the age of 18 that match the demographic characteristics of the U.S. population.

4. Privacy, Security, Disclosure

The tabulated responses returned to the IRS Oversight Board will not have any form of identifying information relating specific records to individual taxpayers. Nonetheless, research personnel will ensure that privacy and security of the aggregated results will receive utmost attention. Public and official access to the information will be tightly controlled.

5. PRA Statement & OMB Control Number on collection instruments

The Paperwork Reduction Act requires that the IRS display an OMB control number on all public information requests. The OMB Control Number for this study is 1545-1432. Also, if you have any comments regarding the time estimates associated with this study or suggestions on making this process simpler, please write to the:

 

                        IRS Tax Products Coordinating Committee

                        SE:W:CAR:MP:T:T:SP

    1111 Constitution Ave. NW

    Washington, DC  20224.

6. Burden Hours

The anticipated response rate is 21%. About 5,300 taxpayers will be reached and screened for qualification and about 1,100 will be interviewed in total.  

The total screening time would be about 44 hours to get a sample of 1,100 respondents, which would represent talking to 5,300 individuals for an assumed 30 seconds per individual to determine eligibility ((5,300 x 0.5 min.)/60 = 44 hours).

The survey questions will take 15 minutes per interview to complete, times 1,100 interviews, which is 275 hours of total interview burden ((1,100 x 15)/60 = 275 hours).

The screening burden of 44 hours plus the interviewing burden of 275 hours equals 319 hours of total study burden (44 + 275 = 319 hours) for the 16-minute total surveying and screening process (0.5 screening + 15 interviewing = 16).

7. Attachment(s)

Questionnaire – Including PRA Statement¹ & OMB Control Number

• Moderator’s guide – Not applicable

• Cover letter/correspondence – Not applicable

• Telephone screeners – Included in questionnaire. All screening and

moderating will be conducted by Roper using Roper’s telephone

facilities.

• Scenarios – Not applicable

• Follow-up Postcards – Not applicable

1 Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) Statement: The Paperwork Reduction Act requires that the IRS display an OMB control number on all public information requests. The OMB Control Number for this study is 1545-1432. Also, if you have any comments regarding the time estimates associated with this study or suggestions on making this process simpler, please write to the IRS Tax Products Coordinating Committee, SE:W:CAR:MP:T:T:SP, 1111 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC  20224.

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