CS-08-089 - Customer Satisfaction Survey Implementation Plan Indian Tribal Governments

Customer Satisfaction Survey (Advance Letter)

IRS

SE:T:GE:ITG

1111 Constitution Ave., N.W.

Washington, DC 20224

Dear [insert tribe’s name]

The Office of Indian Tribal Governments, within the Internal Revenue Service, has been established to provide all of the services you need in order to fully administer federal tax laws. In addition, we seek to provide tribes with information to further their economic development without risk of federal tax concerns. It is very important that the Office of Indian Tribal Governments understand your opinion of our operations. To get your opinions, we will soon send you a questionnaire to ask you about how well we are doing our job. In the next few weeks, your survey will arrive in the mail.

We hope you will cooperate with us and complete the survey, as your responses will help us better serve your needs in area of federal tax administration. We guarantee that all responses will remain anonymous. We would appreciate it if you would base your responses on your experiences with the Office of Indian Tribal Governments within the past year. Your participation is voluntary and it should take approximately 12 minutes to complete the survey

If you have any questions or comments about this survey please contact us at [Provide Phone Number] or you may write to us at the following address [Insert Address]. You can also contact us if you would like a copy of the survey results. Thank you in advance for spending your valuable time to help the Office of Indian Tribal Governments better serve your needs.

Sincerely,

XXXXXXX

XXXXX

Enclosure

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE

Office of Indian Tribal Governments

P.O. Box 227
Buffalo, New York 14225

TAX EXEMPT AND

GOVERNMENT ENTITIES DIVISION

July 1, 2008

Dear

The Office of Indian Tribal Governments at the Internal Revenue Service was established to help Indian tribes address their federal tax matters. During the planning and creation of this office, we received valuable input from Indian tribal governments and tribal associations so we would be better able to understand and meet your specialized needs.

The overall goal of this office is to use partnership opportunities with Indian tribal governments to respectfully and cooperatively meet the needs of both the tribal governments and the federal government and to simplify the tax administration process.

What are we asking you to do? Complete a survey.

As part of an ongoing process, we are asking each tribe to complete the attached survey. We would like your responses to be based on experiences your tribe has had with the Office of Indian Tribal Governments within the past year.

We have identified you as the recipient of the survey for your tribe, but ask that you include input from all those who have involvement in federal tax issues and/or have interacted with our office. This would most likely include financial officers, tribal administrators and accountants, payroll officials, casino managers, and similar positions. While several individuals may provide input, only one survey form should be completed. All responses will remain anonymous.

Response deadline: August 1, 2008

Please mail us the completed survey by the above response date. A self-addressed stamped envelope is enclosed for your convenience. The survey results will post to our web site at www.irs.gov/tribes along with a list of opportunities for improvement that we identify during the analysis of the survey results. Surveys conducted in prior years have led to the development of new products and processes to better serve tribal tax needs, so your input is both valued and important.

If you have any questions or comments about this survey please feel free to contact me at (202) 283-9800, or you may write to us at the address shown above. Thank you for your valuable time to help the office of Indian Tribal Governments better serve your needs.

Sincerely,

Christie Jacobs

Director

Enclosures:

Survey

Envelope

Proposed Script for follow-up phone calls with Tribes

Survey administrator (places call to Accounting/Finance Department within Tribe). A master sheet of contacts will be maintained to ensure that each non-respondent is contacted only once.

READ. Hi, my name is ____________, and I work for the Office of Indian Tribal Governments within the IRS. [Verify that you are speaking with a representative from the Accounting/Finance Department. If not, ask the individual to transfer you to this office and/or ask for a contact person/phone number. If the Tribal leadership prefers to designate someone else, you must work with that individual].

My office recently mailed you a customer satisfaction questionnaire to get your feedback on how well are serving your needs in the area of federal tax administration.

[You may need to remind them of who we are and what we have mailed, i.e., we are an office within the IRS that is responsible for helping federally recognized tribes meet their federal tax obligations. Our office recently mailed a questionnaire to their tribe. We want them to let us know how well we are doing our job. This feedback will help us improve the products/services we provide.]

READ. Have you returned the questionnaire to us?

=>Yes, thank them for their cooperation and mention the results will be posted on our web site (provide website address). DISCONTINUE CALL.

=>No, ask them if they would be willing to take a few minutes to answer the questions over the telephone. It should take no more than 10 minutes.

=>Yes, proceed to the questionnaire and read the directions/questions. Periodically remind the respondent of the scale. At the conclusion of the questionnaire, thank the respondent for their time and remind them the survey results will be posted on our web site (provide web site address).

=>No, ask them if there would be a better time to call back. If they refuse to cooperate over the phone, you should encourage them to complete the questionnaire that was mailed to them. Thank them for their time. DISCONTINUE THE CALL.

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