OMB Clearance Package Criteria
Oversight Board Taxpayer Attitude Survey
2011
Regular Generic Clearance
OMB #1545-1432
CS-11-286
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 initiates studies to help develop a taxpayer compliance strategy based on the needs and preferences of taxpayers that would be consistent with the IRS’ strategic objectives and responsibilities under RRA 98.
Objective of data collection
The IRS Oversight Board seeks to conduct a survey with the objective of understanding what influences taxpayers’ tax compliance, their opinions of IRS, and their customer service preferences. The information would be used to help develop a taxpayer compliance strategy based on the needs and preferences of taxpayers that would be consistent with the IRS’ strategic objectives and responsibilities under RRA 98.
Methodology
All interviews will be conducted using a Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) process. Interviewers will be professionally trained and continuously monitored and supervised. Telephone survey respondents, both male and female adults age 18 and older, would be selected via an RDD probability sample of all telephone households in the continental United States. The RDD sampling system is computer based and provides an equal probability of selection for every telephone household. The sample represents telephone households with both listed and unlisted phones in their proper proportions.
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 1,634 respondents. The 16-minute survey will include a total of approximately 27 questions. It is assumed that the incidence of qualifying respondents would leave about 1,004 usable responses.
Data to be collected
Satisfaction with interaction with IRS
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
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. Data from the survey will contain no personally identifiable information and will be tabulated into aggregate level results that summarize taxpayer compliance attitudes and IRS service preferences, and their relationships to key characteristics such as employment status and age. The data will help the IRS Oversight Board to further develop general service improvement in tax administration.
Data collection date
The survey would be conducted between August 1 and August 31, 2011, pending receipt of OMB clearance.
Who is conducting the research
It is expected that GfK Custom Research LLC (GfK) will conduct this research and that the analysis will be conducted in New York City, NY.
Cost of study
The study is expected to cost an estimated $25,000.
Stipend
Not applicable.
Recruitment efforts
The survey would be completed via random digit dialing.
Location-Region/City and Facility
Data is expected be collected using GfK’s telephone centers located in the following cities:
Rexburg, ID
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 7%. 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.
Test structure/design
The vendor will fully brief field staff responsible for data collection and the fieldwork will be monitored. Pretesting may be done with internal staff, a limited number of external colleagues, and/or customers who are familiar with the programs and products. If the number of pretest respondents exceeds nine members of the public, the Agency will submit the pretest instruments for review under this clearance. 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
Participants Criteria
Taxpayers over the age of 18 that match the demographic characteristics of the U.S. population.
Privacy, Security, Disclosure
The tabulated responses and other data returned to the IRS Oversight Board will not have any form of personal identifying information relating specific records to individual taxpayers. Research personnel will ensure that privacy and security of the aggregated results will be adhered to as allowed by law. Public and official access to the information will be tightly controlled.
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.
Burden Hours
Screened/Interviewed |
No. of Respondents |
Participation Time |
Burden |
Total Screened |
23,576 |
0.5 minutes per respondent |
196 hours
|
Total Participants |
1,634 interviews |
15 minutes per respondent |
409 hours |
Total |
605 hours |
||
The anticipated response rate is 7%. About 23,576 taxpayers will be reached and screened for qualification and about 1,634 will be interviewed in total.
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 1,634 respondents. The 16-minute survey will include a total of approximately 27 questions. It is assumed that the incidence of qualifying respondents would leave about 1,004 usable responses.
The total screening time would be about 196 hours to get a sample of 1,634 (including 630 over sample) respondents, which would represent talking to 23,576 individuals for an assumed 30 seconds per individual to determine eligibility ((23,576 x 0.5 min.)/60 = 196 hours).
The survey questions will take 15 minutes per interview to complete, times 1,634 interviews, which is 409 hours of total interview burden ((1,634 x 15)/60 = 409 hours).
The screening burden of 196 hours plus the interviewing burden of 409 hours equals 605 hours of total study burden (196 + 409= 605 hours) for the 16-minute total surveying and screening process (0.5 screening + 15 interviewing = 16).
Attachment(s)
Questionnaire – Including PRA Statement1 & OMB Control Number
Cover letter/correspondence – Not applicable
Telephone screeners – Included in questionnaire. All screening and
moderating will be conducted by GfK using GfK’s telephone
facilities.
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.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | OMB Submission Format and Check List |
| Author | MIC |
| Last Modified By | qhrfb |
| File Modified | 2011-08-01 |
| File Created | 2011-08-01 |