CS-16-470 Comprehensive Taxpayer Attitude Survey

OMB 1545-1432
Supporting Statement
Approval Request to Conduct Customer Satisfaction Research OMB 1545-1432
Title: 2016 Oversight Board Comprehensive Taxpayer Attitude Survey
A. JUSTIFICATION
1. Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary
The IRS Oversight Board was created by the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (RRA
98) https://www.treasury.gov/irsob/documents/statute.pdf, 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. The Board initiates this annual survey with the
objective of better understanding what influences taxpayers’ tax compliance, their opinions of
the IRS, and their customer service preferences, and how these taxpayer views change over time.
2. Purpose and Use of the Information Collection
The findings from this survey will provide the Board with a clear and reliable taxpayer context
that aids Board members in their review of the performance of current IRS taxpayer service and
enforcement programs designed to improve voluntary compliance; and in the Board’s
deliberations on related IRS budget recommendations, proposals for strategic performance
measures, and other matters that fall under the Board’s statutory responsibility to oversee the IRS
in its administration of internal revenue laws.
3. Consideration Given to Information Technology
In 2016, in addition to using a combined landline and cell phone survey of 1,000 individual
respondents, the Board also will add a concurrent online survey of 1,000 individual respondents
in the hope of transitioning to this less expensive option in the future.
All phone 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 a nationwide, dual frame blended Random Digit Dialing (RDD) sample of all
landline and cell phone 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.
All online interviews will be conducted using the vendor’s online panel. In advance, and totally
independent of this Board survey, participants have been recruited by the contractor and have
voluntarily completed its online panel registration surveys and provided their e-mail addresses,
names, and addresses to the contractor. At a subsequent point in time during August 2016, a
subset of these registrants will be asked by the contractor to participate in the Board's survey.
That subset of potential online survey participants will be selected via the contractor's proprietary
probability-based sampling methodology, which is designed to provide a statistically
representative sample of U.S. adults.
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Fielding such a concurrent survey using an online panel and the same questions as those in the
dual-frame RDD telephone survey will provide the Board valuable insight into a possible switch
to a lower-cost online panel survey methodology for the Board’s annual survey in the future,
while at the same time preserve the unique value of the historical time series data based on the
RDD telephone survey methodology. Having comparative results from both survey methods will
ensure the Board has a way to gauge any differences in the survey responses between 2015 and
2016 that are primarily attributable to the differing survey methodologies, versus those
differences that reflect real changes in the respondents' views - providing a means for adjusting
the historical time series data, if needed, so as to maintain the comparability/integrity of the prior
historically recorded trends.
4.

Duplication of Information
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 and ongoing Oversight Board surveys, IRS research,
and other research by non-profit organizations will be considered. No similar data are gathered or
maintained by the Agency or are available from other sources known to the IRS Oversight Board.

5. Reducing the Burden on Small Entities
The audience for this survey is individuals, not small entities/businesses.
6. Consequences of Not Conducting Collection
The IRS Oversight Board would no longer be able to get critical input needed to provide a clear
and reliable taxpayer context that aids Board members in their review of the performance of
current IRS taxpayer service and enforcement programs designed to improve voluntary
compliance, and in the Board’s deliberations on related IRS budget recommendations, proposals
for strategic performance measures, and other matters, that fall under the Board’s statutory
responsibility to oversee the IRS in its administration of internal revenue laws.
7. Special Circumstances
There are no special circumstances. The information collected will be used for statistical
purposes.
8. Consultations with Persons Outside the Agency
It is expected that GfK Custom Research LLC (GfK) will conduct this research and that the
analysis will be conducted in GfK’s offices in Washington, DC, Princeton, NJ, and New York,
NY.
9. Payment or Gift
No incentives are given for phone surveys; for online surveys GfK offers points as an incentive,
which can be redeemed for merchandise, gift cards, or other items. Points are based on length of
surveys. The average redemption value for completion of a 23 minute survey is $1.38.
10. Confidentiality
The survey will be conducted by random digit dialing, and no sensitive personally identifiable
information will be compiled by the vendor as part of the database for this survey, nor passed
along to the IRS Oversight Board. Additionally, the vendor has signed a non-disclosure
agreement as part of the contract with the Oversight Board and will take steps that ensure
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specific records cannot be tied to individual taxpayers. Research personnel will ensure that
privacy and security of the results will be adhered to, to the extent allowed by law. Public and
official access to the information will be tightly controlled.
11. Sensitive Nature
This survey is not sensitive in nature and will include only standard demographic questions that
cannot be tied to any individual. No sensitive personally identifiable information will be
collected and shared with the Oversight Board.
12. Burden of Information
The study will be conducted via concurrent telephone and online surveys. Our target number for
completed surveys is 1,000 each for the two survey modes, for a total of 2, 000 interviews. It is
estimated that more than 2,000 interviews will need to be conducted to achieve this goal. With an
estimated response rate of 9.24%, we anticipate that of the 29,473 screened, 2,723 will agree to
participate in the survey (29,473 x 9.24% = 2,723). 2,723 represents the total number of
interviews, including oversamples when quotas are met and those who only partially complete
the survey. Participation time is 23 minutes. (23 x 2,723/60) = 1,043.8 participation burden
hours. The total estimated burden for this survey is (245.6+1,043.8) = 1,289.4 burden hours.
Screened/Interviewed
Total Screened
Total Participants
Total Burden Hours

No. of
Respondents
29,473
2,723

Participation
Time
0.5 minutes
23.0 minutes

Burden
245.6 hours
1,043.8 hours
1,289.4 hours

13. Costs to Respondents
There is no dollar cost to respondents.
14. Costs to Federal Government
$175,394
15. Reason for Change
The survey mode has been enhanced by the addition of an online panel to explore the feasibility
of realizing cost savings to the government in the future, while retaining the comparability and
historical integrity of prior year results and trend lines.
16. Tabulation of Results, Schedule, Analysis Plans
The data will be collected using concurrent telephone and online surveys in August 2016. Data
from the surveys will contain no sensitive personally identifiable information and will be
assembled into a database in which responses are anonymous and 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.
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 and help the Oversight
Board better direct the IRS.
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17. Display of OMB Approval Date
Not applicable
18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions
These activities comply with the requirements in 5 CFR 1320.9.
19. Dates Collection Begin and End
The survey would be conducted between August 1 and August 31, 2016, pending receipt of
OMB clearance.
B.

STATISTICAL METHODS
1. Universe and Respondent Selection
Taxpayers over the age of 18 that match the demographic characteristics of the U.S.
population will be reached via random digit dialing and the vendor’s representative online
panel.
2. Procedures for Collecting Information
The data will be collected using a telephone survey of 700 landline and 300 cell phone
respondents as well as an online survey of 1,000 additional respondents.
All phone 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 landline and cell phone 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.
All online interviews will be conducted using the vendor’s online panel. In advance, and
totally independent of this Board survey, participants have been recruited by the contractor
and have voluntarily completed its online panel registration surveys and provided their e-mail
addresses, names, and addresses to the contractor. At a subsequent point in time during
August 2016, a subset of these registrants will be asked by the contractor to participate in the
Board's survey. That subset of potential online survey participants will be selected via the
contractor's proprietary probability-based sampling methodology, which is designed to
provide a statistically representative sample of U.S. adults.
3. Methods to Maximize Response
For phone surveys, 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.
Data is expected to be collected using GfK’s telephone centers located in the following cities:
 Rexburg, ID and
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

Twin Falls, ID

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, plus 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. on
Saturdays and 3 p.m. – 9 p.m. on Sundays.
For online surveys, GfK offers points as a participation incentive, which can be redeemed for
merchandise, gift cards, or other items. GfK also:
 strives to keep surveys open for a minimum of 7-10 days
 delivers a reminder to non-completes
 requires panelists to re-register each year
 gives panelists 24/7 access to surveys through a revamped and updated askGfK portal.
4. Testing of Procedures
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.
5. Contacts for Statistical Aspects and Data Collection
Russell Geiman
Senior Analyst
IRS Oversight Board
(202) 317-4175
(202) 622-2698
Francisco Riojas
Senior Analyst
IRS Oversight Board
(202) 622-7981

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