More Could Be Done to Make It Easier for Taxpayers to Locate Taxpayer Assistance Centers

March 2004

Reference Number: 2004-40-075

This report has cleared the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration disclosure review process and information determined to be restricted from public release has been redacted from this document.

March 26, 2004

MEMORANDUM FOR COMMISSIONER, WAGE AND INVESTMENT DIVISION

FROM: Gordon C. Milbourn III /s/ Gordon C. Milbourn III

Acting Deputy Inspector General for Audit

SUBJECT: Final Audit Report - More Could Be Done to Make It Easier for Taxpayers to Locate Taxpayer Assistance Centers (Audit # 200340059)

This report presents the results of our review of the ease with which taxpayers could locate taxpayer services. The overall objective of the review was to determine if taxpayers could easily locate taxpayer services, specifically Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TAC) and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites, when they want face-to-face tax assistance.

The Congress passed the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (RRA 98) in part to ensure the IRS improved its customer service. In fact, one of the goals set in the RRA 98 was for the IRS to improve service to taxpayers. The IRS has since strived to provide America’s taxpayers with top‑quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities.

Providing taxpayers with assistance at local IRS offices is key to providing top-quality customer service. One way the IRS accomplishes this is through its local IRS offices called TACs. The IRS also provides tax return preparation assistance to taxpayers that meet certain eligibility requirements through the VITA Program. Recognizing the importance of convenient access, RRA 98 Section 3709 requires the IRS to publish the telephone numbers and addresses of its local offices in local area telephone books as soon as practicable because every taxpayer should have convenient access to the IRS.

The IRS has made significant progress in publishing the telephone numbers and addresses of its TACs in local area telephone books and ensuring the telephone numbers are accurate. In addition, taxpayers have several alternatives by which to obtain the telephone numbers and addresses for local IRS offices. However, in its efforts to provide top‑quality service, the IRS could make it easier for taxpayers to locate its TACs.

The IRS provides several alternatives for individual taxpayers to locate the TACs; for example, through its Toll-Free Customer Service telephone number (1‑800‑829-1040), its Internet site (The Digital Daily), and various publications. However, taxpayers must navigate through an automated menu when calling the toll-free telephone number and may not always receive accurate information. IRS employees provided correct and complete telephone numbers and addresses for 39 (87 percent) of 45 test calls auditors made to the IRS Toll-Free Customer Service telephone number. We obtained correct addresses and telephone numbers for 42 (93 percent) of 45 selected TACs on The Digital Daily; however, taxpayers have to use several links before obtaining a list of the TACs by state. In addition, the IRS refers taxpayers to local offices in various publications, but the publications do not provide taxpayers with a list of those offices. Instead, the publications refer taxpayers to the Toll-Free Customer Service telephone number or to an automated system that explains the IRS has local offices where the taxpayer can obtain assistance. However, this automated system does not provide information on how to find these local offices.

For resources outside the IRS, taxpayers can use local telephone books, Directory Assistance, and the Internet to locate the TACs. When using these sources, we found that not all cities have the local IRS office telephone numbers and addresses published in the local telephone directories. The IRS is not required to publish in more than one local telephone book in any local area. In addition, when using the major Internet search engines, taxpayers cannot always locate accurate telephone numbers and addresses of local IRS offices. Taxpayers should be cautioned in the use of these sources to obtain local IRS office telephone numbers because there is no nationwide database with all telephone numbers for all of the different Directory Assistance services and search engines to use.

Finally, we could not determine if a taxpayer can easily locate a VITA site because the IRS did not compile and finalize the list of VITA sites before the completion of our testing. The IRS stated that it provides taxpayers with the locations of VITA sites through its Toll-Free Customer Service telephone number and the TACs. The IRS does not post the listing of VITA sites on The Digital Daily because it believes the majority of its VITA customers do not use the Internet.

We recommended the Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, explore methods to improve the IRS Toll-Free Customer Service telephone service and The Digital Daily to make it easier for taxpayers to locate local IRS offices.

Management’s Response: IRS management agreed with part of one of our recommendations. IRS management estimates that less than 1 percent of toll-free inquiries involve requests to locate local offices. As a result, they do not plan to implement our recommendation to improve the ease of locating local IRS offices using the toll-free telephone service. IRS management does plan to take action on part of our second recommendation. Specifically, they plan to evaluate alternatives for redesigning the Internet site to improve the ease of locating a local office. However, they do not plan to include information on VITA sites in their evaluation of the Internet site design because the majority of VITA customers do not find out about VITA sites through the IRS. The IRS noted that maintaining up-to-date site information would require a major commitment of resources. Management’s complete response to the draft report is included as Appendix VI.

Office of Audit Comment: We continue to believe the IRS could make it easier for a taxpayer to locate local IRS offices by providing this information through one of the automated menu options. We requested documentation from IRS management that only 1 percent of the toll-free telephone inquiries involve requests to locate local offices. They did not provide this information.

Since Internet use in the United States is projected to increase dramatically by 2007, we are pleased that IRS management plans to evaluate alternatives for redesigning the Internet site to improve the ease of locating a local office. However, we believe the IRS should include VITA site information when evaluating and redesigning its Internet site since the projections show increased usage by the low-income population. In addition, the IRS determined that few VITA customers used the IRS to locate a VITA site, but the IRS included only those that had visited a volunteer site. While we still believe our recommendations are worthwhile, we do not intend to elevate our disagreement concerning them to the Department of the Treasury for resolution.

Copies of this report are also being sent to the IRS managers affected by the report recommendations. Please contact me at (202) 622-6510 if you have questions or Michael R. Phillips, Assistant Inspector General for Audit (Wage and Investment Income Programs), at (202) 927‑0597.

Table of Contents

Background

More Could Be Done to Make Finding Taxpayer Assistance Centers Easier

Recommendation 1:

Recommendation 2:

Appendix I – Detailed Objective, Scope, and Methodology

Appendix II – Major Contributors to This Report

Appendix III – Report Distribution List

Appendix IV – Locating Local Offices on the Internal Revenue Service Internet Site

Appendix V – Locating Local Offices on the Social Security Administration Internet Site

Appendix VI – Management’s Response to the Draft Report

Background

The Congress passed the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (RRA 98) in part to ensure the IRS improved its customer service. In fact, one of the goals set in the RRA 98 was for the IRS to improve service to taxpayers. The IRS has since strived to provide America’s taxpayers with top-quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities.

The IRS maintains that its TACs are the one-stop resource for face-to-face tax help and solutions to tax problems every business day. Taxpayers seek assistance at the TACs for various reasons, including:

· Clarification regarding IRS notices the taxpayers have received or the tax implications of specific transactions (e.g., sale of a home, Individual Retirement Account distribution, charitable contributions).

· Determination of eligibility for specific tax credits (e.g., Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Care Credit, Education Credit).

· Preparation of tax returns or obtaining tax forms.

Recognizing the importance of convenient access, RRA 98 Section 3709 requires the IRS to publish the telephone numbers and addresses of its local offices in local area telephone books as soon as practicable. Prior to implementation of the RRA 98, the IRS was not required to publish the telephone numbers or addresses of its local offices and generally did not do so. However, the Senate Finance Committee believed every taxpayer should have convenient access to the IRS and submitted a statutory requirement that the IRS publish its local office information. The intent of RRA 98 Section 3709 was to make it easier for taxpayers and their advisors to seek local IRS assistance.

When taxpayers call a TAC, they hear a pre-recorded message providing the office location and hours of operation, information available on the IRS toll-free telephone numbers, and the option for the taxpayers to leave detailed messages. TAC employees should retrieve taxpayers’ messages and respond to them within 2 business days.

As of October 2003, the IRS reported that it had 405 Section 3709 local offices. However, only 379 of the offices are TACs. The IRS has designated the other 26 offices as Section 3709 field offices. Section 3709 field offices are locations that do not have a TAC office the taxpayer may walk into to receive assistance, but they are designated as local offices for the purpose of meeting the RRA 98 requirements of providing coverage.

This audit is a follow-up review of the availability of telephone numbers and addresses of local IRS offices. The prior audit focused on whether telephone numbers and addresses for local IRS offices had been published in local telephone books. We reported that none of the local sites sampled had a local telephone number published, and a majority of the sites did not have a local address published. In addition, the IRS could not determine how many of the local telephone numbers and addresses had actually been printed in local telephone books.

In response, the IRS agreed to immediately ensure local telephone numbers and addresses are provided to the IRS Toll-Free Customer Service function and on its public Internet site, The Digital Daily, and to inform the taxpaying public that this information is available. The IRS also agreed to ensure contracts are obtained with local telephone carriers to have all telephone numbers and addresses published in local telephone books and to develop procedures to track and monitor the actual publishing of this information.

The IRS Wage and Investment (W&I) Division Customer Assistance, Relationships, and Education office has responsibility for the TACs and VITA sites. This review was performed in the W&I Division Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, from August through December 2003. The audit was conducted in accordance with Government Auditing Standards. Detailed information on our audit objective, scope, and methodology is presented in Appendix I. Major contributors to the report are listed in Appendix II.

More Could Be Done to Make Finding Taxpayer Assistance Centers Easier

The IRS has made significant progress in publishing the telephone numbers and addresses of its TACs in local area telephone books and ensuring the telephone numbers are accurate. In addition, taxpayers have several alternatives to obtain the telephone numbers and addresses for local IRS offices. However, in its efforts to provide top‑quality, one‑stop service, the IRS could make it easier for taxpayers to locate its TACs.

The IRS provides several alternatives for individual taxpayers to locate TACs; for example, through its:

· Toll-Free Customer Service telephone number (1‑800‑829-1040).

· Internet site, The Digital Daily.

· Publications such as Your Federal Income Tax For Individuals (Publication 17) and 2003 1040 Instructions.

Taxpayers may also use external sources to find a local IRS office in their community; for example, local telephone books, Directory Assistance, and various Internet search engines. Taxpayers should be cautioned in the use of these sources to obtain local IRS telephone numbers since there is no nationwide database with all telephone numbers for all of the different Directory Assistance services and search engines to use.

Auditors attempted to locate local IRS offices in various cities throughout the United States by judgmentally selecting 52 local IRS offices from the IRS’ listing of local offices. We first called each TAC to verify that the telephone numbers and addresses provided in the listing were correct. Of 51 telephone numbers sampled, all were correct. We then obtained the TACs’ telephone numbers and addresses from various sources available to taxpayers and compared this information with the information provided by the IRS listing for our sample offices.

Toll-Free Customer Service telephone number

Though taxpayers can call the Toll-Free Customer Service telephone number (1-800-829-1040) to locate a TAC, the taxpayer must navigate an automated menu and then speak to an IRS employee before obtaining the address and telephone number of the closest TAC. In addition, the taxpayer might not always receive complete or accurate information.

When calling the toll-free telephone number, the caller uses an automated menu. The caller is provided three menu options for help:

1. Preparing or filing individual income tax returns. This option provides the caller with a second automated menu from which to choose the following options: (1) ordering tax forms, (2) finding addresses to mail the tax return to the IRS, or (3) getting help with a tax question.

2. Requesting information on a tax refund or on a personal tax account. This option provides the caller with a second automated menu from which to choose the following options: (1) requesting refund information, (2) ordering transcripts on tax accounts, or (3) getting answers to personal account questions.

3. Using the business and specialty tax line or obtaining the address for the IRS Internet web site.

None of the automated menu selections provide the caller the option of finding a local IRS office. If the caller does not select any option, he or she is given two opportunities to have the menus repeated. If the caller still does not choose an option, he or she is transferred to an IRS employee who screens the call and who may transfer the call to the appropriate call assistor to answer the taxpayer’s question.

The IRS could make it easier for a taxpayer to find local IRS offices by providing this information through one of the automated menu options. For example, when someone calls the Social Security Administration (SSA) toll-free telephone number (1‑800‑772‑1213), the first menu option offered to the caller is the option to locate a local SSA office. If callers choose this option, they are asked to enter their zip code using a touch‑tone telephone. The recorded message then provides the following information for the closest SSA office: telephone number, address, hours of operation, and directions.

Auditors made calls to the IRS toll‑free telephone number and asked for the telephone number and address for the local IRS office in 51 cities. In most instances, the screener transferred the auditor to an assistor; however, in 4 of the 51 test calls, the screeners provided the information for the TACs’ locations.

Auditors were provided correct information for 45 (88 percent) of the 51 test calls. The breakdown of the call results is as follows:

· The nearest local office for six of the calls was a Section 3709 field office. For all six of these calls, the IRS call assistors correctly referred the auditors to the closest TAC location.

· The nearest local office for 45 of the calls was a TAC.

o For 39 (87 percent) of the 45 test calls, the IRS call assistors provided complete and correct addresses and telephone numbers for the TACs.

o For 6 (13 percent) of the 45 test calls, the assistors did not provide complete or accurate addresses and/or telephone numbers for the TACs. For example, one employee did not include “Northwest” in the address, one did not provide the building and suite number, and one advised the auditor the telephone number was not published.

These errors occurred because either the listing on the computer system used by the employees during our testing period was incorrect or the employee made an error when providing the information to the auditor.

The Digital Daily

The IRS provides a link on The Digital Daily home page labeled “Contact My Local Office” so a taxpayer can search for a local IRS office; however, the taxpayer must move through several webpages using several links before arriving at a webpage listing all local IRS offices in the taxpayer’s state.

The IRS provides several links to the “Contact My Local Office” webpage. For example, not only is there a Contact Us link on the home page, but this link is also at the bottom of each IRS webpage. This link will bring the taxpayer to the “Contact My Local Office” webpage. This webpage contains a picture of the United States with a request that the taxpayer click on his or her state to find the listing of that state’s TAC addresses and telephone numbers. The listing provides the city, street address, hours of operation, and local telephone number for each TAC in the selected state. See Appendix IV for a detailed illustration of these links.

Using the “Contact My Local Office” webpage, auditors searched for the 45 selected TACs and obtained the correct addresses and telephone numbers for 42 (93 percent) of them. Three (7 percent) of the 45 did not have the correct telephone number or address posted to the Internet site.

Although the auditors found the listing of the TACs, it took several steps. The SSA Internet site provides easier access to information on the location of its local offices. See Appendix V. A link labeled Find your nearest Social Security office is provided on the web site’s home page. Clicking on this link brings the customer to a webpage providing the following:

If you live in the United States and you want information and directions to the Social Security office nearest you, just enter your U.S. Postal Service five-digit ZIP Code below and select Locate. You’ll get information about your local Social Security office and other agencies in your area that may be able to help you.

After entering the zip code, the customer is provided the office address, SSA toll-free numbers, office hours, directions, and a map to the local office.

Publications

The IRS refers taxpayers to local offices in various publications. However, the publications do not provide taxpayers with a list of local IRS offices. Instead, the publications direct taxpayers to the IRS Toll-Free Customer Service telephone number (1-800-829-1040), www.irs.gov, or a local telephone book under “United States Government, Internal Revenue Service.”

The publications also provide taxpayers with a toll-free telephone number (1‑800‑829‑4477) that provides various tax topics. The 1‑800‑829‑4477 automated system also mentions that in certain areas the IRS has local offices where the taxpayer can obtain assistance. However, this automated system does not provide information on how to find the local offices.

Local telephone books and Directory Assistance

Not all cities have the local IRS office telephone numbers and addresses published in the local telephone directories. The IRS is not required to publish in more than one directory in any local area. For 11 cities tested, 3 local telephone directories were printed before the IRS contract print date. Of the remaining 8 cities:

· Three (38 percent) of 8 cities’ local area telephone directories listed correct and complete telephone numbers and addresses for local IRS offices.

· Four (50 percent) of 8 cities’ local area telephone directories listed either the local telephone number or address but not both.

· The remaining office (13 percent) listed neither the local telephone number nor the address.

In most instances, local telephone numbers were listed for the local IRS offices using nationwide Directory Assistance (1‑area code‑555‑1212). Of the 51 test calls made using Directory Assistance, 39 (76 percent) had a local IRS office number listed. Twelve (24 percent) of the 51 cities did not list a local IRS office or include the IRS toll-free telephone number. Of the 39 calls which produced telephone numbers:

· Thirty-one (79 percent) had correct telephone numbers listed for the local IRS offices.

· Eight (21 percent) had incorrect telephone numbers. Three of the eight local telephone numbers provided were for other IRS offices, two were for the IRS Taxpayer Advocate’s office, two did not identify a company or provide voice mail, and one was for a private company.

The IRS has recently implemented a certification process to verify that the information in local area telephone directories is correct. Local IRS office managers are to quarterly certify the accuracy of information for local IRS offices in area telephone directories, The Digital Daily, and Directory Assistance. This certification was completed in November 2003.

Internet search engines

Taxpayers cannot consistently locate accurate telephone numbers and addresses of local IRS offices when using major Internet search engines. Search engines obtain telephone numbers and addresses from telephone carriers and, like Directory Assistance, the information is dependent upon the telephone carriers.

In addition, the results of an Internet search are dependent upon whether the taxpayers search using “IRS” or “Internal Revenue Service.” Many businesses use “IRS” in their names. This creates confusion for the taxpayers, and they might have to attempt several searches before locating a local IRS office.

For example, auditors used Internet search engines and searched using:

· United States Government-Internal Revenue Service.

· United States Government-Local Area Office.

· Internal Revenue Service.

· Internal Revenue Service-Local Area Office.

Auditors were able to locate 4 (57 percent) of the 7 local IRS offices, although the street addresses were not always provided.

VITA sites

We could not determine if a taxpayer can easily locate a VITA site because the IRS did not compile and finalize the list of VITA sites before the completion of our testing. The IRS stated that it provides taxpayers with the locations of VITA sites through its:

· Toll‑Free Customer Service telephone number (1-800-829-1040).

· TACs. The TACs have access to the VITA site locations through IRS computer systems, although the VITA sites are not required to post the listing in the TACs.

The IRS does not post the listing of VITA sites on The Digital Daily. Instead The Digital Daily refers the taxpayer to the Toll-Free Customer Service telephone number.

The IRS explained it believes the majority of its VITA customers do not use the Internet. However, the IRS has determined that Internet use in the United States is projected to increase dramatically by 2007, including increased usage by the low-income population. The IRS has determined through 2002 and 2003 customer satisfaction surveys that taxpayers do not usually locate VITA sites by contacting the IRS. Instead, taxpayers found the VITA sites by word of mouth (42 percent for each of the survey years), by other methods (23 percent for each of the survey years), or by various forms of advertising (29 percent and 28 percent for survey years 2002 and 2003, respectively). In addition, only 6 percent of survey year 2002 and 7 percent of survey year 2003 taxpayers located the sites through the IRS.

Since 2000, the IRS has built more than 175 local coalitions. The IRS believes it will assist a greater number of taxpayers with limited resources through alignment with other community organizations that are financial, corporate, faith-based, nonprofit, social service, and government organizations. The IRS depends on the coalitions and volunteer organizations to publicize the VITA locations. The IRS allows these groups to either (1) use the advertising templates provided by the IRS or (2) develop their own advertising campaigns to inform taxpayers of their VITA site locations and the services offered.

Effect on taxpayers

The IRS’ mission is to provide top-quality service to taxpayers. Its W&I Division supports this mission by offering products and services tailored to particular taxpayer needs and by providing the right services at the right time at the right locations. Ensuring that taxpayers are able to locate face-to-face taxpayer assistance is essential to meeting these goals.

Taxpayers should be cautioned in the use of Directory Assistance and Internet search engines to obtain local IRS office telephone numbers. They are both dependent upon the information supplied by the telephone carriers. It appears there is no nationwide database with all telephone numbers.

Since it is not always easy for taxpayers to locate the local IRS offices using external sources, it is even more important that the IRS ensure taxpayers can easily use its systems to locate these offices and that the available information is accurate.

The IRS could make it easier for taxpayers to locate local IRS offices to receive assistance in meeting their tax obligations. Easy accessibility and accurate information are important for taxpayers seeking TAC and VITA sites since many of these sites are open only on certain days and/or with limited hours.

Recommendations

The Commissioner, W&I Division, should:

1. Explore methods to improve the IRS Toll-Free Customer Service telephone service to make it easier for taxpayers to locate local IRS offices.

Management’s Response: IRS management estimates less than 1 percent of toll-free telephone inquiries involve requests to locate local offices. As a result, they do not plan to implement our recommendation to improve the ease of locating local IRS offices using the toll-free telephone service.

Office of Audit Comment: We continue to believe the IRS could make it easier for a taxpayer to find local IRS offices by providing this information through one of the automated menu options. We requested documentation from IRS management that only 1 percent of the toll-free telephone inquiries involve requests to locate local offices. They did not provide this information.

2. Explore methods to improve the availability of information about local IRS offices on The Digital Daily.

Management’s Response: IRS management does plan to take action on part of this recommendation. Specifically, they plan to evaluate alternatives for redesigning the Internet site to improve the ease of locating a local office. However, they do not plan to include information on VITA sites in their evaluation of the Internet site design because the majority of VITA customers do not find out about VITA sites through the IRS. The IRS also noted that maintaining up-to-date site information would require a major commitment of resources.

Office of Audit Comment: Since Internet use in the United States is projected to increase dramatically by 2007, we are pleased that IRS management plans to evaluate alternatives for redesigning the Internet site to improve the ease of locating a local office. However, we believe the IRS should include VITA site information when evaluating and redesigning its Internet site since the projections show increased usage by the low-income population. In addition, the IRS determined that few VITA customers used the IRS to locate a VITA site, but the IRS included only those that had visited a volunteer site.

Appendix I

Detailed Objective, Scope, and Methodology

The overall objective of this review was to determine whether taxpayers could easily locate taxpayer services, specifically Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TAC) and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites, when they want face-to-face tax assistance. To accomplish our objective, we:

I. Determined the goals and objectives for local IRS offices by discussing them with the appropriate IRS official and obtained and analyzed the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (RRA 98) Section 3709 to determine requirements for the publishing of local IRS office telephone numbers and addresses.

II. Obtained the official listing of IRS local offices and addresses from the IRS Wage and Investment (W&I) Division’s Field Assistance office for use in verifying the accuracy of telephone numbers and addresses obtained through sample tests below.

A. Selected a judgmental sample of 52 of the 405 local IRS offices. A judgmental sample was used because we did not plan to project our results to the entire population. Each local office within each state was sorted alphabetically and assigned a number based upon its position within the state listing. Using a random number generator, we selected one city from each state, including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. We eliminated one office from our sample because the city we selected from the IRS listing does not have a TAC.

B. Called the 51 telephone numbers selected to verify their accuracy. We also reviewed the recorded scripts and compared the address information in the scripts to the information provided in the sample for the selected cities.

III. Determined if taxpayers can easily obtain accurate and complete telephone numbers and addresses to the local offices by calling the IRS Toll-Free Customer Service telephone number (1‑800‑829-1040). We called between October 14 and October 22, 2003, asked the IRS employee for the local office in the selected 51 cities, and compared the information to the IRS listing obtained in Step II.

IV. Determined if taxpayers can easily obtain local IRS office telephone numbers and addresses from the IRS Internet site, The Digital Daily. Using various links provided on the Internet site, we located the state listings of local IRS offices and determined if the local offices in the 45 selected cities were accurately listed.

V. Determined if taxpayers can easily obtain local IRS office telephone numbers and addresses using various publications. We chose two publications used by individual taxpayers: Your Federal Income Tax For Individuals (Publication 17) and 2003 1040 Instructions.

VI. Determined if taxpayers can easily obtain local IRS offices telephone numbers and addresses from local area telephone books. We had planned to use the local libraries and their collection of local telephone books to do this research for the 51 sample cities. However, we determined that the libraries we contacted no longer maintain local telephone books. Therefore, we asked Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) managers to review their local area telephone books and provide copies of the IRS information pages from their area telephone books. Fourteen TIGTA managers completed this test. The TIGTA managers responded with copies of directory pages for 15 cities. A total of 11 of the 15 cities are included in the IRS listing obtained in Step II. These 11 cities were used to complete this test.

VII. Determined if taxpayers can easily obtain local IRS office telephone numbers and addresses from nationwide Directory Assistance (1-area code-555-1212). We called Directory Assistance between October 14 and October 17, 2003, for the 51 selected cities and compared the information to the IRS listing obtained in Step II.

VIII. Determined if taxpayers can easily obtain local IRS office telephone numbers and addresses from Internet search engines.

A. Selected seven cities in which local IRS offices were located. The list of cities was acquired from the listing of local IRS offices obtained from the IRS. We chose one city from each of the seven IRS Field Assistance Areas. We alphabetically sorted the states within each of the seven areas and chose the first state on the list from each. The cities in which local IRS offices were located within each state were then sorted alphabetically, and the first city on the list from each of the seven Field Assistance Areas was chosen.

We originally planned to test all the sites included in the IRS listing obtained in Step II. However, after initial testing showed inconsistencies in the information obtained, we determined 100 percent testing was unnecessary.

B. Searched four search engines familiar to the audit team using the following: “United States Government-Internal Revenue Service,” “United States Government-Local Area Office,” “Internal Revenue Service,” and “Internal Revenue Service-Local Area Office.”

IX. Determined if taxpayers can easily locate VITA sites by discussing the VITA Program with the appropriate IRS officials. We could not determine if taxpayers can easily locate VITA sites through testing because the IRS did not compile and finalize the list of VITA sites before the completion of our testing.

X. Analyzed and compared results to the Social Security Administration, another Federal Government agency that services the American public through local offices.

Appendix II

Major Contributors to This Report

Michael R. Phillips, Assistant Inspector General for Audit (Wage and Investment Income Programs)

Augusta R. Cook, Director

Paula W. Johnson, Audit Manager

Robert Howes, Senior Auditor

Jean Bell, Auditor

Vacenessia Brown, Auditor

Patricia Jackson, Auditor

Andrea McDuffie, Auditor

Geraldine Vaughn, Auditor

Appendix III

Report Distribution List

Commissioner C

Office of the Commissioner – Attn: Chief of Staff C

Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement SE

Deputy Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division SE:W

Director, Customer Assistance, Relationships, and Education, Wage and Investment

Division SE:W:CAR

Director, Strategy and Finance, Wage and Investment Division SE:W:S

Director, Field Assistance, Wage and Investment Division SE:W:CAR:FA

Director, Stakeholder Partnerships, Education, and Communication, Wage and Investment Division SE:W:CAR:SPEC

Chief Counsel CC

National Taxpayer Advocate TA

Director, Office of Legislative Affairs CL:LA

Director, Office of Program Evaluation and Risk Analysis RAS:O

Office of Management Controls OS:CFO:AR:M

Audit Liaison: GAO/TIGTA Liaison, Wage and Investment Division SE:W:S:PA

Appendix IV