GAO Faults Half of IRS Letters to Taxpayers: Too Many Errors

Nearly half the letters the Internal Revenue Service sent to taxpayers in a two-month period contained incorrect or unclear information, a congressional study said today.

The IRS fared slightly better with its responses to telephone queries, with workers answering questions correctly 64% of the time, according to the General Accounting Office.

To assess the accuracy of letters sent to taxpayers, the GAO examined 718 written responses prepared by examiners in Philadelphia, Fresno and Kansas City.

The congressional watchdog agency found 31% of the letters handled between May 4 and July 31, 1987, contained critical errors and another 16% gave taxpayers unclear or incomplete information.

Although the survey was based on IRS correspondence in three parts of the country, the service acknowledged that the results represented an accurate picture of its nationwide performance.

A House government operations subcommittee, disturbed by the 47% error rate, held a hearing to examine the root of the communication problem and ways the IRS performance could be improved.

IRS Commissioner Lawrence Gibbs pinned a large portion of the blame for the incorrect responses on high personnel turnover, insufficient training and inadequate supervision.

But the commissioner also appealed to Congress to provide the agency with the money it needs to improve customer service and to limit the frequent changes it makes to the tax law.

Without adequate funding, “the loser is the American public,” Gibbs said.

To improve the accuracy of letters sent to taxpayers, the GAO recommended more training for IRS workers, improved supervision of employees and a new computer system to give workers more flexibility in composing letters.