WASHINGTON - An interactive, web-based tool is helping employees of the Internal Revenue

Service (IRS) to provide customer-specific tax law responses efficiently and accurately,

according to a report released publicly by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration

(TIGTA).

The Interactive Tax Law Assistant (ITLA) helps assistors provide accurate answers to taxpayer

inquiries, according to 81 percent of assistors surveyed by TIGTA. The assistors rated it as user

friendly.

The objective of TIGTA's review was to determine whether the new tool, which has been

deployed at IRS walk-in sites and used by IRS telephone assistors, improves the quality of

responses and provides assistors with accurate resolutions to taxpayer inquiries.

Out of 610 assistors who responded to a TIGTA survey, more than 73 percent said they were

satisfied that the ITLA provides accurate and consistent responses and that it is easy to use. In

addition, most assistors favor the new tool over previously used methods.

"Each year, millions of taxpayers call the IRS or walk into a local IRS office to ask tax law

questions to help them meet their tax obligations," said J. Russell George, the Treasury Inspector

General for Tax Administration. "Anything that will help them receive the accurate information

they need in a timely manner is a step in the right direction."