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Complexity and Insufficient Oversight of the Free File Program Result in Low Taxpayer Participation

Report Information

Date Issued
Report Number
2020-40-009
Report Type
Audit
Joint Report
No
Agency Wide
Yes (agency-wide)
Questioned Costs
$0
Funds for Better Use
$0
View Report

Recommendations

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should ensure that management performs quality reviews of MOU adherence testing that Free File Program analysts conduct on FFI members' websites and software.

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should clearly inform taxpayers of their rights and protections in the Free File Program. These rights should be provided on the IRS's Free File web page as well as FFI members' Free File web pages.

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should develop a process for taxpayers to provide feedback or concerns on their experience using Free File and inform taxpayers of this process by providing information on both the IRS's Free File web page and FFI members' Free File web pages.

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should work with FFI members to develop procedures to conduct customer satisfaction surveys. In addition, develop procedures to analyze the survey results to identify improvements that can be made to the Program.