More Should Be Done to Expand and Increase Use and Availability of the IRS’s Taxpayer Digital Communication Tools

In collaboration with leaders from IRS business operating divisions, identify those areas for which more efficient and effective methods of communication are needed. The lessons learned and tools developed as part of the TDC program should be leveraged to expand digital communication to taxpayers.

Consider reevaluating the level of assurance necessary for TDC installations intended for digital communication with taxpayers, which allows them to respond to the IRS’s requests for additional documentation, given that policy deviations for using standard e-mail and SecureZIP files have been used for several years.

The Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement should ensure that an evaluation plan is developed and implemented to thoroughly assess the TDC program and its management of the TDC installations. At a minimum, the evaluation plan should include clearly stated objectives that measure success against well-defined standards and detailed steps for verifying that sufficient benefits are being realized in relation to the costs being incurred.

The Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement should develop a method by which detailed information is obtained from stakeholders, both taxpayers and IRS employees, to determine why users may not be interested in TDC installations, what barriers to adoption may exist within the IRS, and how IRS employees may be able to support taxpayer adoption.

The Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement and the Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support should work together to establish an office that would be responsible to coordinate and manage the expansion and use of digital communication across the business units, the OLS, the IT function, and any other stakeholders.