3.0 OUR APPROACH

The Commissioner assigned a team of executives to launch and lead a Taxpayer First Act Office (TFAO) shortly after the TFA became law. The TFAO sits within the Commissioner’s Office of Chief of Staff and coordinates agency-wide implementation of all TFA provisions. For the past year and a half, the TFAO has led the integration of TFA-related communications, program management and governance. With input from IRS senior leaders, employees and other stakeholders, the TFAO also spear-headed development of our Taxpayer Experience Strategy (Section 1101), Training Strategy (Section 2402) and Organizational Redesign Strategy (Section 1302). The TFAO executives identified emerging IRS leaders and additional staff to support this work.

Program planning for the office included developing a vision statement, a set of guiding principles and a timeline.

Vision Statement: Working collaboratively, the Taxpayer First Act Office will reimagine our organization to enable an agency-wide focus on providing a high-quality taxpayer experience for all.

Guiding Principles: As we pursue our mission and vision with honesty and integrity, we will:

• Coordinate and integrate.

• Listen, learn and then design.

• Build excitement through regular and transparent communications.

• Embrace accountability through results.

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3.0 | OUR APPROACH

The listen, learn and then design principle was particularly powerful in guiding our work:

• Listen : We approached this effort without preconceived notions of what our stakeholders

expect from the IRS. We dedicated the first four months to conducting listening sessions across the country and around the globe, engaging a wide variety of stakeholders inside and outside of our organization. ⁷

• Learn : Across all three strategies we reviewed extensive documentation including existing

research studies, customer satisfaction results, business data, peer agency best practices and private sector industry best practices.

• Design : We committed to designing a comprehensive Taxpayer Experience Strategy,

Training Strategy and Organizational Redesign Strategy that would best position the agency to put taxpayers first. We based our design on what we learned from our listening sessions, research and feedback.

Putting taxpayers first requires understanding taxpayer perspectives as well as the perspectives of members of the tax community, such as tax professionals and tax software developers. We gathered feedback from a wide range of stakeholders to develop comprehensive strategies.

Our outreach included town halls, focus groups, internal and external interviews and forums with stakeholders across tax administration. We held more than 150 events to collect feedback, recommendations, solutions and to better understand common areas of concern. We established electronic mailboxes to receive input directly from employees, taxpayers and other stakeholders. We analyzed more than 1,000 pieces of correspondence through these inboxes. In addition, we communicated directly with internal and external stakeholders to answer questions related to the Taxpayer First Act.

Internally, we engaged employees, management and senior executives from across the agency. Externally, we engaged a wide range of stakeholders to ensure we obtained a comprehensive view of taxpayers’ unique needs. This included taxpayers; partners; self-employed individuals; small, large and international businesses, tax exempt entities; advisory groups; industry groups; oversight organizations and other government agencies. We also coordinated periodically with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Department of Treasury and the Congress throughout the development process. We will maintain open lines of communication with our oversight partners as we continue to implement the strategies outlined in this report.

7 See Section 9.4 for full list of stakeholders who provided feedback.

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As part of our research and analysis, we examined numerous research studies, third-party research articles, industry best practices, as well as results from 61 different customer satisfaction surveys. Additionally, we considered recommendations from oversight reports, including the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) and the National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA) and related case studies. Throughout the process, we ensured our strategies aligned with and supported the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

Based on what we learned, we identified key insights and opportunities that serve as the foundation for our strategies. This comprehensive approach allowed us to develop the Taxpayer Experience Strategy, Training Strategy and Organizational Redesign Strategy based on the needs and concerns of our stakeholders.

In developing its

Taxpayer Experience Strategy

and Organizational Redesign Plans,

the TFAO has been listening

to a wide array of internal and

external stakeholders

including tax professionals,

IRS leadership, IRS employees,

and the National Treasury

Employees Union.

• National Taxpayer Advocate

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Figure 2: TFAO Methodology

For details about our methodology, engagement activities and research, please refer to the Methodology Section 9.1.

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S E C T I O N