IRS RESPONSE TO RECOMMENDATION: In 2023, the IRS created a team from across the IRS, including TAS, to potentially replace the existing Level of Service (LOS) with an improved measure of service for the taxpayer’s experience. This team conducted a study with other government agencies, including international, private, and public corporations, to gauge how they measured phone services to their customers. The result of the study was that the IRS will test and baseline the newly proposed metric during FY 2025 with implementation during FY 2026.

CORRECTIVE ACTION: In 2023, the IRS created a team from across the IRS, including TAS, to potentially replace the existing Level of Service (LOS) with an improved measure of service for the taxpayer’s experience. This team conducted a study with other government agencies, including international, private, and public corporations, to gauge how they measured phone services to their customers. The result of the study was that the IRS will test and baseline the newly proposed metric during FY 2025 with implementation during FY 2026.

TAS RESPONSE: TAS looks forward to reviewing the results from the testing and baseline assessment of the newly proposed metric during the implementation in FY 2025 and FY 2026. We anticipate this will provide valuable insights and drive impactful outcomes.

ADOPTED, PARTIALLY ADOPTED or NOT ADOPTED: Adopted

OPEN or CLOSED: Open

DUE DATE FOR ACTION (if left open): 9/30/2026

IRS RESPONSE TO RECOMMENDATION: The IRS began working in 2023 to implement a procedure for measuring contact resolution. The process uses two separate approaches, one that uses taxpayer’s response to satisfaction surveys indicating agreement with “My Needs Were Met” and “Will this interaction prevent the need for future contact?” The Contact Resolution Percentage is based on responses to these questions from the customer experience survey for the Tax Law and Accounts survey. This is a quarterly metric and supplements the suite of measures used by the IRS to track the taxpayer experience.

The second approach includes research to measure First Touch Resolutions that are instances of a taxpayer having one inbound phone call or office visit recorded in our systems with no other telephone calls or office visits present within 90 days after the touchpoint event.

The First Touch Resolution rate is the ratio of taxpayer events classified as a first touch resolution to the total number of taxpayer phone calls and office visits recorded in the Account Management System system in a given period. This is an annual metric.

CORRECTIVE ACTION: The IRS began working in 2023 to implement a procedure for measuring contact resolution. The process uses two separate approaches, one that uses taxpayer’s response to satisfaction surveys indicating agreement with “My Needs Were Met” and “Will this interaction prevent the need for future contact?” The Contact Resolution Percentage is based on responses to these questions from the customer experience survey for the Tax Law and Accounts survey. This is a quarterly metric and supplements the suite of measures used by the IRS to track the taxpayer experience.

The second approach includes research to measure First Touch Resolutions that are instances of a taxpayer having one inbound phone call or office visit recorded in our systems with no other telephone calls or office visits present within 90 days after the touchpoint event.

The First Touch Resolution rate is the ratio of taxpayer events classified as a first touch resolution to the total number of taxpayer phone calls and office visits recorded in the Account Management System system in a given period. This is an annual metric

TAS RESPONSE: TAS supports this development and looks forward to reviewing the data. TAS requests an update on when we can expect the data to be made available.

ADOPTED, PARTIALLY ADOPTED or NOT ADOPTED: Adopted

OPEN or CLOSED: Open

DUE DATE FOR ACTION (if left open): 10/1/2025

IRS RESPONSE TO RECOMMENDATION: The IRS maintains interest in expanding opportunities to gather taxpayer feedback to improve experiences when using our toll-free phone services. The IRS continuously selects and invites some toll-free callers to participate in customer satisfaction and experience surveys. It uses an automated Interactive Voice Recognition system to invite select callers to take a survey immediately after speaking with a representative or voicebot. The objective of the survey is to identify what Taxpayer Services’ toll-free staff and managers can do to improve customer service and to track callers’ satisfaction with telephone service attributes over time. A separate survey would be a duplication and an extra step for the callers.

CORRECTIVE ACTION: N/A

TAS RESPONSE: TAS did not intend this recommendation to be in addition to current survey methods, but rather to replace the current method. As noted in the report, while it is encouraging to see taxpayers reporting a positive experience of over 70 percent for all seven questions, this reflects the opinions of only 4,721 respondents, which equates to about a 1.9 percent response rate.

ADOPTED, PARTIALLY ADOPTED or NOT ADOPTED: Not Adopted

OPEN or CLOSED: Closed

DUE DATE FOR ACTION (if left open): N/A

IRS RESPONSE TO RECOMMENDATION:The IRS stated this recommendation has already been implemented.

Taxpayer Services deployed an unauthenticated chatbot for Electronic Products & Services Support with the option to escalate to live chat on December 5, 2024. The topics covered were IRS e-File Application, Transmitter Control Code and Electronic Filing System. Based on the success, Taxpayer Services is exploring expanding live chat for international topics.

CORRECTIVE ACTION: N/A

TAS RESPONSE: TAS appreciates the IRS’s commitment to further deploy chat features and looks forward to evolving and growing enhancements moving forward.

ADOPTED, PARTIALLY ADOPTED or NOT ADOPTED: Adopted

OPEN or CLOSED: Closed

DUE DATE FOR ACTION (if left open): N/A