Background

Toll-free Telephone Service to Spanish-Speaking Taxpayers Was Significantly Expanded in 2001

The Quality of Responses to Taxpayers’ Tax Law Questions Needs Improvement

Appendix I – Detailed Objective, Scope, and Methodology

Appendix II – Report Distribution List

Appendix Ill – Test Call Questions

Appendix IV – Test Call Results by Question

Appendix V – Test Call Results by Day

Appendix VI – Management’s Response to the Draft Report

Background

In the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (RRA 98), the Congress recognized the need to provide a growing Spanish-speaking population with improved income tax assistance using telephone helplines. This provision of the RRA 98 had an effective date of January 1, 2000.

Accordingly, the IRS established its Multilingual Policy in 1999, with a commitment to ensure that the IRS had the necessary tools to interact with a diverse population regardless of their inability to understand and speak English. In 2000, the United States (U.S.) Census Bureau’s determination that 35.3 million people, or 12.5 percent of the U.S. population, are of Hispanic origin further strengthened the importance of this policy. The IRS has estimated that it expects to receive over 1 million calls from Spanish-speaking taxpayers in 2001.

This audit is one of several designed to evaluate the IRS’ effectiveness in providing customer service on its toll-free telephone system. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) is also conducting audits of the IRS’ toll-free assistance for individual tax law questions during the 2001 Filing Season, the adequacy of the IRS’ toll-free quality and quantity measures, and the management of the toll-free referral process.

Audit work was conducted at the Accounts Management Center in Austin, Texas; and the Customer Service Center telephone call site in San Juan, Puerto Rico; between February and April 2001. In addition, we placed 201 test calls using the Spanish option on the IRS’ General Inquiries helpline. TIGTA auditors fluent in Spanish made the test calls from the Austin, Texas; Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; and Los Angeles, California; metropolitan areas on Friday, February 9, 2001, through Tuesday, February 13, 2001.

The audit was performed in accordance with Government Auditing Standards. However, due to the limited time period used in conducting our toll-free test calls, the results should be viewed only as an indicator of the quality of service being provided to Spanish-speaking taxpayers and not reflective of the entire filing season. Detailed information of our audit objective, scope, and methodology is presented in Appendix I.

Toll-free Telephone Service to Spanish-Speaking Taxpayers Was Significantly Expanded in 2001

The IRS’ General Inquiries helpline provides answers for taxpayers’ procedural, tax law, and notice questions. When taxpayers call the helpline, they are given the option at the beginning of the call to have their questions answered in either English or Spanish.

Telephone assistors for Spanish language helplines are located at 8 Customer Service call sites and provide live assistance 6 days a week from 7:30 a.m. until 11:30 p.m. In addition to live assistance, the IRS provides automated call service, via recorded answers, to frequently asked tax law and refund questions in Spanish 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. In Calendar Year 2000, the IRS answered over 686,000 telephone calls from Spanish-speaking taxpayers. Of these calls, 58,335 related to specific tax law questions.

As of January 2000, the option for Spanish assistance was available only through the General Inquiries helpline. In January 2001, Spanish language assistance was made available on all three of the major IRS toll-free helplines. These helplines included:

• (800) 829-1040 - General Inquiries
  For procedural, tax law, and notice questions.
• (800) 829-8815 - Account Inquiries
  For account, notice, and payment questions.
• (800) 829-4262 - Refund/Earned Income Credit (EIC) Inquiries
  For refund status and denial of EIC questions.

Expanding the Spanish language option to additional helplines has enabled the IRS to provide Spanish-speaking taxpayers with access to more customer services.

The IRS also established a new Spanish language call site in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in January 2001. The new call site is 1 of 8 call sites available and is staffed with over 200 telephone assistors that comprise almost one-half of the bilingual telephone assistors employed.

During the period of January 1 to March 31, 2001, the Puerto Rico call site answered over 133,000 calls from Spanish-speaking taxpayers. This represents 63 percent of the approximately 210,000 calls handled by all bilingual assistors during this period. In addition, the assistors in Puerto Rico answered over 40,000 calls in English.

The Quality of Responses to Taxpayers’ Tax Law Questions Needs Improvement

The IRS has defined quality service as being provided when telephone assistors follow IRS internal procedures and provide taxpayers with correct answers to their questions. It further defined the quality of tax law calls as providing taxpayers with correct and complete tax law information.

To evaluate assistor responses to taxpayer questions, we placed 201 test calls using the Spanish language option on the IRS’ General Inquiries helpline and were able to reach an assistor on 174 (87 percent) of these calls. We defined quality service as being provided when telephone assistors gave accurate and complete answers to our tax law questions. (Answers that met this definition are subsequently referred to as "appropriate" responses).

In each call conducted, auditors asked one of five tax law questions constructed from topics discussed in the "Frequently Asked Questions" section of the IRS’ Internet web site. (The five test questions used are listed in Appendix III.)

Test call results determined that telephone assistors provided appropriate responses to tax law questions for 123 (71 percent) of the 174 test calls conducted. For the 51 inappropriate responses, the assistor:

• Provided an answer but included inaccurate or insufficient information 44 times.
• Avoided a direct answer by referring caller to a publication, worksheet, or Internet site seven times.

For the test questions listed in Appendix III, assistors provided an appropriate response most frequently to question number 5 relating to the EIC. This question was asked 33 times and received 30 appropriate responses. Assistors provided a wrong response most frequently to question number 3 relating to an itemized deduction for child school tuition. This question was asked 36 times and received 25 wrong responses.

Appendix IV shows that 4 of the 5 questions received an appropriate response rate of 70 percent or higher. If question number 3 is excluded from the overall results, the percentage of appropriate responses would have increased from 71 percent to 81 percent. Appendix V shows that the percentage of appropriate responses ranged from a low of 63 percent on Friday to a high of 79 percent on Saturday.

As discussed earlier, the IRS defines quality service as being provided when telephone assistors follow all IRS internal procedures and provide taxpayers with correct answers to their questions. The IRS calculation that factors following internal procedures together with providing a correct answer to taxpayers is referred to as the Quality Rate. Examples of such internal procedures include telephone assistors providing callers with their name and identification number and following certain steps outlined in the IRS’ Probe and Response Guide.

The Probe and Response Guide is important because it provides a framework for assistors to obtain the complete information necessary to answer taxpayers’ questions consistently and correctly. It is designed to be used by assistors when responding to taxpayers with tax law inquiries while on the telephone.

When we analyzed our test calls as to whether telephone assistors followed IRS procedures in addition to providing taxpayers with a correct answer, we found that 68 of 174 test calls met this measure for a calculated Quality Rate of 39 percent. While this percentage was indicative of assistor performance only during our limited test period, it was comparable to the 40 percent Quality Rate determined by the IRS’ Centralized Quality Review Staff in its review of Spanish language calls from January 1 to February 17, 2001.

The Probe and Response Guide is organized by topic and provides prompts for assistors to obtain information necessary to correctly answer taxpayers’ questions. Although, the IRS repeatedly instructs assistors to use this guide during calls, its non-use or incomplete use by assistors was a primary problem cited by quality assurance personnel during their recent review of Spanish language calls.

To get a fresh perspective as to why employees did not always use the Probe and Response Guide, we interviewed 11 newly hired telephone assistors at the Puerto Rico call site. These assistors had recently completed 13 weeks of classroom training and had been answering taxpayer telephone calls for over 12 weeks. Of the 11 assistors we interviewed, 10 held college undergraduate degrees with 2 having advanced degrees.

These assistors, as well as the local call site managers, appeared very enthusiastic about their jobs and quite supportive of the IRS’ efforts to provide and improve the quality of income tax assistance to Spanish-speaking taxpayers. However, during our interviews the assistors expressed the following concerns that they believed hindered the Guide’s usability:

• The text requires a mental translation from English to Spanish while assistors are on the telephone with taxpayers.
• Some of the probes are listed in a sequence that is not conducive to obtaining appropriate information.
• Sections of the text are brief and need supplemental information to make them more complete.

For example, several interviewees commented that the Guide often refers to other information sources, such as IRS tax publications or procedure manuals, but does not include excerpts that could be helpful in providing better and more timely responses to taxpayers.

Recommendation

To enhance the effectiveness of the Probe and Response Guide and to improve the quality of responses to Spanish-speaking taxpayers, the Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should:

1. Evaluate the Probe and Response Guide currently used by bilingual telephone assistors and consider:

• Providing a Spanish version to facilitate its use.
• Sequencing prompts and adding questions to ensure information is logically and efficiently obtained.
• Supplementing sections of the Guide with excerpted information from other sources where needed.

Management’s Response: The IRS responded, "We evaluated the Probe and Response Guide and have initiated a project to develop a Spanish version. The project team has scheduled focus interviews with our bi-lingual CSRs to make the Guide more user-friendly. The project team will consider the report’s recommendations on sequencing prompts, adding questions, and supplementing the Guide with excerpts from other sources."

Detailed Objective, Scope, and Methodology

The overall objective of this review was to determine whether the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has effectively implemented legislative requirements to provide telephone assistance to Spanish-speaking taxpayers. Additionally, we ascertained the level of access and quality of responses being provided to Spanish-speaking taxpayers through toll-free telephone assistance.

1. Identified five individual tax law test questions from topics discussed in the "Frequently Asked Questions" section of the IRS’ Internet web site involving different tax law topics that are relevant to Spanish-speaking taxpayers.
2. Designed a data collection instrument to be used to capture the conversation when conducting the test calls.
3. Completed 174 of 201 test calls placed to the IRS’ General Inquiries helpline using the Spanish language option to determine the quality of responses being provided by IRS assistors on the 5 individual tax law questions. (27 test calls could not be completed because the telephone system indicated that assistors were unavailable).

1. To ascertain the level of toll-free telephone access that the IRS provides to Spanish-speaking taxpayers, we:
1. Determined what toll-free services are being provided to Spanish-speaking taxpayers.
2. Determined how the IRS measures the service it provides to Spanish-speaking taxpayers on its toll-free helplines and what the reported measure of service was during our test period.
3. Determined the resources the IRS provides to give service to Spanish-speaking taxpayers.
2. To ascertain the quality of responses provided to Spanish-speaking taxpayers through toll-free telephone assistance, we:
1. Determined the level of quality review that is being performed on Spanish language calls.
2. Determined the level of training that is provided to Spanish language assistors.
3. Interviewed a sample of 11 out of the 201 bilingual telephone assistors at the IRS’ Customer Service call site in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The interviewees were selected judgmentally base on their length of employment so as to get their opinions on the training they received and the quality of the job aids that are available to them.

Report Distribution List

Commissioner N:C

Deputy Commissioner N:DC

Director, Customer Account Services, Wage and Investment Division W:CAS

Chief Counsel CC

National Taxpayer Advocate TA

Director, Legislative Affairs CL:LA

Director, Office of Program Evaluation and Risk Analysis N:ADC:R:O

Office of Management Controls N:CFO:F:M

Audit Liaisons:

Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division W

Director, Customer Account Services W:CAS

Director, Accounts Management W:CAS:AM

Test Call Questions

We asked the following five questions when calling the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) toll-free telephone helpline and requesting assistance in Spanish. In addition to the questions, the auditors were provided with scripted answers to questions that may have been asked by the assistors.

1. Can I claim my niece as a dependent?

Scenario: Your niece lived with you for eight months. Your niece does not work or have any income of her own. You supported your niece and her son for the last nine months. Your niece is not married. They are both U.S. citizens.

Answer: You can claim your niece as a dependent.

2. My employer sent me a 1099-MISC instead of a W-2. The 1099 shows my wages as non-employee compensation. I was an employee. What do I do?

Scenario: You are a painter. You work for a homebuilder that has hired you to paint new houses that he has built. You provide your own tools and equipment. The builder tells you when and where to work. He also provides the paint. You sometimes take other jobs on the side when the homebuilder has no work available for you, but you don’t advertise your services. The builder pays you $10.50 an hour. The builder does not provide health insurance, a pension plan, vacation pay, or sick pay.

Answer: You are being treated as a self-employed worker, also referred to as an independent contractor.

If you believe you are an employee and not an independent contractor you may request a ruling by filing Form SS-8. You must file your income tax return before a determination can be issued.

To file as a non-employee, you have to report your non-employee compensation on Form 1040, Schedule C, or Form 1040, Schedule C-EZ. You also need to complete Form 1040, Schedule SE, and pay self-employment tax on your net earnings from self-employment of $400 or more.

3. Can I deduct the tuition that I paid for my child’s school?

Scenario: You and your spouse sent your blind child to a special school for the blind in 2000. This was the first year of school for your child. This special school costs you $7,000. Your adjusted gross income for 2000 was $48,645.

Answer: You can deduct the tuition you paid for your child to attend a special school for the blind. This deduction can be taken on the Schedule A as a Medical and Dental Expense. The amount you will be able to deduct is that amount that exceeds 7.5 percent of your Adjusted Gross Income.

4. Do I owe taxes on my social security?

Scenario: You retired last year. You received social security benefits in the amount of $7,000. You also received taxable retirement income of $12,000. The only other income you had is interest income of $1,500. You are single.

Answer: You do not have to pay taxes on your social security benefits.

5. Can my son get the Earned Income Credit (EIC)?

• Intentional disregard of rules and regulations of fraud will result in EIC being disallowed in future years.
• The requirement and disallowance of missing or incorrect social security numbers.

Test Call Results by Question

Test Call Results by Day

Management’s Response to the Draft Report

The response was removed due to its size. To see the response, please go to the Adobe PDF version of the report on the TIGTA Public Web Page.