Tax Administration
IRS Needs to Improve Distribution of Tax Materials to the Public Gao ID: GGD-90-34 January 10, 1990Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO assessed the availability of tax materials at Internal Revenue Service (IRS) distribution centers and walk-in offices during the 1989 tax filing season.
GAO found that: (1) 18 of 24 walk-in sites monitored early in the filing season were missing an average of 15 percent of 79 IRS-required forms and publications and an average of 22 percent of a sample of option items; (2) only 4 of 36 sites monitored later in the filing season were missing at least 10 percent of the forms and publications; (3) sites most frequently lacked materials regarding the supplemental Medicare premium, and tax rules for children and dependents, pension and annuity income, and individual retirement arrangements; (4) distribution centers' failure to make timely, complete initial shipments of materials to sites, printer delays, and sites' inadequate inventory management were primarily responsible for the unavailability of materials; and (5) less than 50 percent of site inventory control personnel received IRS inventory management training, and trained personnel did not always follow the procedures. GAO also found that the three IRS distribution centers: (1) sent it 80 percent of the 2,206 forms and publications it requested through 223 mail and telephone orders; (2) generally did not provide the required explanation for unfilled orders; (3) supplied inaccurate explanations for unfilled orders; and (4) attributed order processing problems to processing errors, lost orders, and the order composition.
RecommendationsOur recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.
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