IRS Tax Collection Reengineering

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) efforts to reengineer its delinquent tax collection process and its enforcement action program. GAO noted that: (1) in November 1995, IRS decided to suspend its reengineering efforts due to fiscal year 1996 budgetary constraints; (2) an independent consultant's report identified several reasons why IRS reengineering efforts were being hampered; (3) IRS did not have the organizational commitment and support needed to achieve the level of change desired, fully implement the reengineering methodology needed, or integrate its reengineering efforts with existing tax systems modernization programs; (4) in October 1995, IRS established a separate office to coordinate all future strategic changes and reengineering initiatives, but there is not sufficient data to evaluate IRS attempts to initiate a new reengineering project focusing on the tax settlement process; (5) IRS has undertaken several initiatives to redesign the role of revenue officers in the collection process by implementing an integrated collection system to improve productivity; and (6) IRS plans to prototype the proposed occupation redesign in several revenue officer groups in 1997.