Tax Debt Collection
Measuring Taxpayer Opinions Regarding Private Collection Agencies Gao ID: GAO-07-890T May 23, 2007Every year the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) does not collect tens of billions of dollars in delinquent taxes. In 2004, Congress authorized IRS to use private collection agencies (PCA) to help collect some of these debts. To ensure that taxpayers are treated properly and that the program achieves the desired results, IRS contracted with a consulting company to perform a survey of right party contacts--those individuals who confirmed their identity and tax debt to PCAs over the telephone. The consulting company reported overall taxpayer satisfaction ratings from 94 to 96 percent for contacts made from November 2006 through February 2007. At the request of the Chairman, House Committee on Ways and Means, GAO attempted to obtain, for the period September 2006 through February 2007, the number of tax debt cases IRS referred to PCAs, right party contacts who were offered the taxpayer survey, and right party contacts who took the survey. GAO was also asked to report any other key observations related to the PCA program and taxpayer survey. To perform this work, GAO collected information and interviewed officials from IRS, the consulting group that administered the survey, and the PCAs.
According to the PCAs, 37,030 tax debt cases were referred to them by IRS from September 2006 through February 2007. PCAs reported making contact with, and authenticating the identity of, 13,630 right party contacts. Of these, 6,793 were eligible to take the taxpayer survey which did not start until the end of November 2006. According to the consulting company, the validity of the survey was based on the key underlying assumption that all right party contacts would be offered a chance to take the survey. However, GAO could not determine the number of right party contacts offered the survey because not all PCAs kept records on who was offered it. Further, the three PCAs used different methods to determine which right party contacts were offered the survey. The consulting company that administered the survey told GAO that between November 27, 2006, and February 28, 2007, 1,572 of the individuals offered the survey, agreed to take the survey, and 1,011 of these individuals completed the survey. A consulting company representative told GAO that the company was not aware, until several months after the survey was first offered, that the PCAs used differing methodologies for offering the survey and that not all right party contacts were offered an opportunity to complete the survey. According to IRS, beginning in April 2007, PCAs began offering the survey to all right party contacts. Among other key observations, IRS advised GAO that they did not provide the PCAs with taxpayer telephone contact information for referred cases. As a result, in attempting to contact taxpayers by telephone, PCA representatives tried to determine the taxpayers' phone numbers through electronic searches. PCA representatives told GAO that they made a total of 252,173 outbound connected telephone calls from September 2006 through February 2007 in an attempt to make contact with the 37,030 tax debt cases IRS referred. PCAs did not offer the survey to incorrect contacts, such as individuals who provided personal information but were not authenticated as right party contacts.
GAO-07-890T, Tax Debt Collection: Measuring Taxpayer Opinions Regarding Private Collection Agencies
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Testimony:
Before the Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives:
United States Government Accountability Office:
GAO:
For Release on Delivery Expected at 10:00 a.m. EDT:
Wednesday, May 23, 2007:
Tax Debt Collection:
Measuring Taxpayer Opinions Regarding Private Collection Agencies:
Statement of Gregory D. Kutz, Managing Director:
Forensic Audits and Special Investigations:
GAO-07-890T:
GAO Highlights:
Highlights of GAO-07-890T, a testimony before the Committee on Ways and
Means, House of Representatives
Why GAO Did This Study:
Every year the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) does not collect tens of
billions of dollars in delinquent taxes. In 2004, Congress authorized
IRS to use private collection agencies (PCA) to help collect some of
these debts. To ensure that taxpayers are treated properly and that the
program achieves the desired results, IRS contracted with a consulting
company to perform a survey of right party contacts”those individuals
who confirmed their identity and tax debt to PCAs over the telephone.
The consulting company reported overall taxpayer satisfaction ratings
from 94 to 96 percent for contacts made from November 2006 through
February 2007.
At the request of the Chairman, House Committee on Ways and Means, GAO
attempted to obtain, for the period September 2006 through February
2007, the number of tax debt cases IRS referred to PCAs, right party
contacts who were offered the taxpayer survey, and right party contacts
who took the survey. GAO was also asked to report any other key
observations related to the PCA program and taxpayer survey.
To perform this work, GAO collected information and interviewed
officials from IRS, the consulting group that administered the survey,
and the PCAs.
What GAO Found:
According to the PCAs, 37,030 tax debt cases were referred to them by
IRS from September 2006 through February 2007. PCAs reported making
contact with, and authenticating the identity of, 13,630 right party
contacts. Of these, 6,793 were eligible to take the taxpayer survey
which did not start until the end of November 2006. According to the
consulting company, the validity of the survey was based on the key
underlying assumption that all right party contacts would be offered a
chance to take the survey. However, GAO could not determine the number
of right party contacts offered the survey because not all PCAs kept
records on who was offered it. Further, as summarized in the following
table, the three PCAs used different methods to determine which right
party contacts were offered the survey.
Table: PCA Approaches to Survey Methodology, December 2006 through
February 2007:
PCA: Company one;
Number of individuals offered survey: 999;
Survey methodology: Primarily offered survey to all first and third
contacts during specified times of day;
Offered survey to all right party contacts: No;
Records kept: Yes.
PCA: Company two;
Number of individuals offered survey: 1,283;
Survey methodology: Offered to all right party contacts;
Offered survey to all right party contacts: Yes;
Records kept: No.
PCA: Company three;
Number of individuals offered survey: Unknown;
Survey methodology: Offered to all right party contacts with some
exceptions;
Offered survey to all right party contacts: No;
Records kept: No.
Source: GAO and the PCA's.
Note: Right party contacts offered the survey between November 27, 2006
and November 30, 2006 are not included in the figures above.
[End of table]
The consulting company that administered the survey told GAO that
between November 27, 2006, and February 28, 2007, 1,572 of the
individuals offered the survey, agreed to take the survey, and 1,011 of
these individuals completed the survey. A consulting company
representative told GAO that the company was not aware, until several
months after the survey was first offered, that the PCAs used differing
methodologies for offering the survey and that not all right party
contacts were offered an opportunity to complete the survey. According
to IRS, beginning in April 2007, PCAs began offering the survey to all
right party contacts.
Among other key observations, IRS advised GAO that they did not provide
the PCAs with taxpayer telephone contact information for referred
cases. As a result, in attempting to contact taxpayers by telephone,
PCA representatives tried to determine the taxpayers‘ phone numbers
through electronic searches. PCA representatives told GAO that they
made a total of 252,173 outbound connected telephone calls from
September 2006 through February 2007 in an attempt to make contact with
the 37,030 tax debt cases IRS referred. PCAs did not offer the survey
to incorrect contacts, such as individuals who provided personal
information but were not authenticated as right party contacts.
[Hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-890T].
To view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on
the link above. For more information, contact Gregory D. Kutz at (202)
512-7455 or kutzg@gao.gov.
[End of section]
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:
Thank you for the opportunity to discuss issues related to private
collection agencies (PCA). Because the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
does not collect billions of dollars of delinquent taxes each year--at
the end of fiscal year 2005, it estimated that $132 billion in
delinquent debt with some collection potential had gone uncollected--it
supports the use of PCAs to enhance its existing collection mechanisms.
In 2004, Congress authorized IRS to use PCAs to help collect tax debts
in certain cases.[Footnote 1] Based on that authority, in 2006, IRS
contracted with three PCAs as a pilot program.[Footnote 2] Before
referring cases to PCAs, IRS sends notification letters to the
taxpayers explaining that their cases will be handled by a PCA. Once
cases are referred, PCAs must first notify taxpayers of their
collection efforts by letter, and are then allowed to contact the
taxpayers via telephone.[Footnote 3] Individuals who are properly
authenticated over the telephone are known as right party contacts.
According to IRS, in the first 7 months of the pilot program, PCAs
helped IRS collect about $19 million in tax debt from right party
contacts--over $3 million of which was paid to the PCAs under the terms
of their contract. As we have previously reported, in addition to the
collection of tax debt, providing for the proper treatment of taxpayers
is a critical factor in ensuring that the PCA program achieves desired
results.[Footnote 4] In order to measure taxpayer opinion and gauge PCA
performance, IRS contracted with a consulting company to perform a
taxpayer survey of right party contacts. Starting on November 27, 2006,
the consulting company administered an automated telephone survey to
right party contacts transferred to a survey line by the PCAs. Based on
this automated survey, the consulting company reported that taxpayer
satisfaction with PCAs was 94 percent for November/December 2006, 94
percent for January 2007, and 96 percent for February 2007.
Given the importance of ensuring that taxpayers are treated properly,
at your request, we attempted to obtain, for the period September 2006
through February 2007, the number of cases IRS referred to PCAs, right
party contacts who were offered the taxpayer survey, and right party
contacts who took the survey. We were also asked to report any other
key observations related to the PCA program and taxpayer survey.
To perform our work, we collected data and interviewed officials from
IRS, the consulting group that administered the survey, and the three
PCAs. We also reviewed the statement of work for the contract between
IRS and the consulting company, and contract between IRS and the three
PCAs. IRS, PCAs, and the consulting company told us that the data they
provided are accurate. Because we did not independently verify the
data, we cannot offer an opinion on its reliability or accuracy. We did
not attempt to compare the PCA program with other forms of debt
collection or evaluate the performance of the program itself. In
addition, based on our discussions with IRS and the entities involved
in this program, we have included key observations related to the PCA
program and taxpayer survey. These observations illustrate areas of
concern and are not intended to offer a comprehensive analysis of the
PCA program. At your request, we focused our work on the period
September 2006 through February 2007. We conducted our work from April
2007 through May 2007 in accordance with the President's Council on
Integrity and Efficiency's Quality Standards for Investigations.
In summary, we found the following:
* According to the PCAs, 37,030 tax debt cases were referred by IRS
from September 2006 through February 2007. PCAs reported making contact
with, and authenticating the identity of, 13,630 of the individuals
whose cases were referred. Because the taxpayer survey was not offered
until the end of November 2006, 6,793 of these right party contacts
were eligible to take the survey--about 50 percent of all right party
contacts made since September 2006.[Footnote 5]
* According to the consulting company, the validity of the survey was
based on the key underlying assumption that all right party contacts
would be offered a chance to take the survey. However, we could not
obtain the number of right party contacts offered the survey because
not all PCAs kept records on who was offered the survey. Additionally,
the three PCAs used different methods to offer right party contacts the
survey. For example, one PCA told us that the survey was offered to all
right party contacts, unless the PCA representative was aware of
certain limiting circumstances (e.g., the individual was contacted
while driving). Another PCA told us that taxpayers were randomly
selected to take the survey by using a structured method that offered
the survey to every first or third contact during a specified time of
day.
* The consulting company that administered the survey told us that from
November 27, 2006, through February 28, 2007, 1,572 individuals agreed
to take the survey, and 1,011 of these individuals completed the
survey. A consulting company representative told us that the company
was not aware, until several months after the survey was first offered,
that the PCAs used differing methodologies for offering the survey and
that, as a result, not all right party contacts were offered an
opportunity to complete the survey.
* Among other related key observations, we were told that it was IRS
policy to not provide the PCAs with taxpayer telephone contact
information. As a result, in attempting to contact taxpayers by
telephone, PCA representatives tried to determine the taxpayers' phone
numbers through electronic searches. According to the PCAs, their
representatives made a total of 252,173 outbound connected telephone
calls from September 2006 through February 2007 in an attempt to
resolve the 37,030 cases IRS referred.[Footnote 6] Out of these 252,173
calls, PCAs confirmed 13,630 right party contacts.
* The overall satisfaction rating of 94 percent to 96 percent reported
by the consulting company, and quoted by IRS, represents the answer to
1 question on the 20-question automated survey. Of the survey
questions, 15 related to taxpayer satisfaction; the other questions
were to gather more information about the respondents themselves. Those
respondents who completed the entire survey had their results counted
by the consulting company.
Background:
As of December 2004, IRS classified approximately $7.7 billion in
delinquent tax debt as potentially available for private debt
collection--$5.5 billion in low-priority work and $2.2 billion that was
not likely to be assigned to IRS employees for collection. In the
American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, Congress authorized IRS to contract
with private sector debt collection companies to collect federal tax
debts. Based on this authority, IRS awarded contracts in March 2006 to
three PCAs for tax collection services. IRS began referring taxpayer
cases to PCAs in September 2006. Because of legal restrictions, PCAs
can only take certain defined steps to collect tax debts--including
locating taxpayers, requesting full payment of the tax debt or offering
taxpayers installment agreements if full payments cannot be made, and
obtaining financial information from taxpayers. PCAs have limited
authorities and are not allowed to adjust the amount of tax debts or to
use enforcement powers to collect the debts, which IRS believes are
inherently governmental functions to be performed only by IRS
employees. Additionally, PCAs do not actually collect the debts, but
instruct taxpayers to forward payments to IRS. PCAs are paid on a fee-
for-service basis ranging from 21 percent to 24 percent of the debt
collected based on the balance of the account at the time of referral.
IRS only referred those cases in which the taxpayer had not disputed
the debt (e.g., taxpayers who filed form 1040, 1040A, or 1040EZ and owe
a balance) and delinquency exists for one or more tax periods.
Under the IRS policy and procedures guide, PCAs are required, within 10
calendar days of receiving delinquent account information from IRS, to
send a taxpayer notification letter to an address provided by IRS. This
letter states that the taxpayer's account has been placed with an IRS
contractor for collection. According to IRS guidance, no sooner than 2
days after the PCA sends the notification letter, PCA employees may
attempt to contact the taxpayer by telephone. However, to comply with
26 U.S.C. § 6103--which establishes a taxpayer's right to privacy of
tax information--PCA employees must not disclose any tax information
until they are certain the person with whom they are speaking is the
taxpayer. When a PCA employee makes a call to a taxpayer and reaches an
answering machine, the only information the employee may leave on a
recording is his or her name (no pseudonyms), company name, telephone
number, the name of the taxpayer the PCA is attempting to reach, and
the fact that the PCA is calling about a debt (i.e., rather than
specifically a tax debt).
In August 2006, IRS began working with a consulting company to develop
and administer a taxpayer survey for PCA contacts. On November 27,
2006, the consulting company began administering the survey. Under
guidance issued by IRS, PCAs were instructed to invite every right
party contact to take the survey. If the contacts agreed to take the
survey, they were transferred to the automated survey line. For the
first 3 months of survey administration, the consulting company was
required to issue overall satisfaction scores every month, followed by
a quarterly report containing responses to all survey questions with
information subdivided by each PCA.
According to IRS, early in 2007, IRS did not execute the option to
renew one of the PCA contracts. As of the date of this testimony, only
two of the PCAs we reviewed are now under contract with IRS.
PCA Program Data, Survey Data, and Key Related Findings:
According to the PCAs, 37,030 tax debt cases were referred by IRS from
September 2006 through February 2007. In addition, we were informed
that the survey was not offered until November 27, 2006--almost 3 full
months after PCAs began to contact taxpayers. PCAs reported a total
number of 13,630 right party contacts from September 2006 through
February 2007, with 6,793 of these contacts made after the survey was
available.[Footnote 7] Because PCAs began calling taxpayers in
September 2006 before the survey was available, about 50 percent of all
right party contacts identified during the period of our review were
not eligible to take the survey.
According to the consulting company, the validity of the survey was
based on the key underlying assumption that all right party contacts
would be offered a chance to take the survey. Although IRS instructed
the PCAs to offer the survey to all right party contacts, we could not
obtain information on how many of the 6,793 contacts were offered the
survey. One PCA reported that it offered the survey to 999 right party
contacts and made 2,694 right party contacts during this period.
Officials at this PCA told us that from November 27, 2006, through
February 13, 2007, taxpayers were randomly selected to take the survey
using a structured method that offered the survey to every first or
third contact during a specified time of day. The second PCA told us
that it offered the survey to all right party contacts, but it did not
keep any records to substantiate this claim. The third PCA told us that
the survey was offered to all right party contacts, unless the PCA
representative was aware that the contact was driving, if the contact
had stated that he or she needed to get off the phone, or the contact
said he or she was late for something. This PCA also did not have
records regarding how many right party contacts were offered the
survey, but an official noted that they were implementing procedures to
track this information in the future. See table 1 for a summary of the
PCA approaches to offering the survey during the period of our review.
Table 1: PCA Approaches to Survey Methodology, November 2006 through
February 2007:
PCA: Company one;
Number of individuals offered survey: 999;
Survey methodology: Primarily offered survey to all first and third
contacts during specified times of day;
Offered survey to all right party contacts: No;
Records kept: Yes.
PCA: Company two[A]; Number of individuals offered survey: 1,283;
Survey methodology: Offered to all right party contacts;
Offered survey to all right party contacts: Yes;
Records kept: No.
PCA: Company three;
Number of individuals offered survey: Unknown;
Survey methodology: Offered to all right party contacts with some
exceptions;
Offered survey to all right party contacts: No;
Records kept: No.
Sources: GAO and the PCAs.
Note: Right party contacts offered the survey between November 27, 2006
and November 30, 2006 are not included in the figures above.
[A] IRS did not execute the option to renew this PCA's contract early
in 2007.
[End of table]
Beginning in early April 2007, IRS officials reemphasized the need for
PCAs to offer the survey to all right party contacts and to keep
records in this regard. These instructions have been incorporated in
additional guidance for the PCAs.
The consulting company that administered the survey provided us with
records indicating that of those offered the survey, 1,572 right party
contacts agreed to be transferred to the automated survey system from
November 27, 2006, through February 28, 2007. Of these, records further
indicate that 1,011 individuals completed the survey. A consulting
company representative told us that the company was not aware, until
several months after the survey was first offered, that the PCAs had
used differing methodologies for offering the survey and that not all
right party contacts were offered it. Table 2 provides summary
information on the data we gathered from IRS, the PCAs, and the
consulting company.
Table 2: Summary of PCA Work and Consulting Company Survey Work,
September 2006 through February 2007:
Tax debt cases referred to PCAs: Right party contacts;
37,030: 13,630.
Tax debt cases referred to PCAs: * During survey period[A];
37,030: 6,793.
Tax debt cases referred to PCAs: * Offered survey;
37,030: Unknown.
Tax debt cases referred to PCAs: * Agreed to be transferred to survey
line;
37,030: 1,572.
Tax debt cases referred to PCAs: * Completed survey;
37,030: 1,011.
Sources: IRS, the PCAs, and the consulting company.
Note: We did not independently verify the reliability of these data.
[A] The survey period we reviewed was from November 27, 2006, through
February 28, 2007. Data do not include right party contacts made
between November 27, 2006 and November 30, 2006.
[End of table]
We also made several related observations during the course of our
work:
* PCAs were given some information about taxpayers with delinquent
debt, including the taxpayers' name, Social Security numbers, and last
known addresses per IRS records. According to IRS, it did not provide
PCAs with telephone numbers for the taxpayers as a matter of policy. As
a result, in attempting to contact taxpayers by telephone, PCA
representatives tried to determine the taxpayers' phone numbers through
electronic searches, for example, through the Lexis-Nexis database.
PCAs told us that they made a total of 252,173 outbound connected
telephone calls from September 2006 through February 2007 in an attempt
to resolve the 37,030 cases referred by IRS. PCAs indicated that 89,781
calls--or about 36 percent of all connected outbound calls--resulted in
messages left on answering machines, voice mail, or with third parties.
* In an attempt to make contact with the right party, PCAs may have
contacted a substantial number of taxpayers who were not part of the
37,030 cases referred to PCAs by IRS--these taxpayers represent a
potentially large group of incorrect contacts. Incorrect contacts were
not offered the survey. Examples of individuals who were not offered
the survey would include individuals who refused to provide personal
information to the PCAs and individuals who provided personal
information but were not authenticated as part of the 37,030 IRS
referrals.
* The overall satisfaction rating reported by the consulting company,
and quoted by IRS, represents the answer to 1 question on a 20-question
automated survey. The question was "Everything considered, whether you
agree or disagree with the final outcome, rate your overall
satisfaction with the service you received during this call."
Respondents were allowed to rate their satisfaction on a scale of one
to five--with one being "very dissatisfied" and five being "very
satisfied." Of the survey questions, 15 related to customer
satisfaction; the other questions were to gather more information about
the respondents themselves. Those respondents who completed the entire
survey had their results counted by the consulting company.
Satisfaction ratings for other survey questions ranged from 81 percent
(ease of understanding letters received from PCAs) to 98 percent
(courtesy of PCA representatives).
* Officials at IRS and the consulting company confirmed that some right
party contacts were offered (and may have taken) the survey more than
once because they had multiple discussions with a PCA representative.
Thus, some of the 1,011 right party contacts who completed the survey
may represent duplicate respondents.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement. I would be pleased to answer
any questions that you or other members of the Committee may have at
this time.
Contacts and Acknowledgments:
For further information about this testimony, please contact Gregory D.
Kutz at (202) 512-7455 or kutzg@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices
of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last
page of this testimony. Key contributors to this testimony were John
Ryan, Assistant Director; Bruce Causseaux, Jennifer Costello, Heather
Hill, Wilfred Holloway, Jason Kelly, and Andrew McIntosh.
FOOTNOTES
[1] American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, Pub. L. No. 108-357, § 881, 118
Stat. 1418 (codified at 26 U.S.C. 6306) (2004).
[2] Contract in this case refers to task orders issued to the three
PCAs under their existing United States General Services Administration
federal supply schedule contracts.
[3] If an authorized representative is designated on an individual's
tax return, for example, a legal representative, such as a Power of
Attorney, the PCA is required to contact the representative rather than
the individual taxpayer. For the purposes of this report, all
references to taxpayers are defined as either individual taxpayers or
their representatives.
[4] See GAO, Tax Debt Collection: IRS Is Addressing Critical Success
Factors for Contracting Out but Will Need to Study the Best Use of
Resources, GAO-04-492 (Washington, D.C.: May 24, 2004). Also see GAO,
Tax Debt Collection: IRS Needs to Complete Steps to Help Ensure
Contracting Out Achieves Desired Results and Best Use of Federal
Resources, GAO-06-1065 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 29, 2006).
[5] Right party contacts made from November 27, 2006, through November
30, 2006, are not included in this figure, although they would have
been eligible to take the survey.
[6] According to IRS, for all PCAs, the outbound connected call figure
includes any outbound phone call that connects with a person, with the
exception of calls that are answered but immediately disconnected. For
2 PCAs, outbound connects include reaching an electronic answering
device such as an answering machine. The third PCA's predictive dialer
system does not connect identified answering machine calls to
employees. Outbound connects do not include no answers, operator
messages for disconnected numbers, busy signals, fax machine answers,
or calls that do not connect for any other reason.
[7] As indicated previously, right party contacts made from November
27, 2006, through November 30, 2006, are not included in this figure,
although they would have been eligible to take the survey.
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