Measuring the Quality of Service to Taxpayers in Volunteer Sites

• Activity Number: 542
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Thursday, August 2, 2007 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Government Statistics
• Author(s): Kevin Cecco*+ and Ronald Walsh and Rachael Hooker
• Companies: Internal Revenue Service and Internal Revenue Service and Internal Revenue Service
• Keywords: quality of service ; Hansen-Hurwitz estimator ; statistical consulting

Abstract

There are nearly 12,000 locations nationwide where low-income, elderly, and military taxpayers can receive assistance in satisfying their tax responsibilities from non-Internal Revenue Service (IRS) volunteers. The Stakeholder Partnerships, Education and Communication (SPEC) organization of the IRS is responsible for building and maintaining partnerships with the stakeholders in local communities who oversee these locations. A key to maintaining these relationships is SPEC's ability to measure the overall quality of service provided by the volunteers who staff these locations. The Statistics of Income (SOI) Division of the IRS provides general statistical consulting services to various internal IRS customers. This paper will detail SOI's attempt to find a viable solution to SPEC's quality needs while balancing logistical issues, available resources, and customer expectations.