2011 tax filing

The tax filing season is an enormousundertaking in which the InternalRevenue Service (IRS) processesmillions of tax returns, issues billions ofdollars in refunds to taxpayers, corrects taxpayers errors, andprovides service to millions oftaxpayers through telephones, website, and face-to-face assistance. Amongother things, GAO was asked toassess (1) IRSs performanceprocessing returns and issuingrefunds, and providing telephoneassistance, and (2) IRSs plans toexpand self-service options on itswebsite. To conduct the analyses, GAO obtained and compared datafrom 2007 through 2011, reviewed IRSdocuments, interviewed IRS officials, observed IRS operations, andinterviewed tax-industry experts, including from tax preparation f