11th Annual IRS-TPC joint research conference on tax administration

The 2021 IRS Research Bulletin (Publication 1500) PDF features selected papers from the IRS-Tax Policy Center (TPC) Research Conference held remotely, on June 24, 2021. Conference presenters and attendees included researchers from many areas of the IRS, officials from other government agencies, and academic and private sector experts on tax policy, tax administration, and tax compliance.


9 a.m. - 9:40 a.m. — Opening

Eric Toder (Codirector, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center)

Barry Johnson (Acting Chief Analytics Officer, IRS, RAAS)

Charles Rettig (Commissioner of Internal Revenue)

9:40 a.m. - 11:10 a.m. — Session 1: Improving individual taxpayer compliance

Moderator: Robert McClelland (Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center)

  • Audit Contagion? Investigating the General Indirect Effect of Audits Through Tax Preparer Networks
    Ellen Badgley, Kyle Furlong, Lucia Lykke, Abby Ng, and Leigh Nicholl (MITRE); Alan Plumley (IRS, RAAS)
  • Do Collateral Sanctions Work? Evidence from the IRS’ Passport Certification and Revocation Process
    Paul R. Organ and Joel Slemrod (Univ. of Michigan); Alex Ruda and Alex Turk (IRS, RAAS)
  • EITC Noncompliance: Examining the Roles of the Dynamics of EITC Claims and Paid Preparer Use
    Emily Y. Lin, Ankur Patel, and Alexander Yuskavage (Office of Tax Analysis, U.S. Department of the Treasury)

Discussant: Tatiana Homonoff (New York University)

11:10 a.m. - 12:20 p.m.  — Session 2: Impacts of variations in process

Moderator: Mary-Helen Risler (IRS, RAAS)

  • Sales Tax Administration and the Real Economy
    Roger M. White (Arizona State University)
  • Using Discrete Event Simulations to Understand the Impact of Changes to IRS Processes
    Deandra Reinhart, Rafael Dacal, and Ariel Wooten (IRS, SB/SE); Jonathan Curtiss (MITRE)
  • Effects of Post-filing Adjustments on Statistics of Income (SOI) EstimatesDerrick Dennis, Jennifer Ferris, Chloe Gagin, Tuba Ozer-Gurbuz, Julia Shiller, and Christopher Williams (IRS, SOI)

Discussant:  Jennifer Stratton (U.S. Government Accountability Office)

12:20 p.m. - 12:30 p.m. — Break

12:30 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. — Keynote Speaker

Mark Mazur (Acting Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, US Department of the Treasury)

1:15 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. — Session 3: Developments in technology and analytics

Moderator:  Terry Ashley (IRS, Taxpayer Advocate Service) 

  • New Approaches to Estimating the Extent of Nonfiling
    Tom Hertz, Pat Langetieg, Mark Payne, and Alan Plumley (IRS, RAAS); Maggie R. Jones (U.S. Census Bureau)
  • Using Uplift Modeling to Improve ACS Case Selection and Compliance Outcomes
    Jan Millard (IRS, RAAS); Michael Stavrianos, Sarah Smolenski, Lauren Szczerbinski, and Travis Whitfield (ASR Analytics)
  • Recent IRS Discriminant Function (DIF) Model Improvements  
    Getaneh Yismaw, Taukir Hussain, Drew Johns, Jon Creem, and Mary-Helen Risler (IRS, RAAS)

Discussant:  Brian Erard (Brian Erard & Associates)

2:45 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. — Session 4: Enhancing taxpayer customer experience

Moderator:  Christine Oehlert (IRS, RAAS)

  • Increasing Take-up of the American Opportunity Tax Credit
    Crystal Hall (University of Washington), Anne Herlache (IRS, RAAS), and Mary Clair Turner (U.S. General Services Administration)
  • Customer Experience for Small Business and Self-Employed Taxpayers
    Kahoa Bonhomme, Kathleen Holland, and Janice Hu (IRS, SB/SE)
  • Are Annual Federal Employment Tax Returns Effective? An Economic Analysis of Filing, Reporting, and Payment Compliance Associated with Forms 943 and 944
    Yan Sun and Stephanie Needham (IRS, RAAS)

Discussant:  Jacob Goldin (Stanford Law School)

4:15 p.m. - 4:20 p.m. — Wrap-up

Eric Toder (Codirector, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center)

 

* Bolded names indicate presenters

Links to other conferences and resources: