Taxpayer First Act - Taxpayer Experience

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Comprehensive customer service strategy (Section 1101)

The Act requires the IRS to develop a thorough strategy for customer service. The IRS needs to submit the plan to Congress. The plan, updated guidance and training materials must also be available to the public.

The strategy will include best practices of customer service provided in the private sector, including, online services, telephone call back, and training of employees. The strategy must incorporate best practices of businesses to meet reasonable customer expectations.

The Taxpayer Experience Strategy focuses on creating a proactive, convenient, seamless, personalized and effective interaction for taxpayers.

The taxpayer experience has been reimagined based on the following six pillars, which represent the long-term goals we hope to achieve over the next 10 years:

  • Expanded Digital Services: IRS aims to provide an improved experience through self-service digital channels by building upon existing online accounts and introducing online accounts for tax professionals and business taxpayers.
  • Seamless Experience: IRS aims to guide taxpayers to the resources and communication channels that will resolve their issues.
  • Proactive Outreach and Education: IRS aims to educate the taxpayer community by proactively providing information in the language, timing, and method taxpayers need or prefer.
  • Community of Partners: IRS aims to establish, shepherd, and facilitate a collaborative and interactive network of partnerships across the entire tax ecosystem and bring together existing efforts.
  • Focused Strategies for Reaching Underserved Communities: IRS aims to establish a consolidated program to engage with historically underserved communities to address issues of communication, education, transparency, trust, and of the limited access to quality products and services.
  • Enterprise Data Management and Advanced Analytics: IRS aims to develop an Enterprise Data Management strategy that includes a cross-enterprise understanding of the customer experience, emerging needs and expectations, and operational data. The strategy will rely on a central repository of data from IRS systems that can be used to create reports to enable more informed decisions.

Read the Taxpayer Experience Strategy in the TFA Report to Congress PDF.

Feedback?

Do you have feedback you’d like to share as we continue to implement the Taxpayer First Act? Please send it to TFAO@irs.gov.

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