The IRS Strategic Plan, within its mission and goals, includes the foundation for incorporation of taxpayer burden reduction and burden mitigation considerations for all Service employees whose work impacts taxpayers. Initiatives to improve the taxpayer experience through Taxpayer Burden Reduction (TBR) supports IRS Strategic Goal 1, Deliver high quality and timely service to reduce taxpayer burden and encourage voluntary compliance.

The Office of Taxpayer Burden Reduction (OTBR) was established in January 2002 as part of a taxpayer burden reduction strategy. Over time, the responsibility for improving the taxpayer experience has evolved consistently with comprehensive cultural shifts within the IRS and improvements in service performance. The mission to reduce taxpayer burden and improve the taxpayer experience is embedded in the IRS culture and is the responsibility of all functions. With this shift, the need for a separate office diminished. The current structure, with a Senior Advisor champion, provides a link across the enterprise to ensure burden reduction continues to be a priority and is incorporated within decision-making frameworks. In addition, the Senior Advisor acts as an advocate and liaison with external stakeholders.

Additional information about Servicewide efforts to improve the taxpayer experience through Taxpayer Burden Reduction efforts can be found on IRS.gov: http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/About-Taxpayer-Burden-Reduction and IRWeb: http://sbseservicewide.web.irs.gov/tbr/default.aspx.

The ability to demonstrate the results of taxpayer experience improvements through burden reduction initiatives, using a reliable measurement system, is important for the IRS. Taxpayer burden is defined as the time or money expended by taxpayers to fulfill their tax compliance responsibilities. The IRS employs Taxpayer Burden Models to estimate taxpayer compliance burden. The models are also used to estimate the burden impact of passed and proposed legislative, policy and administrative changes, as well as to prioritize burden reduction proposals based on potential reduction in burden hours and out-of-pocket costs. Out-of-pocket costs include the cost of tax preparation software and assistance and other costs such as postage. The latter measure is especially significant because most taxpayers use some form of tax preparer or software assistance in preparing their federal income tax returns.

Efficiency and effectiveness may be used as a secondary measure to gauge the impact of burden reduction initiatives. This measure focuses on IRS cost savings, including staff costs, and reflects the savings realized by the elimination of "downstream" work, such as data entry, adjustments, notices/correspondence and compliance activities. Often these resources can be redirected to more productive efforts.

In keeping with a balanced measures approach, taxpayer burden reduction is not considered in isolation. It is viewed as a component of customer service/satisfaction and is balanced with compliance. By weighing these two components and the number of taxpayers impacted, the IRS can ensure that unnecessary taxpayer burden is addressed and that tax compliance is not jeopardized.

Taxpayer Burden measures and risk analyses come in both formal and informal formats based on the organization, function, or employees performing the evaluation.

General guiding principles and items employees should consider when assessing burden include:

The impact to taxpayer burden should be included in any business case when considering whether to implement a new process or change an old process. The business case analysis should include the following information:

Additional information on taxpayer burden, including burden risk evaluation tools, can be found at the Taxpayer Burden Reduction IRWeb page: http://sbseservicewide.web.irs.gov/tbr/default.aspx.

Taxpayer Burden Reduction Initiatives should address administrative, regulatory, process or systemic issues that have significant impact on taxpayer burden, which may include a relatively small change on a per-taxpayer basis if it benefits a large number of taxpayers.

Employees may make taxpayer burden reduction recommendations through the Employee Suggestion Program or by using Form 13285, Catalog Number 34279X, Taxpayer Burden Reduction Referral. When completing the form, employees should provide as much information as possible; however, leave the tracking number block blank. The form is available on the Forms/Pubs/Docs section of the IRS Intranet.

Taxpayer Burden Reduction initiative ideas from all Operating Divisions and functions should be routed through their management channels to their Taxpayer Burden Reduction point of contact or as instructed by their Operating Division . Alternatively, Taxpayer Burden Reduction ideas may be routed directly as indicated on the Form 13285.

An external form for the use of taxpayers and stakeholders, Form 13285-A, Reducing Tax Burden on America's Taxpayers, is also available on the Forms/Pubs/Docs section of the IRS Intranet and on IRS.gov.

All initiative ideas will be forwarded to the appropriate business owner for consideration. The business owner will coordinate with all internal and external stakeholders to ensure that other program areas and interests are not negatively impacted. The IRS Senior Advisor may facilitate this coordination as necessary. Initiatives will be undertaken based on the cost benefit-type analysis approach referenced in the Measuring Taxpayer Burden section.

Form 14411, Systemic Advocacy Issue Submission Form should be used to submit issues to the Taxpayer Advocate Service to identify potential advocacy issues.