IRS not compromising on taxpayer customer service

The Internal Revenue Service Center in Austin, TX has created a new system that improves customer service to a special complex class of taxpayers.

IRS "Offers in Compromise" cases involve negotiations and settlements with individuals who are unable to pay their taxes, and must therefore "compromise" with the IRS as to how these taxes will be paid.

Jim Kennedy, Chief of Information Systems for the Austin Service Center, was charged with reducing paper storage requirements, improving customer service by making taxpayer correspondence available to IRS Case Managers, all using existing IT equipment. The result is the Record and Image Processing System (RIPS).

Paper correspondences from the "compromise" taxpayers are scanned, indexed and stored electronically in the system with Eastman Kodak high-speed scanners and Kofax Ascent Capture software. Each document is indexed as part of the taxpayer's complete case, providing IRS Case Manager with access to an entire taxpayer file. Documents in a taxpayer's electronic case file are retrieved and managed using Eastman Software's imaging and workflow for Microsoft Exchange and Windows NT.

Kennedy estimates the first phase of the implementation will eliminate 55 linear feet of five-drawer lateral storage. More taxpayer correspondence will be made available to IRS Case Managers so they can better serve customers. Also, the system takes advantage of the IRS' existing NT infrastructure.

Having recently purchased 130,000 seats of Microsoft Exchange, The IRS is now looking to utilize Exchange and other Microsoft BackOffice components in future application deployments.

"This is a great example of how organizations can efficiently manage large volumes of documentation and improve customer service," said Michael Loria, Eastman Software's VP of worldwide marketing