PCG NEWS
Boosting Electronic Filing of Tax Returns
Palo Alto, CA—February 2009—Electronic filing of individual tax returns is on the rise. In 1998, Congress set an ambitious goal for the Internal Revenue Service—that 80% of all individual returns should be filed electronically by 2008. There are good reasons for e-filing, such as getting refunds faster, and the number of taxpayers switching from paper to e-filing reflected such advantages by rising steadily during this decade—to an all-time high of 60% in 2008. But the rate of increase has slowed markedly in the past couple of years. Congress has reiterated the 80% goal but given the IRS until 2014 to make it happen.
That will require some new strategies. In collaboration with the IRS and the MITRE Corporation, Pacific Consulting Group (PCG) is helping to identify which of a series of proposed new strategies are most likely to attract at least half of the 40% of individual taxpayers who still file their federal returns by paper. PCG is developing an interactive model to test the impact of various strategies based on a survey employing choice-based conjoint analysis—the most powerful and commonly used research methodology among competitive private sector companies due to its realistic portrayal of decisions consumers make among competing alternatives in the marketplace. In this instance, one of a growing number of applications of conjoint analysis in the public sector, the filing choices are paper or electronic. Paper is the “incumbent” and like so many choice situations, the habit of past experience exerts a powerful force on those whose behavior the IRS is seeking to change.
PCG is working with Knowledge Networks, whose online panel incorporates not only those who routinely communicate online but those who do not (via a laptop computer provided for those panelists without their own computers), and with VMN group, a company PCG has collaborated with in the past, to produce fast, powerful, and user-friendly decision support models. The combined team will be able to tell the IRS which strategies they should actively pursue. Is it new incentives? Easier ways to e-file? Better marketing communications techniques? Or is it all of these taken in some combination?
How do you file your federal tax return? You may be called as part of this research project!
About Pacific Consulting Group
Pacific Consulting Group (PCG) is a management consulting firm specializing in helping organizations improve their customers' and employees' experience and satisfaction. PCG's flagship service is the proprietary Net Impression® process, which integrates measurement and action into a strategic approach that perpetuates change. PCG's services include designing customer/employee assessment strategies, conducting qualitative research, designing and administering surveys, analyzing and prioritizing improvement targets, and action planning to turn market research into successful innovations that improve the customer/employee experience and business results.