Product details

This internal operations case provides a rare look into the Internal Revenue Service. It focuses on the agency''s struggle to deal with a major category of those who fail to comply with US tax laws: individuals who simply do not file a tax return (estimated in 1999 to number some 11 million). The case describes the challenge facing career IRS official Joel Goverman who, in May 1999, was given the task of reducing nonfiling, a phenomenon which had more than doubled since 1988 despite a series of IRS attempts to reduce it. The case raises a series of difficult operations issues. How can an agency deal with a form of non- compliance which does not fall within the purview of existing divisions established to deal with errors and fraud? How can the goal of "customer service" fit with the need to force compliance? How can the IRS organizational structure and authority be adapted to reduce nonfiling? This case frames Goverman''s decision both by describing the scope of the nonfiler problem and through a history and description of the IRS. It will be of use to those interested in operations questions, as well as those interested in the methods and problems of the IRS itself.