Measuring the perceived effectiveness of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) direct filing system from the end-user perspective.

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Author
Hall, Margaret Yvonne
Date
1991-03Advisor
Bui, Tung
Second Reader
Kinsey, James
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Although the objectives and potential benefits are clear
for the Internal Revenue Service and some software developers
on promoting Electronic Filing Systems (EFS) , it is not that
obvious for tax preparers and the public at large. As a
consequence, the current rate of EFS usage is still below
expectation. Based on a study on the Measurement of End-User
Computing Satisfaction, an empirical survey was conducted
among the tax preparers community in Central California to
determine factors that could help increase EFS use. Our
findings seem to confirm the results cited in the End-User
Computing literature. Software reliability, flexibility,
efficiency and ease of use, quality of documentation, ability
to make corrections, and timeliness were the most relevant
findings. These factors received high scores from the interviewees. Nevertheless, training appears to be a crucial
factor to convince tax preparers of the reliability of EFS,
and tax preparers should be encouraged to devote more time in
getting acquainted with the documentation provided by the IRS
which was generally perceived as satisfactory. Another
concern in EFS use was cost, although this factor was not
included in the statistical analysis.