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

Abstract

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.