CS-24-558 IRS Over-the-Phone Interpreter (OPI) Service Customer Satisfaction Survey Supporting Statement

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 1545-1432)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:

IRS Over-the-Phone Interpreter (OPI) Service Customer Satisfaction Survey

PURPOSE:

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) uses a balanced measurement system consisting of business results, taxpayer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction. The use of these balanced organizational performance measures is mandated by the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act (RRA) of 1998. In addition, Executive Order 12862 requires all government agencies to survey their taxpayers and to incorporate taxpayer experience data in process improvement efforts. Furthermore, the enactment of the Taxpayer First Act (P.L. 116-25, Title I, Subtitle B, Section 1101) mandated Treasury to develop a comprehensive customer service strategy.

The IRS Over-the-Phone Interpreter (OPI) Service has been providing language interpretation services for over 20 years bridging language barriers, by bringing a language interpreter on a three-way call between the IRS and limited-English proficient (LEP) taxpayers. This service is available through an awarded contract, and most IRS taxpayer-facing business operating divisions (BODs) and functions have access to this service. Currently, only IRS employees (as the OPI users who demand the service) are able to provide feedback on their experience using this service. This new survey would allow LEP taxpayers the opportunity to provide their feedback on their experience using the IRS OPI Service.

The IRS BODs and functions using the OPI Service use different telephone systems to conference in the language interpreter. Some functions use the toll-free telephone systems, while others use their desk phones, or government-issued cellular phones. Because of this, we are designing a survey that would be available as an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) survey as well as an online fillable survey, which has been drafted to measure taxpayers’ satisfaction with the OPI service they received during a call or a face-to-face contact with the IRS.

The survey is expected to be administered in 2024 to LEP taxpayers. It will be offered in the top 10 OPI demanded languages (Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, Vietnamese, Korean, French, and Somali) as well as English. It will include questions on various aspects of the taxpayer experience with the OPI Service, such as level of satisfaction, technical or connectivity issues they might have faced, and the overall interaction with the language interpreter. The data gathered from this survey will allow the program office to understand taxpayers’ opinions, expectations, and overall satisfaction with the IRS OPI Service, which will allow the OPI Program Office to learn about improvements that can be implemented for this service.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

Limited-English proficient (LEP) taxpayers are defined as individuals who do not speak English as their primary language and who have a limited ability to read, speak, write, or understand English (LEP.gov). These are the individuals who use the IRS OPI Service and are the ones that would be the respondents of this survey. These taxpayers either contact or visit the IRS if they receive a notice or if they have tax law question, or alternatively, these may be contacted by the IRS to follow up on compliance or cases in appeals.

The survey will be provided in two formats: as an IVR survey for those respondents who receive the OPI Service through the IRS toll-free telephone systems, and whose call can be transferred to a telephone-based survey, and an alternate web version, for those respondents who access the OPI service through telephone systems not having the capability to transfer to an IVR application, or those who attend the IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) in person for service. The survey will be offered at the end of the serviced call, and the taxpayer transferred to the IVR survey line, or for those who cannot be transferred to an IVR line, they will be offered a friendly URL to the web version of the survey. For those taxpayers receiving assistance in person, the TAC offices will hand a publication (see attached mock-up) that will contain both the friendly URL and a QR code that will direct the taxpayer to the web version of the survey. Both surveys will have the same questions and they will be available in a total of 11 languages: English, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, Vietnamese, Korean, French, and Somali. These are the top 10 languages serviced with the IRS OPI service, and represent roughly 97% of the calls serviced by the IRS OPI service.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [X] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[ ] Focus Group [ ] Other: _____________________

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name: ___Charlotte Valle_______________________

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ X ] Yes [ ] No

2. If Yes, is the information that will be collected included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ X ] Yes [ ] No

3. If Applicable, has a System or Records Notice been published? [X ] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [X] No

BURDEN HOURS

Based on a sample of potential respondents of 63,000 and an estimated response rate of 2.9% for Spanish language sample and 1.5% for Creole, Mandarin, Arabic, French, Korean, Russian, Portuguese, Vietnamese and Somali language sample, we project a total of 1,665 to complete the survey.

• Time to solicit participants may take up to 1 minute: 63,000 x 1 minute/60 minutes = 1,050 burden hours.

• Participation time is 10 minutes: 1,665 x 10 minutes/60 minutes = 278 burden hours.

The total burden hours for the survey is (1,050 + 278) = 1,328 burden hours

Category of Respondent	Number of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden Hours
Sample recruited to take survey	63,000	1 minute	1,050
Respondent complete part/all of survey	1,665	10 minutes	278
Total Burden			1,328 hours

Estimated Response Rate: 2.9% for Spanish speakers, 1.5% for Creole, Mandarin, Arabic, French, Korean, Russian, Portuguese, Vietnamese and Somali.

Total Burden Estimate: 1,328 hours

FEDERAL COST:

The cost of this survey (with the contractor) is $154,169, considering the initial planning, development of the survey, sampling plan, delivery of the survey, as well as the analysis and delivery of results.

STATISTICAL METHOD:

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe?

[X ] Yes [ ] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

The potential group of respondents is comprised of taxpayers who use the IRS OPI service. These taxpayers are individuals that call the IRS or visit a Taxpayer Assistance Center (TAC) to obtain information on their tax situations or answers to tax law questions. The survey will be offered to 100% of callers, as the call volume is generally low for this service, except during the filing season months, where the call volume increases from an average of 6,000 calls per month to an average of 9,800 calls per month.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[X] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[X] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain – Microsoft TEAMS or ZOOM for sharing visuals.

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ ] Yes [X] No

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

Attachments:

1. OPI Service Customer Satisfaction Survey – IVR Version of the survey

2. OPI Service Customer Satisfaction Survey – Web Version of the survey

3. Mock-up concept of Pub. 5029 (Sample)

4. Sampling plan

Instructions for completing Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback”

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Provide the name of the collection that is the subject of the request. (e.g. Comment card for soliciting feedback on xxxx)

PURPOSE: Provide a brief description of the purpose of this collection and how it will be used. If this is part of a larger study or effort, please include this in your explanation.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Provide a brief description of the targeted group or groups for this collection of information. These groups must have experience with the program.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: Check one box. If you are requesting approval of other instruments under the generic, you must complete a form for each instrument.

CERTIFICATION: Please read the certification carefully. If you incorrectly certify, the collection will be returned as improperly submitted or it will be disapproved.

Personally Identifiable Information: Provide answers to the questions.

Gifts or Payments: If you answer yes to the question, please describe the incentive and provide a justification for the amount.

BURDEN HOURS:

Category of Respondents: Identify who you expect the respondents to be in terms of the following categories: (1) Individuals or Households;(2) Private Sector; (3) State, local, or tribal governments; or (4) Federal Government. Only one type of respondent can be selected.

No. of Respondents: Provide an estimate of the Number of respondents.

Participation Time: Provide an estimate of the amount of time required for a respondent to participate (e.g., fill out a survey or participate in a focus group)

Burden: Provide the Annual burden hours: Multiply the Number of responses and the participation time and divide by 60.

FEDERAL COST: Provide an estimate of the annual cost to the Federal government.

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents. Please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them. If the answer is yes, to the first question, you may provide the sampling plan in an attachment.

Administration of the Instrument: Identify how the information will be collected. More than one box may be checked. Indicate whether there will be interviewers (e.g., for surveys) or facilitators (e.g., for focus groups) used.

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