Data Used to Report Toll-Free Telephone Quality Are Reliable, but Internal Controls Need to Be Documented, July 21, 2006 – Reference Number 2006-40-107 (26 pages, PDF): “Each year, millions of customers call the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) toll-free telephone lines seeking assistance in understanding the tax law and meeting their tax obligations. Toll-free telephone assistors provided over 26 million tax account and 5 million tax law services[1] during Fiscal Year 2005. Because of the complexity of the tax law and the need to serve millions of customers with tax questions, the IRS divides the types of questions commonly asked into categories called “applications.” Each application is staffed with a group of assistors that have received specialized training to assist customers with specific tax issues. To ensure assistors provide top-quality service, the IRS subjects all telephone assistor contacts to numerous levels of review. Quality reviews are used to measure employee, operational, and organizational performance to identify trends, problem areas, training needs, and opportunities for process improvements.”