Participation and error rates of the Internal Revenue Service Electronic Filing System : empirical evidence and implementation lessons.

98 Pages·1.5 MB·en_US

by  Elliott, Carol P.;Bui, Tung X.

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NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL
Monterey, California
THESIS
PARTICIPATION AND ERROR RATES OFTHE INTERNAL
REVENUE SERVICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM:
EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE AND IMPLEMENTATION LESSONS
by
Carol P. Elliott
March 1991
Thesis Advisor: Tung X. Bui
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited
T254695

REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE
1a REPORTSECURITYCLASSIFICATION 1b RESTRICTIVE MARKINGS
UNCLASSIFIED
2a SECURITYCLASSIFICATIONAUTHORITY 3 DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITYOF REPORT
Approvedfor publicrelease;distributionisunlimited.
2b DECLASSIFICATION/DOWNGRADINGSCHEDULE
4 PERFORMINGORGANIZATIONREPORTNUMBER(S) 5 MONITORINGORGANIZATIONREPORTNUMBER(S)
6a NAMEOFPERFORMINGORGANIZATION 6b OFFICE SYMBOL 7a NAMEOF MONITORINGORGANIZATION
NavalPostgraduateSchool (Ifapplicable) Naval PostgraduateSchool
37
6c ADDRESS(City,State,andZIPCode) 7b ADDRESS(City,State,andZIPCode)
Monterey,CA 93943-5000 Monterey,CA 93943-5000
8a NAMEOFFUNDING/SPONSORING 8b OFFICESYMBOL 9 PROCUREMENTINSTRUMENTIDENTIFICATION NUMBER
ORGANIZATION (Ifapplicable)
8c ADDRESS(City,State,andZIPCode) 10 SOURCEOFFUNDINGNUMBERS
ProgramElementNo ProjectNo WorkUnitAccession
Number
11 TITLE(IncludeSecurityClassification)
PARTICIPATIONAND ERRORRATESOFTHEINTERNALREVENUESERVICEELECTRONICFILINGSYSTEM: EMPIRICAL
EVIDENCEANDIMPLEMENTATION LESSONS
12 PERSONALAUTHOR(S) Elliott,CarolP.
13a TYPEOFREPORT 13b TIMECOVERED 14 DATEOFREPORT(year,month,day) 15.PAGECOUNT
Master'sThesis From To March 1991 87
16.SUPPLEMENTARYNOTATION
TheviewsexpressedinthisthesisarethoseoftheauthoranddonotreflecttheofficialpolicyorpositionoftheDepartmentofDefenseortheU.S.
Government.
17 COSATICODES 18 SUBJECTTERMS(continueonreverseifnecessaryandidentifybyblocknumber)
FIELD GROUP SUBGROUP End-UserComputing,ElectronicFilingSystem,InformationSystems,Implementationof
InformationSystems
19 ABSTRACT(continueonreverseifnecessaryandidentifybyblocknumber)
TheprocessofcollectingrevenuehasbecomeincreasinglycostlyfortheInternalRevenueService(ISR)intermsofrequirementsforstoragespace
andcomplexityandtimeinvolvedinconvertingpaperreturnsintomachinereadableform. Toalleviatetheseproblems,theIRSproposedand
developedtheElectronicFilingSystem(EFS)whichprovidestaxpayerstheoptionoffilingtax returnselectronically. Thisstudyconsistsofatwo
yearfieldstudyoftheEFSintheIRSSanJoseDistrictwithrespecttothereasonsforsuccessorfailureoftheimplementationofcomputer
systems,withparticularemphasisontheparticipationrateandtheerrorrate. Thestudyincludesastatisticalanalysisofresponsestotwo
surveysdistributedbytheSanJoseDistrictEFSOfficetodeterminewhetherthereissignificantevidencetoindicatereasonswhysomeusers
havehighererrorratesthanothers. Acasestudyapproachisused,inconjunctionwithavailableliterature,todeterminefactorswhichinfluence
theeffectiveimplementationofaninformationsystemandencourageuseofthesystem.
20QDISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITYOFABSTRACT 21 ABSTRACTSECURITYCLASSIFICATION
UNCLASSIFIED/UNLIMITtD II SAMtASREPORT ] DTICUSERS Unclassified
22a NAMEOFRESPONSIBLE INDIVIDUAL 22b TELEPHONE (IncludeAreacode) 22c OFFICE SYMBOL
TungX.Bui [phone] AS-BD
DD FORM 1473.84 MAR 83APReditionmaybeuseduntilexhausted SECURITYCLASSIFICATIONOF THIS PAGE
Allothereditionsareobsolete Unclassified
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Participation and Error Ratesofthe
Internal Revenue Service Electronic Filing System:
Empirical Evidence and Implementation Lessons
by
Carol P. Elliott
Lieutenant, United States Navy
B.A., Goucher College, 1971
Submitted in partial fulfillment
ofthe requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS
from the
NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL
March 1991
n
ABSTRACT
The process of collecting revenue has become increasingly costly for the
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in terms ofrequirements for storage space and the
complexity and time involved in converting paper returns into machine readable
form. To alleviate these problems, the IRS proposed and developed the Electronic
Filing System (EFS) which provides taxpayers the option of filing tax returns
electronically. This study consists of a two year field study of the EFS in the San
Jose District with respect to the reasons for success or failure of the
implementation of computer systems, with particular emphasis on the
participation rate and the error rate. The study includes a statistical analysis of
responses to two surveys distributed by the San Jose District EFS Office to
determine whether there is significantevidence to indicate reasons why some users
have higher error rates than others. A case study approach is used, in conjunction
with available literature, to determine factors which influence the effective
implementation ofan information system and encourage use ofthe system.
in
CI
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
I. 1
BACKGROUND
A.
1
B. OBJECTIVES AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1
SCOPE
C. 2
METHODOLOGY
D. 2
ORGANIZATION OF STUDY
E. 3
LITERATURE REVIEW 4
II.
A. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE 4
B. IMPLEMENTATION LITERATURE 5
1. Lewin-Schein and Kolb-Frohman Models 5
2. Factors Affecting Implementation 6
3. User Participation and Attitude 7
4. Implementation Process 7
END-USER COMPUTING LITERATURE
C. 8
1. Definitions of End-Users 9
IV