CS-17-483 SSA ID Proofing Pilot

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

Information Collection (ICR) Approval Request to Conduct Customer Satisfaction Research (OMB #1545-1432)

Title: 2017 SSA ID Proofing Pilot Survey

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) enlists a balanced measurement system consisting of business results, customer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction. This initiative is part of the Service-wide effort to maintain a system of balanced organizational performance measures mandated by the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act (RRA) of 1998. This is also a result of Executive Order 12862 that requires all government agencies to survey their customers.

Due to reduced resources and increased traffic through IRS channels, the IRS and Social Security Administration (SSA) are conducting a pilot to provide Identity (ID) Proofing for taxpayers potentially affected by identity theft at three or four SSA offices nationwide. The pilot will be limited to taxpayers who must authenticate their identities and validate their returns in-person in one of the IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TAC). The pilot will rely heavily on Accounts Management’s (AM) Customer Service Representatives (CSR) to determine participants’ eligibility and interact with SSA. SSA will integrate these taxpayers into their normal business process then transfer the data gathered during their authentication process to IRS. To ensure this new service strategy is meeting the needs of customers who must authenticate in person, a survey will be conducted with taxpayers who are eligible to participate in the pilot.

2. Purpose and Use of the Information Collection

The SSA ID Proofing point of service survey will measure taxpayers’ satisfaction with the ID proofing process, the convenience of leveraging SSA offices, and issue resolution. This information will be used to ensure that the SSA ID Proofing Pilot is meeting the needs of taxpayers who are eligible for the service. Information collected from the point of service customer satisfaction survey will be used to provide meaningful feedback to managers and staff for Field Assistance (FA). This survey will assist in assessing overall customer satisfaction and overall quality for balanced measures.

3. Consideration Given to Information Technology

The SSA ID Proofing point of service survey is a paper survey and will be offered to taxpayers at the conclusion of their SSA appointment.

4. Efforts Not to Duplicate Research

This survey will provide valuable information that is not available in any internal IRS data source. This is the only survey currently proposed for taxpayers who are selected for the pilot.

5. Reducing the Burden on Small Entities

No small entities are involved in this study.

6. Consequences of Not Conducting Collection

FA would be unable to meet corporate goals and would fall short of meeting the IRS Mission of a Balanced Measurement System. Failure to approve this program of research would adversely affect the ability to compare results and determine where customer satisfaction improvements are needed.

7. Special Circumstances

There are no special circumstances.

8. Consultations with Persons outside the Agency

No consultation with persons outside of the Agency.

9. Payment of Gift

There will be no payments for participants of the survey that takes less than 5 minutes.

10. Confidentiality

All participants will be subject to the provisions of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights II during this study and the vendor will ensure that all participants are treated fairly and appropriately.

The security of the data used in this project and the privacy to the extent allowed by law of taxpayers will be carefully safeguarded at all times. Security requirements are based on the Computer Security Act of 1987 and Office of Management and Budget Circular A-130, Appendices A & B. Physical security measures include a locked, secure office. Notes are stored in locked cabinets or shredded. Data security at the C-2 level is accomplished via the Windows NT operating system. Systems are password protected, users profiled for authorized use, and individual audit trails generated and reviewed periodically.

The IRS will apply and meet fair information and record-keeping practices to ensure privacy protection of all taxpayers to the extent allowed by law. This includes criteria for disclosure—laid out in the Privacy Act of 1974, the Freedom of Information Act, and Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code—all of which provide for the protection of taxpayer information as well as its release to authorized recipients.

Participants will not be identified in any of the documents or files used for this project. We will limit and control the amount of information we collect to those items that are necessary to accomplish the research questions. We will carefully safeguard the security of data utilized as well as the privacy to the extent allowed by law of the survey respondents. We will apply the fair information and record-keeping practices to ensure protection of all survey respondents. The criterion for disclosure laid out in the Privacy Act, the Freedom of Information Act, and section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code provides for the protection of information as well as its releases to authorized recipients.

11. Sensitive Nature

No questions will be asked that are of a personal or sensitive nature.

12. Burden of Information Collection

The SSA ID Proofing Pilot survey has total annual burden estimated at 92 hours. The estimated time to complete the survey is five minutes and a 25 percent response rate is assumed. We expect to invite 3,500 potential participants (20 second recruitment) of which 875 taxpayers (participate in a 5 minute survey) are expected to respond to the survey. The contact time to determine non-participation is included in the 20 second recruitment.

Point of Service Survey Estimate
Point of Service Survey	Participation	Time (minutes per person)	Total Burden (in hours)
Potential Respondents (invited)	3,500	20 seconds	19
Survey Respondents	875	5 minutes	73
Total Annual Estimate			92

13. Costs to Respondents

There is no cost to respondents resulting from the collection of information.

14. Costs to Federal Government

$1500 for printing and shipping

15. Reason for Change

This is a new survey.

16. Tabulation of Results, Schedule, and Analysis Plans

Research will use the results of the point of service survey to present customer satisfaction, issue resolution, key themes, areas of taxpayer interest, suggestions for improvement, and proposed changes to the SSA ID Proofing Pilot at the completion of data collection.

17. Display of OMB Approval Date

IRS is seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval, as this is a one-time, limited-duration collection.

18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

These activities comply with the requirements in 5 CFR 1320.9.

19. Dates collection will begin and end

May 1, 2017 through December 31, 2017

B. STATISTICAL METHODS

The primary purpose of these collections will be for internal management purposes; there are no plans to publish or otherwise release this information.

1. Universe and Respondent Selection

The sampling frame consists of all taxpayers who receive an appointment at a SSA partner location to resolve identity issues.

2. Procedures for Collecting Information

Customers who have an appointment at a SSA site will be offered to complete the paper point of service survey after their SSA interaction. The SSA representative will invite taxpayers using the following script. Script: You have been selected for an anonymous IRS improvement survey. It will take under five minutes to complete. Would you like to participate in this voluntary survey?

3. Methods to Maximize Response

The SSA ID point of service survey will be offered as a paper survey to taxpayers who visit an SSA location for service. This survey will inform taxpayers that their participation will help the IRS improve its services.

4. Testing of Procedures

The surveys are designed based on established and tested customer satisfaction survey instruments.

5. Contacts for Statistical Aspects and Data Collection

For questions regarding the study or questionnaire design or statistical methodology, contact:

Tiffanie Reker

Wage and Investment, Strategies and Solutions, Research Group 1

Social Scientist

401 W Peachtree Street

Atlanta, GA 30308

470-639-3116

Tiffanie.n.reker@irs.gov

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