House Panel Probes IRS on Postcard-Size 1040's Usability

Neal and Lewis want to "better understand the full extent of any due diligence done on the usability of the postcard by taxpayers," specifically by third parties.

Olsen's Feb. 12 report to Congress stated that "the new schedules will force some taxpayers to cross-reference and transfer data such as credits, deductions and income increasing the potential for errors to occur since the tax information is dispersed over many pages and needs to be tracked down and reported in different schedules and forms."

The lawmakers want information from the IRS by Wednesday on the following: • Verbatim copies of notes taken by outside observers who watched taxpayers work through the new forms; • The written description of all findings or results given to the IRS by a third party with respect to the usability of the forms; • A description of what was done with the findings or results upon receipt; and • An explanation for why any and all third-party results were not shared with the public.

— Check out Postcard Premiere of IRS Form 1040: Bloink & Byrnes Go Thumb to Thumb on ThinkAdvisor.