"With the tax filing deadline right around the corner, I'm disturbed by the GAO findings proving that the complex IRS tax forms are causing unnecessary errors and costing thousands and thousands of dollars," Baucus said. "It's easy to see that by working more closely with taxpayers, the IRS can create filing forms that are based on common sense. This is another example of how an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
The GAO found that had the IRS used focus groups for the instructions used to calculate the rate reduction credit during the 2002 filing season, approximately two million errors could have been eliminated, saving taxpayers and the IRS $1.5 million. In comparison, it would cost the IRS only $56,000 to test the forms.
Full report available at http://www.gao.gov, April 2003, GAO-03-486, "IRS Should Reassess the Level of Resources for Testing Forms and Instructions."