Inland Revenue Department

Inland Revenue Department

Context

Inland Revenue Department (IRD) is the government department responsible for administering New Zealand's tax system. IRD collects over 80% of the revenue that funds government programmes.

IRD's responsibilities include:

• the collection of taxation revenue, student loan repayments and child support payments
• the disbursement of child support, family assistance and paid parental leave
• the provision of advice on tax law and reform, and on social policy measures that interact with the tax system.

Inland Revenue E-government Initiatives

• Implementation of e-Enablement programme
• Extend online service
• Integrated service delivery with Companies Office
• Website revamp

Summary

Ready Access: IRD's websites are of a high standard, providing well-developed online services and information to the public. IRD provides ready access to a wide range of information and services via the government portal through numerous metadata records.

Alignment: The IRD's e-Enablement work programme aligns closely with the E-government Strategy. The Internet is being used to provide some online services, and integrated service delivery is being developed with the Companies Office.

Internet and Communications Technology

The e-Enablement Strategy outlines IRD's programme to introduce the Internet into its business. The programme includes interactions with taxpayers, social policy clients, other government agencies, commercial organisations, intermediaries, and internal staff interactions and working mechanisms. e-Enablement is aligned with the E-government Strategy.

There are a number of key objectives of the e-Enablement programme to be achieved by the end of 2004. First, content management on all websites will be introduced to ensure that information provided is better managed. Improvements will include better editorial control and the automated archiving of information over an appropriate period of time. There will consequently be a complete revamp of websites.

Second, customer feedback has highlighted the need to improve the online correspondence functionality. It will be improved to facilitate the sending of attachments, and to enable IRD staff to initiate correspondence, rather than just respond to it. IRD's online correspondence service will be migrated away from the website to email, once email is made secure.

Third, students can already use the Internet to look up their account balances. This functionality will be extended to permit child-support account information to be accessed. IRD's concerns about user authentication currently prevent businesses looking up account information online.

Finally, the forms returns and the online calculators will be revamped so that they are not embedded into specific web pages. This will enable the calculators to be displayed on any web page, including the web pages of another agency or business.

IRD is involved in initiatives to integrate services more closely with other agencies. For example, IRD's work with the Companies Office, to automate the creation of an IRD number when a company is registered, aligns closely with the E-government Strategy.

Within IRD, staff access to information is facilitated through an extensive intranet. This will eventually be improved with the introduction of content management systems once the implementation of website content management is completed.

Ready Access to Information and Services

Metadata

IRD has 250 metadata records, including 122 services, 172 documents, and 2 agency records. These records provide access to a wide range of the department's information and services. IRD should be commended for the considerable amount of effort put in to creating metadata.

Much of IRD's metadata is highly specific. We would suggest that in future some records could be consolidated to make it easier for people to find what they are looking for.

Where possible some services could be written for a more general audience, using fewer financial and taxation terms. However, most records are up to date and well written with their audience in mind.

Website Assessment

Websites assessed during June 2004 included: www.ird.govt.nz , www.taxpolicy.ird.govt.nz

Overall, the IRD's sites are of a high standard. The strengths of the Inland Revenue sites are information and required government content. IRD also has an excellent set of e-services, including a range of online forms. In future, the usability of the sites could be improved.

Key quality issues noted during the assessment included:

• Good range, depth and presentation of information and e-services content.
• Usability and site navigation could be improved for easier use.
• Missing accessibility features, such as navigation skipping, access keys and style sheet problems may impede some physically impaired people's access.
• Better access to consultation documents would make it easier for people to offer feedback on proposed changes to policy or procedures.
• More links to other related content on the site would be useful.
• Many documents are in PDF only, excluding those people who are unable or unwilling to read this format.
• Some broken links prevent people from accessing certain content.
• Some required email addresses are not available or were not answered during the assessment.
• Contact details could be more specific to enable responsive handling of enquiries.

Alignment With E-government Goals

Convenience and Satisfaction

IRD is increasingly using websites to provide access to information and services for different audiences. Specific information is provided for individuals, businesses, tax agents, software developers and Maori organisations.

ir-File is an example of IRD's online services. ir-File offers employers, tax agents, payroll bureaux and PAYE Intermediaries a secure and convenient method of filing employer monthly schedules using the Internet. Many other online services are provided.

For people who are not comfortable using the Internet, IRD has a call centre and regional offices for people to contact. The call centre uses an extensive knowledge base system to help ensure that calls are answered consistently.

Integration and Efficiency

The level of service integration in some areas of IRD's business is advanced. An example of this is employees not having to file tax returns as IRD obtains the necessary information from other sources.

Other examples of integrated services include IRD's involvement in managing Student Loans repayments, and work with the Companies Office.

Participation

People are encouraged to participate in government mainly through the publication of consultation papers on IRD's Policy Advice Division website. Providing clear guidance on how people should make submissions would be a simple improvement.