Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT ...

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Governmental Relationship and Communication Between the Internal Revenue Service and Indian Tribal Governments• Maximize face-to-face meetings and other personal, immediate contactsbetween ITG personnel and the Tribes; minimize contacts by U.S. mail• Adjust protocols used in ITG’s periodic “listening meetings,” so that Tribeshave a better chance through such meetings to learn about IRS initiativesthat might affect them, leading to more meaningful, two-way consultation• Increase cultural awareness training to ITG staff• Increase and improve outreach contacts with Tribal Governments• Make IRS protocols for day-to-day dealings with Tribal Governmentsavailable on ITG’s website• Develop a plan to better ensure that IRS personnel outside of ITG whodeal with Tribes and Tribal matters follow these protocols, consistentlywork within respectful government-to-government relationships with TribalGovernments, and understand their obligations to coordinate with ITGII.PROJECT PROCESSWe sought to obtain information from both the Tribes and the IRS so that we couldassess the state of the government-to-government relationships between the Tribes andthe IRS from the perspectives of both the Tribes and the IRS. As discussed in moredetail below, we gathered a variety of types of information from a variety of sources.A. Tribal Government SurveysWe developed a written survey that we sent to all of the 690 federally recognized TribalGovernments and Navajo Chapters with which ITG maintains contacts. The survey setforth 13 questions designed to elicit information about the respondent’s perception ofthe state of the relationship between the Tribe and the IRS.We sent the survey to the IRS’s primary contact at each Tribe and Navajo Chapter, witha cover letter explaining the purpose for the survey as well as the fact that the ProjectTeam would not share with the IRS any details of the survey responses that wouldidentify the survey respondent or the Tribe. If the IRS’s primary contact was not anelected Tribal official, we also sent a copy of the cover letter and survey to this electedofficial with an additional cover letter to the elected official explaining the Project. Acopy of the survey and the cover letters is attached as Exhibit A.The initial response rate to the survey was low, a factor which we presumed resulted atleast in part from the fact that the stated deadline for returning the survey was soonafter the survey was mailed. In an effort to gather more survey responses, weattempted to reach by telephone each of the IRS’s primary contacts at the Tribes thathad not yet responded to encourage the Tribe to respond to the survey. We succeededin speaking with the primary contact or other appropriate person at many of theseTribes, encouraged the Tribe to respond, and e-mailed to the Tribe another copy of thesurvey. A number of additional responses to the survey were received as a result ofthese telephone contacts. (Many of the persons we spoke with in these follow-up callsindicated that the appropriate contact person had not in fact received the survey thatwas sent by mail.)ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON TAX EXEMPT AND GOVERNMENT ENTITIES (ACT) June 11, 2008 2
Governmental Relationship and Communication Between the Internal Revenue Service and Indian Tribal GovernmentsAll told, we received 40 responses to the survey, for an overall response rate of 5.8%.Although we were disappointed in the overall response rate, we were pleased that theresponse rate was 10% in three of the five geographic regions within ITG,encompassing all the states other than California, Nevada, Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, andWashington. It is also worth noting that the relatively low response rate illustrates thechallenge for the IRS in communicating with the Tribes by mail. We followed up by e-mail with additional questions for those initial respondents that provided an e-mailaddress seeking additional information. A copy of the follow-up questions is attachedas Exhibit B.We also reviewed the tabulated results from ITG’s own surveys of Tribal Governments’customer satisfaction with ITG for 2005 to 2007, the earliest of which is attached asExhibit C and the later two of which are posted on the ITG website at and.B. Survey of ITG Specialists and Their ManagersITG employs specialists who work with assigned Tribal Governments to assist them inimproving their tax compliance through outreach, as well as to perform compliancechecks and examinations. As with the Tribal Governments, we developed a writtensurvey that the Director of ITG sent to all of the ITG specialists who are assigned tospecific Tribes in the five geographic regions within ITG and their managers, as well asto the specialists and their manager on the Abuse Detection and Protection Team(“ADAPT”) and the manager in the Compliance and Program Management group. Thesurvey set forth 14 questions designed to elicit information about the respondent’sperception of the state of the relationship between the Tribe and the IRS. A copy of thesurvey is attached as Exhibit D. The Director of ITG instructed the survey recipients tosend their responses directly to the Project Team and informed them that identifyingdetails regarding their responses would not be shared with the IRS. Consistent with theIRS’s collective bargaining agreement, the Director also informed the survey recipientsthat their participation in the survey was entirely voluntary.Overall, 55 surveys were sent out and 23 were returned, for a response rate of 42%.From the specialists and their managers in the five geographic regions within ITG, whohave the most significant and continual relationships with the Tribes to which they areassigned, the response rate was 40%. We were disappointed that not all of thespecialists and their managers responded, but the response rate was better than theTribes’ response rate. The response rate also was better from some regions thanothers, as noted below:ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON TAX EXEMPT AND GOVERNMENT ENTITIES (ACT) June 11, 2008 3
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