TAP A05-061

Publication 17 Searchability

Statement of Issue:

Taxpayers have a difficult time finding information when researching using the on-line version of Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax For Individuals. This leads to a high level of frustration and difficulty in completing tax forms.

Proposal:

TAP recommended changing how the taxpayer finds tax information on www.irs.gov. TAP proposed using an advanced search engine and various options for looking up answers to questions about individual tax situations, focused on Publication 17. This would be accomplished by creating an icon on the IRS homepage. The recommendation included using typical search options: Table of Contents, Index, Keyword Search, but also a fuzzy logic search capability.

Response Notes: