New tax system creates a virtually paperless environment

Concerned with the time it took to process requests from taxpayers and initiate refunds, Toledo, Ohio, succeeded in finding a better way to track taxpayer information and improve customer service. Its new tax system, initiated on May 1, 1995, incorporates client/server and imaging technologies to help the city process and monitor taxpayer information. The city has increased productivity and substantially improved customer service; at the same time transforming income tax administration into a nearly paperless environment.

Prior to this modernization, Toledo had processed an average of 172,000 income tax forms and returns manually each year. The Taxation Division found that taxpayer information was not always being processed accurately and efforts were being duplicated. The division also had difficulty tracking certain types of taxpayer information.

By partnering with Unisys Information Services, the city was able to implement a proprietary integrated tax system, which includes a cost-effective and easy-to-use computerized imaging system that captures taxpayer information, making it available to tax auditors for “information sharing.”

Since the system was introduced, the city has noticed an overall business process improvement of 35 percent. By redirecting various job functions and not filling a number of vacant positions, the division has achieved a staff reduction of 30 percent.

After careful planning, designing and testing, the project was completed within one year, achieving a self-imposed deadline for migration off a mainframe system. The new U-Tax system was operating on March 20, 1996.

Changes in business practices enabled by the new system have resulted in an average processing time of 30.1 days, down from the previous figure of 59.3 days.

Further, the new tax system bills on a monthly basis with both net profit and withholding accounts, whereas the old tax system only submitted a bill each time a payment was received from a taxpayer. Other benefits include: *automation of information sharing with the Internal Revenue Service; *significant reduction of on-site storage space for tax documents; *increased billing accuracy; *better customer service; *reduced hardware and software maintenance costs and downtime; *issuance of monthly reports; *improved communication within taxation division; *decreased duplication of efforts by cashiers and data processors; *ability to prioritize job assignments to personnel; and *increased ability to measure employee productivity.

The department has completed the transition from an existing mainframe system to a client/server application environment. Working with its outsourcing partner, the city hastened the process, from defining design requirements to data conversion and implementation. The system consists of client/server technology using server and Oracle databases, along with the latest scanning and electronic image jukebox technology. The system currently provides for future enhancement to include the following: *lock box features; * bar code scanning; * telephone access of account information and refund status; and *electronic filing of tax documents.

Who helped: Unisys Information Services