Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO evaluated the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) computer system's ability to process the 1988 tax filing season work load, focusing on the: (1) availability and effectiveness of its software, including that affected by the Tax Reform Act of 1986; (2) capacity of IRS mainframe computers; and (3) reliability of old communications processors.
GAO found that IRS: (1) modified, tested, and corrected all necessary software to reflect legislative changes; (2) delayed modification of some software it did not need for the 1988 filing season; (3) has sufficient mainframe computer capacity to support its update and on-line processing needs for the 1988 filing season; (4) identified actions to alleviate capacity shortfalls if they occur; (5) must continue to effectively manage work loads for its old communications processors to ensure their reliability during peak processing periods; and (6) is performing final tests on its Communications Replacement System, which will replace the old processors with more reliable and capacious processors.
