The IRS new Integrated Submissions and Remittance Processing system can capture scanned images of tax payment checks and vouchers but not tax returns.
To capture the tax return information, data entry clerks will type in the data from returns twice and ISRP will flag any discrepancies, said Eugene J. Barbato, director of the IRS Submission Processing Division.
There have been problems with scanning tax returns in the past. So far, the service has found it practical to scan only the simplest formsfor example, the 1040EZ, the 1099 information return and federal tax deposits, Barbato said. Besides, the IRS expects that in the future it will need to type in fewer and fewer returns because taxpayers will submit most information electronically, he said.
The IRS needs ISRP now, even though the service is in the midst of a massive tax systems modernization effort, because the systems it uses to process IRS returns and checks are two of the services oldest. The system processing returns is 13 years old; the one processing payments is 19.
Neither one can handle a four-digit year or can be remediated to do so, Barbato said.
So as it begins its mammoth modernization effort, the IRS has had to replace two of its most important systemsat least for the interim.
On the return side, I wouldnt call it a redesign. There are some enhancements, Barbato said.
But it is a complete redesign of how the IRS processes checks. When checks arrive at an IRS service center, they are scanned in stacks by a Unisys Corp. Document Processor 500 Transport System running CTOS. The DP 500 rapidly reads the checks and captures an electronic image.
Data from the checks is stored on two Dell PowerEdge 4200 servers. The machines each have a 300-MHz Pentium Pro processor, 256M of RAM and a 9G hard drive and run Microsoft Windows NT 3.51.
Ten IBM 300GL servers host application packages for working with the check data. The servers have 266-MHz chips, 512K of cache memory, 32M of RAM and 2.5G hard drives.
The check image is temporarily stored on three Dell PowerEdge 4200 servers for easy retrieval, each with a 233-MHz Pentium Pro processor, 128M of RAM and a 2G hard drive. The servers run Unisys InfoImage software. Two Dell servers with similar specs provide index and catalog functions.
For long-term storage, the IRS uses a Hewlett-Packard SureStore optical server.
With the check images available onscreen, there should be some reduction in errors, Barbato said.
The IRS service centers plan to keep another imaging system, the Service Center Recognition Image Processing System, online as well. SCRIPS has been doing limited return scanning of simple forms. Northrop Grumman Data Systems and Services developed SCRIPS under a 1993 contract, and the system began operating at five IRS service centers in 1995.
I envision the modernization blueprint will obviously include scanning and imaging, Barbato said, but no one knows whether SCRIPS and ISRP will be augmented or possibly replaced in the near future.
The return data is keyed in on PCs from Micron Electronics Inc. of Nampa, Idaho.
Each center has 350 to 430 PCs running NT 4.0 and a primary data entry application, Key Entry 3 from Southern Computer Systems Inc. of Birmingham, Ala.
Data from both returns and checks come together on five Dell Computer Corp. PowerEdge 4200s with 300-MHz Pentium Pro processors. The servers, which have 256M of RAM and 45G to 99G hard drives, run NT 4.0. The information is formatted using custom applications from Lockheed Martin Federal Systems, the prime contractor for the ISRP project.
The Dell servers also host a Microsoft SQL Server database that the IRS uses to produce reports tracking work at the centers.
ISRP is not linked to the IRS own backbone network. Instead, the system is linked on a network supplied by Lockheed Martin Mission Systems, Barbato said. Only when the data has been checked and put in the correct format is it placed on a cartridge and uploaded to the IRS mainframe.
Eventually this will be done electronicallyafter the IRS consolidates its mainframe operations at two sites, Memphis, Tenn., and Martinsburg, W.Va, Barbato said.
During congressional inquiries, some members have wondered why the IRS could not just use a commercial product, such as TurboTax from Intuit Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., to convert the paper return data into an electronic format, Barbato said. But that is just one small piece of the IRS processing of returns, he said.
The IRS has to validate the data to protect against fraud and check each taxpayers Social Security number, name and other data against the IRS master records file. It also has to account for every penny that comes in the door and match it up with an individuals account, Barbato said.
The service plans to run ISRP at each of its 10 service centers.
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