**GAO-07-1160**                      Published: Sep 28, 2007. Publicly Released: Oct 11, 2007.                  

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## Highlights

Proper paper case file management is a significant issue for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) because its staff investigate and close millions of case files every year. In addition, IRS employees depend heavily on case files when pursuing enforcement actions. GAO was asked to review IRS's case file storage, tracking, and documentation processes to determine whether IRS has (1) an effective process to ensure that paper case files can be located timely and (2) sufficient data to assess the performance of its paper case file processes. To review these processes, GAO interviewed staff who request case files and case file managers.

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## Topics

Tax Policy and Administration

DocumentationFinancial recordsInformation accessInformation securityInformation storage and retrievalInternal controlsProgram managementRecordsRecords managementTax administrationTax administration systems