This is another tail from my post box, again related to a mailing from a government agency. This time it is the Internal Revenue Service and the notice is a review of a 2007 tax form filed by a family member. The notice in question claims to be a CP2000 notice, but I have no idea what they think that means.

I am picking on this notice for several reasons.

1. It claims to have been mailed on the same day it was received. Neat trick!
2. It provides a telephone number to call for assistance, but if you call the number (and I did) there is no way to get to a person. The assumption of the IVR system is that you don't understand something on the document, not that you have a question about how to get the correct information into their hands.
3. It doesn't provide a way to respond to what must be a common situation.

Let me say that in terms of design this document gets high marks. It is well formatted, the text is readable, and key areas have navigation hints that make the form easy to follow. Where it falls down is in information content. And, as we know, style without substance is simply not acceptable!

It starts by highlighting when the response is due. Well formatted and easy to understand.

It then tells me why I am getting the notice, and provides a box with proposed changes to the tax filing. My quarrel here is that it assumes they are right. In my case, we don't agree with their proposed changes and this is where it starts to go off the rails.

The next item tells me what steps I should take. I should review the tax filing, compare the return to what they have provided, determine if their information is correct, complete the response form, and complete and return the payment plan. Wait! What was that last item? What if I don't owe anything?

The response form is easy to read and navigate, starting with Option 1: Agree with all changes. Option 2 is that I don't agree with some of the proposed changes, and Option 3 is that I don't agree with any of the changes. I don't agree, so I mark that.

Going on to the next step I only have three options: Pay in Full, Partial Payment and Payment plan. None of these apply! There is no option for my situation, which was a missing dividend form which will cause us to submit an amended 1040.At that point they will actually owe more money back to my family member.

The moral to this story? If you are sending notices to your customers and they need to take action, be sure you give them the ability to select all appropriate options. Allow for the exceptions where a checkbox will not do. Last time I talked about ensuring that the basic "What, Why, Who, When, What to do next" information is covered and that the customer is given appropriate means to communicate. It's more important now than ever!

Need to know more? Let me know!

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