Beginning in August, 2024, I joined the IRS DMAF team full-time to implement self-service government through online forms. I still teach AEM Forms on Thursday afternoons from 2 - 4 PM for subscribers, but for 40 hours a week my full time job is applying my 20 years of form automation ideas at the IRS. Easy to use online forms dramatically improves the efficiency of our government by enabling citizens to interact with the IRS like we do with Amazon.com.

The same self-service government techniques we are using at the IRS can and should be used by other areas of the Federal Government including but not limited to the Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, Agriculture, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development. Why use old and inefficient processes when many common tasks can be fulfilled directly by citizens with a web browser?

I have implemented the following three best practices at the IRS since joining as a Provisional Employee this past August. These techniques and others should be implemented across the Federal Government to greatly improve our efficiency.

Masking of TINS (Taxpayer Identification Numbers)

An IRS-issued Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) is considered Personally Identifiable Information (PII). A TIN can be used to identify an individual or entity in the context of tax administration, making it sensitive information that needs to be protected. Unfortunately, many of the TIN fields on IRS forms are not masked including the one you see in this illustration on the left. Notice the new master IRS SSN field on the right. This has proper masking, the user can toggle the eye icon to view the number or leave it hidden and protected as they complete the form.

Data Validation

Implementing proper data validation for online forms significantly enhances operational efficiency by ensuring that the data collected is accurate, complete, and consistent. This reduces the need for manual data correction and follow-up, saving time and resources. Unfortunately, many online government forms do not have the proper data validation to flag these errors before they lead to inefficient data processing delays. Notice the live form you see on the left; it does not flag the inaccurate SSN number (123456789). In fact, this field is worse because it provides the invalid SSN number in the example of the field's short description. Instead, the data validation should be thorough like the new master IRS SSN field you see on the right and the error message should be targeted to the inaccuracy in the user’s submission.

IRS Master Form Components

In addition to greatly improving these form fields with masking and data validation, I created 16 master form components for common fields like the TINS. Previously, each IRS form was developed independently, with common fields such as TINS, US ZIP codes, and phone numbers being recreated from scratch in every instance and on every form. This approach resulted in significant redundancy and inconsistency. The lack of standardized components meant that each form developer had to manually design and implement these fields, leading to a wide range of formats, styles, and interpretations. Consequently, the quality of the forms varied, there was very little data validation, and the process consumed a considerable amount of time and resources.

These problems have been solved with a set of modular, reusable, form field components. As you can see in this illustration, instead of creating each common form field thousands of times across thousands of forms, IRS Form Authors now have a set of Master Form Components. These components are simply dragged and dropped from the library onto each new form. Every new online form now has the latest and greatest common form fields with robust data validation.

These same techniques and others should be implemented across the Federal Government to greatly improve our efficiency and ensure that citizens can interact with their government as easily and as efficiently as we do with Amazon.com.