IR-2004-131, Oct. 25, 2004 IRS.GOV CITED AS MOST RELIABLE GOVERNMENT WEB SITE
WASHINGTON � The Internal Revenue Service has the nation�s most reliable e-government Web site according to a leading private sector company that measures Web site performance. Keynote Systems announced today that IRS.gov is one of the first winners of the Keynote Performance Awards, a new awards program designed to recognize excellence in Web site performance. Keynote honored the fastest and most reliable Web sites in three categories: e-commerce, e-government and online travel and hospitality. In e-government, the IRS won the performance award for Best Transaction Reliability with an average score of 99.8 percent. �The IRS is strongly committed to the use of technology to help taxpayers, and taxpayers are embracing this technology,� said IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson. �More than 61 million tax returns were filed electronically this year. And IRS.gov received more than 139 million visits this year, making it one of the government�s busiest sites.� �We�re proud to have IRS.gov recognized as the e-government leader in reliability,� said Jimi Stricklin, IRS director of Web Services. �This award validates our goal of improving service to America�s taxpayers by delivering fast and reliable online resources and tax information.� The award is based on Keynote�s E-Government Web Transaction Performance Index. The index measures a visitor�s ability to click through a number of pages on the Web site and successfully find the needed information. Measurements were taken between December 2003 and July 2004 every hour, seven days a week from the nation�s 10 largest metropolitan areas. Three aspects of each transaction were measured: accessing the site�s home page, entering a search topic and selecting or clicking on a specific search result. The site with the highest success rate, out of 100 percent, is recognized for the �reliability� award. Many of IRS.gov�s most useful Web applications are those made possible through new capabilities developed and delivered through the IRS Business Systems Modernization Program. The program is a multi-year effort to modernize and update the nation�s tax administration systems. Highlights of these new Web applications include �Where�s My Refund?� which taxpayers can use to find out about their tax refund and e-services, a suite of IRS.gov tools that give tax practitioners and professionals new ways of working with the IRS using fast, efficient and convenient online processes. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for subscribing to IRS Newswire. If you have a specific concern about your tax account, call IRS CUSTOMER SERVICE AT 1-800-829-1040. --- If you know someone who might want to subscribe to this mailing list, please forward this message to them and they can send a blank e-mail to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] in order to subscribe. --- This message was distributed automatically from the mailing list irs-newswire. PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE. To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To subscribe to or unsubscribe from another list, please go to http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/index.html and click on 'e-News Subscriptions'.
