Arizona Department of Revenue—Transaction Privilege Tax Support and Education Services—Department should improve call centers’ quality assurance processes and internal collaboration on taxpayer education and outreach efforts

This performance audit focused on the Arizona Department of Revenue’s (Department) provision of support and education services related to its administration of the transaction privilege tax (TPT) on behalf of the State, counties, and cities and towns. TPT is a tax imposed on a seller for the privilege of doing business in the State and is commonly referred to as a sales tax because it is usually passed on to the buyer. The Department provides customer service to TPT taxpayers through its call centers, which taxpayers can call to ask questions and receive information from customer service representatives; Education and Outreach Unit (EDU), which provides information and education to help taxpayers comply with tax laws; and a City Services Team (CST), which acts as a liaison between the Department and Arizona cities and towns. We found that the Department should further improve its call centers’ quality assurance processes, improve EDU’s collaborations with other Department units, and implement CST’s plans for better managing cities’ and towns’ TPT questions.