Office of the Chief Financial Officer

Executive Summary for Closed Reports

 

Original Report

Report No. 10-2-26-OTR: Final Management Alert on Lack of Address Cleaning Process on Real Properties Tax Administration Mailing Database at the Office of Tax and Revenue, dated March 14, 2011

 

Current Status

Closed.

 

Final Report

This report has been closed, but a subsequent, more formal audit report was issued: 10-2-26-OTR, Audit of Internal Controls Over Undelivered Mail and Address Change Processes at the Office of Tax and Revenue, dated January 3, 2012.

 

Chief Risk Officer’s Risk Assessment

Financial risk associated with the large volume of undelivered mail has been assessed as Medium risk.  While the OTR always strives to fulfill its fiduciary duties associated with properly managing its expenses, the dollars associated with this risk do not rise to the level of other resource opportunities for reducing risks in other areas.  However, all of OIO recommendations were considered.

 

Recommendations Overview   

Four recommendations were provided.  Two have been implemented.  Work done to strengthen existing internal controls included the following:

 

• Employees were retrained to avoid the root causes for incorrect addresses, including address change procedures.  Additionally, as noted in the report, the OTR continues to work closely with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to process the Taxpayer Address Request (TAR) file to update its computer files.  TAR cannot be used in the Real Property portfolio as TAR requires social security numbers.  Because real property records are a matter of public record, OTR will not use social security numbers.
• Real Property Tax Administration (RPTA) does use information provided by the Recorder of Deeds (ROD) per DC Code sec 42.405(a).  However, subsequent use of this information is not always reliable and may be superseded, rendering it of limited usefulness.

 

Two recommendations will not be implemented. 

 

• The Master Address Repository (MAR, but referenced in the report as MAS) is a file maintained by DCRA.  It contains premise addresses- not mailing addresses- and cannot be used as recommended. 
• The OTR reviewed the assessment of fees per DC Code sec 42.405 and concludes it is not practical to execute. 

 

To view the full report, Click : OTR Address Cleaning Process in RPTA Mailing Database Full Report