Author: Dew, Theresa (GOV)

Estate Tax Review

Washington State Department of Revenue

Start Date: November 2020 Duration: 9 months

The Estate Tax Team was concerned the review of estate tax returns was not timely and wanted to decrease the time it took to review and close out an estate tax return by issuing a final release letter.
In November 2020, 44% of estate tax return inventory was less than 9 months old. The team’s target was to have 54% of inventory be less than 9 months old by June 2021.
A process improvement team of employees from the DOR divisions of Audit, Business and Financial Services, and Taxpayer Account Administration was formed to improve the estate tax return review and close out process.

Goal Area(s) Impacted
5: Efficient, Effective, & Accountable Government

Improved:
Improved Service Delivery
Improved Operations Process
Collaboration

Results

Customers & Partners Impacted (Replace)

Lessons Learned

66% decrease
in aged inventory

37 day
Decrease in overall process time

25% reduction
In error rate per return

Over 1200
hours of staff time have been saved to date

WA state residents filing estate taxes
CPA’s and accountants
Estate tax team

Commitment to making incremental improvements benefits the customers experience
Improvements like these allow you to allocate resources to other high profile work
Testing and iterating the solution is necessary to develop the best outcomes
Fall in love with the problem, not the solution!