PeopleSoft to support IRS services

PeopleSoft Inc. has been awarded a contract worth more than $10 million to provide its customer relationship management software to the Internal Revenue Service in a move that will help make electronic tax filing easier for taxpayers.

The company will provide its software for CRM products, including tools such as call-center support, help-desk inquiries and marketing and sales support.

Computer Sciences Corp., the prime contractor for the IRS modernization program, awarded the subcontract to PeopleSoft as part of the ongoing multibillion-dollar project to turn the tax agency from a paper-pushing operation into an electronic one. The IRS wants 80 percent of all taxpayers to file their returns electronically by 2007.

"The more filings that are electronic, the cost of processing is reduced,"said Ron Sullivan, vice president and general manager of PeopleSoft's federal sector.

PeopleSoft is moving swiftly to establish itself as a major government supplier. It recently won a $7 million contract from the Pentagon to provide payroll and human resources services. It also has contracts with the U.S.Treasury, the U.S. Mint, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S.Courts.

Taxpayers should begin to see the PeopleSoft software in action by next summer, when the IRS plans to introduce online services for certified tax preparers.