In its efforts to improve client service and boost its reputation among users, the State Revenue Service of Latvia (SRS) has initiated internal quality checks both of telephone consultations and answers to electronically submitted questions.
On 1st December 2021, a new quality-control measure – an automated call-back system – was launched to assess client satisfaction with telephone consultations. When a client calls the Electronic Declaration System (EDS) helpline, they are asked if SRS can call them back to assess the quality of services received. If the client agrees, they receive an automated call (usually) by the end of the same business day and are asked to press either “1” for a positive assessment (at which point the call ends) or “2” for a negative assessment. If the client presses “2”, then they are offered a choice of one of three reasons for dissatisfaction – 1) unfriendly attitude, 2) unsatisfactory answer, or 3) other. SRS analysts then review the call.
The call-back system has been used by approximately 27 000 private individuals and 17 000 legal entities. A negative rating was indicated by 3.76% of individuals and 4.6% of businesses. Evaluation of negative feedback revealed that in most cases, the client’s negative evaluation was not warranted: the consultant had provided correct answers and spoke politely and calmly. Negative evaluation was justified in only 10% of cases.
Additionally, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development has expanded its “remote public official” services at six additional Unified Client Service Centres (USCS) in cooperation with SRS. Currently, there are 128 Unified Client Service Centres in Latvian municipalities in which residents can apply for some of the most requested state and all municipal services. By 2023, the Ministry plans to expand the availability of these unified centres to 592 locations.
The addition of this service greatly benefits those taxpayers who do not have access to a computer or are not connected to EDS and cannot visit an SRS client centre. Now, those taxpayers can visit their local USCS and provide the USCS client service representative with their tax information who can file the annual tax return on the taxpayer’s behalf. For now, this service applies only to annual tax returns, but additional forms and declarations will be added soon.
This is another step towards encouraging taxpayer compliance and increasing satisfaction with SRS services.