Modernized E-File (MeF)

Modernized e-File (MeF) is tremendous in scope. MeF is a mission critical, very large, very active and mature application that requires a large, highly skilled staff that can hit the ground running to support a very complex and dynamic application. MeF spans three significantly diverse product environments and has more than 10 lower environments that must be kept operational 24/7, maintains and updates 2.7 million lines of code overall, requiring approximately 75 senior/expert developers (not beginners), and has deadlines which are not flexible to achieve annual tax requirements. The Contractor must be able to handle at least the same level of change as the current vendor with the same schedule of work delivery. The vendor must be able to meet the required 8–12-hour application recovery/restoration time for Priority 1 and 2 tickets, and Failover.

As a large-scale complex system MeF provides electronic filing and payment options for filers of Corporation, Employment Tax, Estates and Trusts, Excise Tax, Exempt Organization, Individual, and Partnership Tax Returns. It is a large application consisting of greater than 1.3 million source lines of Java code (not including XML schema code and xSLT stylesheet code) that processes hundreds of transactions per second during peak filing periods sustained for long periods of time to attain 18 million transactions per day. MeF employs a diverse group of complex COTS products such as JBoss, WebSphere Application Server, Oracle database, DB2 database and MQ. The MeF Production environment is complex and consists of multiple components and external interfaces including WebSphere, JBOSS, MQ, Oracle Database, Golden Gate and Data Guard. MeF has a complex stakeholder environment including IRS IT executives, IRS business executives, transmitters, and state governments all of whom have differing interests and perspectives that must be taken into consideration.

MeF is a mission critical application for the IRS. Tax law changes occur on a regular basis resulting in solutions that must be designed in a compressed schedule with complex customer requirements. The MeF team must be able to develop new forms, support rapid development of legislative changes and defect fixes in a short period of time. Team members need to develop new Schemas, new Rules, new Rule Flows, new Stylesheets and perform Rules Analysis when support for a new form is needed. All MeF returns are XML based therefore the team must be XML experts. MeF’s infrastructure receives returns over the Internet using an Extensible Markup Language (XML) based system. The format is defined by IRS and Contractor developed schemas. Business rules validation is performed using a custom-designed rules engine. Validation results (e.g., accepted, rejected, errors, identified severity level) are returned to the transmitter in the form of an acknowledgement. Ultimately the XML-based system became the standard for filing electronic tax returns with the IRS over the Internet through the Registered User Portal (RUP).

The contractor plays a critical role in providing 24x7 coverage for the production environment throughout filing season. In the event of a Priority 1 or 2 incident the team must minimize impact on the transmitters and internal users. MeF is a large-scale Java application with many interfaces. A file not getting sent on schedule or returns being sent to the IRS Error Resolution System (ERS) has implications for the success of the filing season. It is essential that the MeF team have the skill set to perform immediate trouble shooting to resolve issues before they become visible externally. It is critical that all contract members possess strong working knowledge of the end-to-end tax return processing flow, the infrastructure supporting MeF environments, and MeF Interfaces with external components and downstream applications.

MeF provides a benefit to the return filers in that those complex returns (which may include a wide variety of supporting schedules and different tax return types) can be submitted using the same transmission platform and process. An additional benefit is the ability to simultaneously file both federal and state returns through MeF.

The project’s goal is to provide an Internet based e-Filing platform that any IRS tax return or extension can use.

The MeF project supports the e-Government initiatives, which are integral to the President’s Management Agenda (PMA) to better “leverage our current resources—people, knowledge, processes, technology, funds to deliver excellent, equitable, and secure Federal services and customer experience. The MeF project supports the Treasury goal to assist taxpayers in meeting their tax obligations, invest in modern technology, and support employee effectiveness.

MeF has been in production since 2004. It is a mature e-filing business process that has been vetted with the IRS trading partners, state agencies, and e-filing software developers (e.g., Intuit, H&R Block). MeF processes tens of millions of small Returns (e.g., 1040) as well as millions of large Returns (e.g., 1120, 1065) each year.