IRS (Internal Revenue Service)

Enhancing Taxpayer Experience: Redesigning In-App for taxpayer’s Online Account Notifications

PROBLEM
Taxpayers using the IRS Online Account (OLA) find the current notification system overwhelming, unclear, and lacking personalization, making it difficult to take timely and informed actions.

GOAL
Redesign the in-app notifications system to improve visibility, clarity, and control—helping taxpayers stay informed and prepared through a more user-centered experience.

MY ROLE

UX Designer
Designed ideation, prototyping, and incorporated feedback from usability testing. Collaborated on research synthesis and worked closely with stakeholders and developers to deliver the final design solution.

Tools
Sketch, InVision, Miro

Duration
July – September 2024

DISCOVERY & RESEARCH

Research goals:

Understand how users currently interpret and interact with notifications.

Identify usability issues and gaps in expectations vs. reality.

Explore what types of notifications taxpayers want and how they want to manage them.

Method:
Moderated interviews with 9 taxpayers
Each participant walked through their typical behavior on OLA and responded to new design ideas.

Key research questions:

Key insights:

DEFINE

Problem statement:
Taxpayers need a streamlined, visible, and intuitive notification experience that helps them understand and act on tasks promptly without cognitive overload.

Design opportunities:

Improve visibility of notifications on the dashboard.
Clarify notification types and actions.
Provide multi-access points (e.g., dashboard + menu).
Clarify the meaning of UI elements (like badge numbers, bell icons).
Offer control over notification persistence and management.

IDEATION & PROTOTYPING

Initial Concepts:

Created two A/B design variations for user testing:

Full list of notifications on dashboard
New messages appeared on top
Minimal clutter
Static badge label for messages

Bell icon in top nav
Badge number reflects quantity of new messages
Notifications available in multiple areas
Included “actions taken” updates

CURRENT EXPERIENCE

Before redesigning the notification experience, we analyzed the existing IRS Online Account interface.

Findings:

Notifications card blended in with everything else on the account home, making it difficult for users to notice or prioritize
No clear hierarchy or categorization of messages.
No dedicated space to manage or revisit past messages.

USABILITY TESTING (A/B TESTING)

Design A

Design B

Design A findings

Preferred by most users
Considered clean, scannable, and easy to locate new messages
Confusion over badge label wording
Some desire to “clear” notifications manually

Design B findings

Liked seeing how many new messages they had
Appreciated seeing notifications in multiple places
Concerned about deleting messages permanently
Some disliked ambiguity of icons (menu dot, bell)

Overall findings

Dashboard visibility of notifications (Design A) was preferred
Users were split on notification permanence—some expected read items to disappear, others wanted an archive
Users expected a centralized inbox with all past messages
Iconography consistency matters—visual cues like bell, badge, or menu should be clear and standard

FINAL DESIGN SOLUTION

Centralized notification section on the dashboard with clear distinctions between read/unread.

Dual access points: visible from both top navigation and dashboard card.

Improved visual hierarchy and consistent iconography.

Anticipates future features like archiving and custom preferences for notification channels.

IMPACT

Improved user comprehension and task completion by reducing cognitive load.

Increased visibility and trust through transparency and control.

Created a scalable notification system that can grow with future IRS features.

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