December 5, 2002
1:00pm PT

• Gerald Gensiejewski, Jr.
• James Griffin
• James Grimaldi
• Lawrence Lexow
• Chris Lowe
• Gregory Maciulla
• Robert Meldman
• Diane Mignano
• Francis Paolone
• Paul Smathers
• Sherry Whah
• Lillian Woo
• Anne Gruber (Designated Federal Official)

TAP Staff

• Judi Nicholas - TAP Manager - Seattle, WA
• Nancy Ferree - TAP Manager - Plantation, FL
• Sallie Chavez - Analyst - Plantation, FL

Guests

• Therese Hahn - TAS Program Manager

Absent

• Larry Barnard
• Calvin Johnson

Panel Chair welcomed everyone and especially new panel member Jim Griffin.

Roll call
Roll was taken and the quorum is met.

Review of Minutes
The minutes of the October 7, 2002 meeting were previously reviewed and were accepted as written.

Face-to-Face Meeting
Discussion was held about when to have the face-to-face meeting. There were too many conflicts in May so it was agree to have the meeting June 6 & 7.

Discussion was held about where to have the meeting. Anne Gruber put together some numbers and Philadelphia, Los Angeles and St. Louis were the least expensive sites. All three have panel members to sponsor the meeting. It was agreed that the face-to-face meeting would be held in St. Louis.

Schedule for Conference Calls
Chris Lowe and Anne Gruber talked previously about conference calls and found that the 1st Monday of the month would be a good time since much of the other days had already been scheduled by other committees. The conference calls will begin at 1:00 PM PST and last no more than one (1) hour. The only conflict is in September when the 1st Monday is Labor Day. This may have to be cancelled or re-scheduled.

Public Oral Comments
No public comments.

National Licensing of Practitioners
Bob Meldman gave the committee a summary of the sub-committee's meeting. They agree that the issue needs consideration but they would like to wait for Nina Olson's position at the end of the year.

It was brought to the attention of the panel that H & R Block has questions about what types of requirements will be necessary.

Therese Hahn was asked to give any information she has on this subject. She said Nina Olson would like to join in on a teleconference after January 6 to discuss this with the panel. There are analysts pulling numbers for Nina as to how many preparers there are preparing returns and the math errors associated with these preparers.

Maryclare Whitehead on Nina's staff understands that the panel is a listening post and would like to have the panel get feedback from people in their states to see if there are errors with paid preparers and what the feeling is out there.

Therese said there has already been a "White Paper" sent to Congress with a proposal for National licensing so it won't be a big surprise to them if it's in Nina's report. She isn't sure it's being proposed in her report, as she has not seen Nina's Report to Congress.

Since Nina will not be available for the conference call on January 6th, Anne Gruber will coordinate with Maryclare Whitehead to schedule a conference call with the sub-committee before the end of the year.

There was some discussion about the 1040EZ and how so many of these returns are done by preparers and they are so easy. There are VITA sites to prepare returns and also low income tax clinics. It was suggested that maybe kiosks could prepare some 1040EZ returns. It was discussed that it is not that easy. Some taxpayers are afraid to file themselves and then there are the advertisements from preparers about fast refunds or refund loans.

There was also a discussion about the cost of administrating the licensing of preparers. Information is not available at this time. This should be something that can be obtained at a later date. The program could be funded through a licensing fee.

Chris requested that any feedback any panel member received be given to either Sherry Whah (Chair of the sub-committee) or Anne Gruber (DFO). Sherry will get together with Therese Hahn and the sub-committee to put together a survey that they can use to get some information from the public.

Several of the committee members requested copies of the sub-committee minutes. Anne Gruber will get these out to all panel members.

Chris said he would also be sharing his Joint Committee report with all panel members.

Election of Permanent Chair and Vice-Chair
The Chair of the Committee is Chris Lowe and the Vice-Chair is Bob Meldman. Chris asked if there were any nominations for chair or vice-chair. It was requested that both Chris and Bob remain as chair and vice-chair. All agreed. Chris and Bob both accepted.

Closing Comments
Paul Smathers said he found a message on a web site today that IRS will have web based filing. He thought that was interesting and wanted the panel to know about it.

Anne Gruber will get the calendar out to all the committee members with the call in number.

Meeting was adjourned.