Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP)
IRS Forms & Publications/Language Services

Meeting Minutes

Committee’s Face-to-Face Meeting in DC
Fairmont Hotel –Lindens Conference Room
December 13, 2007, 9:15 am – 12:30 pm

Designated Federal Official (DFO)
Nancy L. Ferree, TAP Program Manager, Plantation, FL

Members Present
George Bates Jr.
Kimberly Brown
Margaret Ferguson
Joseph Holley
Gim Hom
Louis Kapugi
Jeff Kennedy
Lev Martyniuk
Alberto Rodriguez
Richard Waterman
Kenneth Wright

Members Absent
Christopher Freeman
Howard Guthmann
Reagan Lynch

Staff Present
Anita Fields, Secretary
Nancy Ferree, DFO

Guest(s) Present
Marilyn Correa, Acting Chief, MLI Strategy Office
Maritza Rabinowitz, MLI senior Analyst
Patty Wagner
Carole A. Barnette

Welcome & Roll Call/Quorum
Nancy Ferree opened the meeting welcoming all returning and new members to the Tax Forms and Pubs/Languages Services (TFP/LS) Issue Committee meeting.  Roll Call was taken and Quorum was met.

Announcements & Introduction of Members & IRS Leadership Team
All members introduced themselves.

Approve Minutes of November 8, 2007
The minutes were approved as written by consensus.

Ad Hoc’s 2007 Accomplishments
Translated brochure into Spanish to go along with inter-active CD for our Spanish speaking population.  The TAP MLI subcommittee was very instrumental in making this happen.  Carole Barnette stated that Tax Forms and Pubs office is really pleased with the work of the Ad Hoc committee.  She reviewed the amount of help that the TAP provided.  The reviewing of pubs, reviewing of forms, Pub 553 and 600 and the 1040 instructions.

Election of Committee’s Chair & Vice Chair
Alberto Rodriguez has been elected as the Chair and Kenneth Wright was elected as Vice Chair.

Confirm Teleconference Meeting Dates, Times and DC Face-to-Face Meeting(s) for 2008 - * Also seek guidance from IRS Leadership on Face-to-Face Location
Teleconference meeting has been scheduled for the first Tuesday of every month at 2pm EST.  Beginning February 5, 2008.  The Face to Face is scheduled for June 11-13 2008 in Washington, DC.

Establish Quorum and Discuss Consensus
Quorum has been established as greater than 50%.  Consensus has been discussed and understood.

Presentation by IRS Leadership on Plans for 2008
Carole Barnette presented to the committee the Tax Product Development Cycle and explained how it worked.  She shared that the next product is the 1040EZ instructions.  Patty Wagner asked the committee to look at Pub 560 retirement plan and Pub 590 IRA and the 1040EZ instructions and would like to have something back by June 2008.

Maritza is looking at what messages they are lacking in the Spanish brochures and instructions.  What English products that will need to be developed in Spanish.  If there is any outreach material that we want to be translated in different languages.  Language Services Branch would also like for the committee to look at the English irs.gov website and compare it to the Spanish irs.gov website to see what can possibly be changed or improved for the Spanish website. 

Patty Wagner discussed the process on how new forms and pubs issues are to be handled with the Tax Forms and Pubs Program Owners. 

Review and approve Issue 4270 on Form 8850
Alberto Rodriguez will follow-up with Chris Freeman and provide feedback to the rest of the committee.

MLI Brainstorm Session on Ways to Provide Input to the IRS
Al Rodriguez asked in what ways the TAP can provide input to the IRS as far as MLI is concerned.  Maritza wanted Al to clarify what was meant by providing input. Al indicated TAP would like for MLI to assist with ideas on issues or assignments the TAP members would be able to work on. Maritza also stated that MLI would like to hear about any issues concerning MLI, therefore if the TAP observes or hears anything to please bring it to her attention.

Assign Sub-committees
The committee has decided to assign subcommittees as work comes in.

Begin Work on New Projects
Richard Waterman, Kenneth Wright, Jeff Kennedy and Joe Holley have volunteered to work on Pub 560 Retirement Planning with Richard Waterman as the lead.  Louis Kapugi, George Bates, Margaret Ferguson, Gim Hom and Lev Martyniuk have volunteered to work on Pub 590 IRA with Louis Kapugi as lead.

Discuss Ad Hoc Committees
It was discussed how Tax Forms and Pubs Issues will flow that come in from area committees.  It was confirmed that as they come in they will go from Inez DeJesus to Patty Wagner, then back down to Inez.

Confirm First Teleconference for 2008
Next meeting is confirmed for February 5, 2008 at 2:00 pm EST.

Meeting Adjourned
Meeting was adjourned at 12:00 pm.

*Certification:  These minutes were approved by the committee by consensus on 5 February 2008.