Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP)
Ad Hoc Committee
Committee’s Face-to-Face Meeting in Plantation, FL
June 11– June 13, 2008

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - IRS Building, Room 204

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

Members Present
Margaret Ferguson, Vista, CA (6/11-6/13/2008)
Joseph Holley, Barboursville, WV (6/11-6/13/2008)
Gim Hom, Acton, MA (6/11-6/13/2008)
Louis Kapugi, Sharpsburg, GA (6/11-6/13/2008)
Jeff Kennedy, Louisville, KY (6/11-6/13/2008)
Lev Martyniuk, Cincinnati, OH (6/11-6/13/2008)
Alberto Rodriguez, Miami, FL (6/11-6/13/2008)
Richard Waterman, Campbell, CA (6/11-6/13/2008)
Kenneth Wright, Columbia, MO (6/11-6/13/2008)

Members Absent
George Bates, Great Fall, MT
Kimberly Brown, Blakeslee, PA
Christopher Freeman, Chaska, MN
Howard Guthmann, St. Paul, MN
Reagan Lynch, Midland, TX

IRS Program Owner(s)
Theresa Fernandez (MLI) (06/12/08)
Patty Wagner, Sr. Technical Advisor, Tax Forms and Pubs (06/12/08)
Bob Erickson, Senior Technical Advisor (06/12/08)

Guest
Juan Puig, LTA, Ft. Lauderdale, FL. (6/12/2008)
Alphonse Piard, Director of Financial Lit Services (6/12/2008)

Staff Present
Donna Powers, TAP Program Junior Analyst
Steve Berkey, TAP Senior Program Analyst, National Office
Anita Fields, TAP Secretary & Note Taker
Inez De Jesus, TAP Program Analyst (6/12/08)

Welcome and Announcements
Chair Alberto Rodriguez opened the meeting by welcoming everyone to Plantation, Fl.

Roll Call-Confirm Quorum
Quorum of 8 was met; 10 members present.

Review and Approve Minutes from May 6, 2008
Minutes were approved by consensus with a minor change on page 2.

Ice Breaker:
There was an ice-beaker where everyone pulled out their oldest penny and whatever year was on the penny the person it belonged to had to tell something profound that happened that year.

National Office Report:  
Steve Berkey is a senior analyst on the director’s staff.  He delivered the message from Bernie Coston.  Recruitment is in the interview phase.  The process was explained.  Steve also mentioned that TAP has about 38 vacancies from either vacancies or people retiring from the panel.

Steve reported that we are going to do three Tax Forums this year as opposed to the usual six.  This was a change due to our budget issues.  He also shared that the annual meeting this year will be held during the week of December 1, 2008 in Arlington, VA at the Sheraton National Hotel.

The Annual Report is almost complete.  It is a very extensive project and we also have some staffing issues.  But we are moving along.

Steve asked the committee if there have been any inclusions in any thing they have reviewed that mention TAP.  He mentioned that there is a TAP section in some pubs under how to get tax help and he feels that is not an appropriate place for them to be.  He asked the committee to think of an appropriate place for the TAP information to appear.

Chair Report
Al Rodriguez stated that the committee has done a wonderful job for those people who actively participate with the panel.  He stated that he hopes that the committee can improve their process and is willing to do all he can to facilitate that. He hopes that during the Annual meeting we can say that the committee has done a 180 degree turn-around.

Subcommittee’s Prep Meeting before Next Day’s Activities:
The committee discussed the process of reviewing pubs. They will confirm with the Program Owners what is expected when they are assigned a pub or form to review.

Status Report on Issues:
Issue 4709—Form 941X—Ken Wright reported that he will write up a formal response.

Issue 4736—Form 541—A subcommittee was assigned.  The sub committee members are Jeff Kennedy, Ken Wright, Joe Holley and Lev Martyniuk with Jeff as the lead.

Issue 4789—Form 542— A sub-committee was assigned.  The sub-committee members are Margaret Ferguson, Lev Martyniuk, Al Rodriguez and Rich Waterman as the lead.

Issue 4800—Free File Spanish Sites—Al Rodriguez along with Josephina Villarreal l from Area 5 will work on the Spanish free file.

Closing remarks/Adjourn for the Day:
Al Rodriguez made a couple of administrative comments and then adjourned the meeting at 4:20pm

Thursday, June 12, 2008 - IRS Building, Room 204
Quorum of 8 was met; 9 members present.

Welcomed/Announcements:
Al Rodriguez opened the meeting with an introduction of guests/program owners Patty Wagner and Bob Erickson.

Tax Forms and Pubs Program Owners
Bob Erickson mentioned that Congress just passed the new Farm Bill on May 22nd.  There is another bill called the Heart Act that is still pending.  Bob completed a presentation discussing the 2008 changes in the tax law.  Some of the law changes he discussed were: Tax Rate on Net Capital Gain and Qualified Dividends, Maximum corporate Tax Rate on qualified Timber Gain, IRA Contribution Limit, Rollovers to Roth IRAs, Phase-Out of Reductions of personal Exemptions and Itemized Deductions and many more. See TAP Space for the entire presentation.

Patty Wagner stated that they are going to link pub 15, 534 and I46 to circular 4.  She also spoke about the fee for DVD and CDs.  The reason for the charge is because it was originally set up for preparers.  The CD is provided free for VITA and other Volunteer Preparers.  The amount of CDs produced is going to be reduced next year, because many of the forms are available on the website.  The comments received regarding Pub 560; some were adopted and some were not and the reasons will be spelled out in the chart that will come back to the committee.  With the Limited Liability Corporation, based on the committee comments we are going to take a look at that. 

Questions and Answers
The question was asked to Bob Erickson; “What do you want us to look at when you assign a pub to us to review?”  We want all comments to include, but not limited to clarity, font size, and design.  The Program Owners feel that all of the comments the committee provides are valuable.  He stated that they will never give a short time frame.  You give us the time you can have it completed and that is what we go with.
The IRS is working on creating a way for taxpayers to view their IRS account online.  Gim Hom asked who actually goes through to ensure that the instructions and calculations of a form are correct.  Bob answered that it is a Tax Form Specialist and then they send it through a review person.

Bob Erickson announced that this will be his last meeting because he is retiring in October.  He thanked the committee for all of the hard work they put in to help Tax Forms and Pubs.

Reporting Requirements for IRS owners
Al Rodriguez asked what specifically the Owners want from us.  Just some clarification is needed.  Al stated that there is a format that all comments should be put in.  Bob Erickson suggests that all comments need to be actionable and concise in order for us to implement.  Al Rodriguez suggested that when we look at forms and pubs to use the acronym SMART (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Reasonable and Trackable).

Opening remarks from MLI Program Owners:
Terry Fernandez said that she hopes that everyone enjoys their gifts and they are previews of what will be handed out at the Tax Forums.  Terry informed the committee that the objectives for MLI is to provide an overview of IRS’ language services program and to discuss the research and improvement initiatives aimed at increasing LEP taxpayer awareness and usage of e-file services.  She mentioned that in the three years, the TAP has provided feedback on the demand for and the efficacy of Spanish products to aid in meeting the needs of LEP taxpayers; and provided feedback on the Interactive DVD, student guide and instructor guide.

The goals and mission of MLI is to equip employees with the tools necessary to breakdown language barriers; and to assist taxpayers, who lack full command of the English language, in meeting their tax responsibilities.  The mission is to provide agency-wide oversight for MLI.  They are responsible for the establishment and implementation of the agency-wide infrastructure to support MLI.

The 2008 IRS MIL initiative is to expand the availability of tax products in Spanish and Chinese, to expand and enhance electronic options on Español web site for educating Spanish-speaking taxpayers about tax responsibilities, to explore options for Spanish language delivery of interactive tax applications currently only available in English and to provide a 12 month over-the-phone interpreter service to provide language assistance in over 170 languages.

Terry shared the MLI partner efforts with the panel.  The TAP assisted MLI by conducting a review of Free-File Spanish sites to promote improvement in services and usability of the site, LEP awareness, to provide feedback on IRS availability of Spanish products in assisting Spanish speaking taxpayers with meeting their tax responsibilities and to provide feedback on how Publication 4445D can be improved.

The future strategy of the MLI is to improve and expand IRS’ offerings to meet the needs of Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and Russian LEP taxpayers.  The next step is to analyze the data collected regarding review of Free File Spanish sites to promote improvement in services and usability of site.  Terry stated that there is going to be a needs assessment on what tax products need to be translated into what languages.

Patty Wagner asked for an update on the Spanish Free-File site.  She wanted to know if anyone had been solicited to help review it.  Al Rodriguez informed her that Josephina Villarreal of Area 5 has volunteered to review the site along with him.  He stated that they will have some feedback by 1 July 2008.

Gim Hom asked how are the top 5 languages determined.  The answer was that the IRS uses the U.S. Census demographics; also the budget limits the amount of languages brought on.  Another question was, how long do you anticipate the need for this being an initiative due to the changes of the generations of immigrants moving to the U.S. being very good English speakers?  The answer was as long as there is an executive order to do so.

Juan Puig (LTA)
Juan Puig informed the panel that the LTA in South Florida handles everything from Sarasota to Key West.  There is a 1-800 number that is provided for taxpayers to use regardless of where they live.  He also explained the process for working cases.  He explained that cases are assigned and worked by skill level.  Once cases are placed into the system they find an available case worker to work the case regardless of where in the country they actually work.  This is what they call case load balancing procedure, so as not to keep the taxpayer waiting if the TAS office in their area is overwhelmed.

Multi Language Initiatives
Juan Puig discussed the brochures that the TAS office uses in an effort to assist taxpayers.  The brochures are in Spanish, English, Korean, Chinese and Russian.  As a result of the MLI initiative TAS has integrated an interpreter service to assist taxpayers.  TAS also has technical officers located at campuses and offices to assist with technical hardship or issue. 

Multi Language Initiatives—LITC
Alphonse Piard is a representative of SANT LA a Haitian Neighborhood Center where they help low to moderate income taxpayers that live in Little Haiti in NE Miami Dade.  There is a population of 250,000 with over 30% living in poverty.  They also partner with LITC and VITA projects.  They use customer satisfaction survey upon completion of a service to determine the need of the community.

Priority Issue Breakouts:
Issue 4518—Pub 590—Lou Kapugi, Margaret Ferguson and Gim Hom is on this subcommittee.

Issue 4710—Pub 3402—Ken Wright, Lev Martyniuk and Joe Holley is on this subcommittee.

Issue 4735—Pub 526—Rich Waterman, Al Rodriguez, and Jeff Kennedy is on this subcommittee.

Wrap up /Adjournment:
Al Rodriguez thanked everyone for today’s work.  He adjourned the meeting at 4:50pm.

Friday, June 13, 2008 - IRS Building, Room 204
Quorum of 7 was met; 9 members were present.

Welcome/Announcements:
Al Rodriguez welcomed everyone to the final day of the meeting.  He went over the agenda for this morning.

Report Out from the Tax Forms and Pubs Subcommittee:
Issue 4518—Pub 590—Gim Hom reported that the pub is pretty good with just a little clarification in the following areas: Table of Contents, page 3, page 7, page 11, page 16, page 21, and page 35. 

Issue 4710—Pub 3402—Ken Wright reported that they found some things that could be left out and some things that can be added.  Ken and Lev will re-write and then do field tests before submitting changes to Program Owners.  Ken thinks that there should be an independent Pub on LLCs.

Issue 4735—Pub 526—Rich Waterman reported that Pub 526 is a very well put together publication. 

Report Out from the Language Services Subcommittee (Ken Wright):
Al Rodriguez explained the response that was presented to MLI regarding the translation of Tax Forms from English to Spanish.  He also spoke on the newest assignment from MLI which is to review the Spanish Free-File site.  It is going to be another push to get more Spanish speaking panel members to help in this effort.

Subcommittee Responsibilities (Al Rodriguez and Nancy Ferree)
Al Rodriguez started the discussion on what everyone thinks the ground rules should be when working with subcommittees.

Ken suggested that there should always be someone in charge and take control. 

Jeff suggested that there be a 4 step process:

1. the chairs of the subcommittee receive comments from all members of subcommittee.
2. gather all comments from subcommittee members into one document.
3. share the combined document with entire subcommittee
4. send document out to entire committee

All members agreed that during the Annual Business meeting that the Issue Committees get more time to meet.

The committee decided that they are going to change the deadline for Pub 541 and 542 from July 1st until TBD.  They are going to discuss the deadline on the July 1 teleconference.

Closing Remarks/Adjournment:
Nancy asked if anyone needs to have a telephone conferencing calling card.  Al Rodriguez thanked everyone for attending and participating in the meeting.  He also reminded everyone to complete their meeting surveys before they leave. The committee by consensus agreed that the meeting should be two full days instead of ½ day, full day, and ½ day.  Ken Wright encouraged the members to run for Chair of the Issue Committee.  He also advised them to talk to someone who is already a chair.  Meeting adjourned at 11:12am.

Next Meeting via Teleconference:  July 1, 2008 at 2:00 PM ET

Certification:  These minutes were approved by the TAP Ad Hoc Committee by consensus on 7/1/2008.