Purpose and Responsibilities
The Committee's purpose and responsibilities are to:

1. Represent their designated geographic area aligned with one of the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) areas, act as an IRS "listening post" and bring grassroots taxpayer issues from their area to the IRS.
2. Use listening and outreach opportunities to interact with citizens, tax professionals and IRS employees. The Committee will prioritize grass root taxpayer issues, concerns and ideas on improving IRS service and customer satisfaction. (Outreach opportunities may include but are not necessarily limited to any or all of the following: civic and community group speeches, staffing booths at fairs and forums, town hall meetings, employee group meetings.)
3. Liaison with local IRS program owners to monitor and address the status and progress of grassroots taxpayer issues that are not service-wide in scope.
4. Elevate grass roots taxpayer issues and ideas that are service-wide in scope to the TAP Joint Committee.
5. Contribute to the preparation of an annual report to be submitted to the IRS and the Secretary of the Treasury on TAP goals, progress and accomplishments.

Authority
The establishment and functioning of the Committee is authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury's authority to administer the Internal Revenue law under Section 7801 of the Internal Revenue Code. That authority is delegated to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue.

Since there is a continuing need for taxpayer input on improving IRS service and customer satisfaction, the Committee will be in existence as a sub-committee of the TAP for an indeterminate period.

The Committee will serve as an advisory body to the IRS TAP Joint Committee, IRS program owners and other IRS stakeholders on ways of improving IRS' service and customer satisfaction.

The Committee may discuss its recommendations with IRS program owners. However, Committee members may not commit IRS funds for their recommendations. IRS program owners are the key decision makers for each issue.

Membership
The Committee's membership consists of the individuals identified in Attachment 1. Committee members will not be paid for their time or services, but will be reimbursed for travel-related expenses to attend meetings and orientation sessions, in accordance with U.S.C 5703.

Members of the Committee will select one member to serve as the Area Committee Chair.

A TAS Local Taxpayer Advocate (LTA) from the aligned TAS area, assigned to the Committee, will serve as the Designated Federal Official (DFO) who is authorized to call and adjourn all Committee meetings. TAS LTAs who serve in this collateral duty assignment will rotate out of the Area Committee's DFO position every two years.

Area Committee Chair's Responsibilities
The Area Committee Chair will lead and chair all Committee meetings, working with the DFO to set agendas and determine meeting frequencies, times, types and locations. If the Area Committee Chair cannot be present, he/she may designate the Vice Chair to perform his/her duties.

The Area Committee Chair will:

1. Manage the Committee's consensus decision making process ensuring that all sides of every issue are heard and evaluated fairly
2. Serve as a spokesperson for the Committee
3. Act as a liaison with the TAP Chair and staff, IRS Operating Divisions and Functions
4. Is responsible for providing the committee's input for the TAP annual report

Designated Federal Official's (DFO) Responsibilities
The Designated Federal Official is an individual designated by the agency head for each advisory committee. The DFO will serve as the Treasury's agent for all matters related to the Committee's activities. The DFO may delegate their responsibilities to another IRS employee.

The DFO must:

1. Approve or call the meeting of the advisory committee
2. Approve the agenda
3. Attend the meetings
4. Adjourn any meeting when he or she determines it to be in the public interest
5. Chair the meeting when so directed by the agency head
6. Ensure the committee's input is included in the TAP Annual Report

The DFO must be present for a meeting to occur. Prior to any decisions made concerning the commitment of resources, the DFO will consult with the TAP Program Manager.

Members' Responsibilities
Committee members are expected to serve the term of their appointment as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury; participate in meetings and focus groups; solicit taxpayer input on specific issues and channel feedback to the IRS; and identify, prioritize and elevate specific taxpayer concerns as necessary to the IRS.

A member who fails to attend three consecutive regular business meetings of the panel without good cause, as determined by the Chair, may be recommended for removal by majority vote of the panel members. The Treasury Department makes final determinations on removal. Prior to calling for a vote to recommend removal, the vote must be scheduled for panel action at least one meeting in advance of the meeting during which a vote will be taken. Written notice of the proposed recommendation for removal will be given to the affected member at least three days in advance of the meeting at which the vote will occur. The member will be allowed to address the panel prior to a final vote.

Committee members are expected to:

1. Exhibit a willingness to explore new ideas
2. Express their views openly and in a timely manner
3. Participate actively in problem solving discussions
4. Contribute their own knowledge and experience to the Committee's deliberations on issues
5. Ask questions and request additional information as needed on the issues brought before them
6. Treat each other as equals in the decision-making process
7. Attend meetings regularly and in their entirety
8. Commit themselves to accomplishment of the Committee's purposes and goals
9. Prepare themselves in advance for the meeting discussions
10. Listen to other Committee members' views and proposed solutions
11. Adhere to the Committee's operating procedures and behavioral ground rules
12. Practice the principles and techniques of consensus decision making
13. Accept responsibility for their role in the outcomes and implementation of consensus decisions and recommendations in which they participate
14. Prepare an annual meeting plan/proposal to include meeting frequency, methods and locations

Meetings
The Committee will meet at least quarterly, with the Area Committee Chair and DFO determining how frequently the committee will meet. A notice in the Federal Register must be published at least 15 calendar days prior to an advisory committee meeting. The notice must include the committees name, time, date, place and purpose of the meeting, and summary of the agenda.

The Committee's meetings will be coordinated with the DFO and will conform to all applicable FACA regulations. The DFO must be present for a meeting to occur. The IRS will approve and fund allowable meeting costs. To the extent possible, the Committee's meetings will be held by virtual methods-for example, teleconferencing, web conferencing, interactive video, TAP web-site based interactive discussion and bulletin boards, and the like. The Committee will hold at least one face-to-face meeting in conjunction with the Annual Conference and Orientation.

The Committee will consider using the facilitation services of the IRS when appropriate and when a mutually acceptable facilitator is available.

Agendas
All members of the Committee may contribute items to the agenda. The Area Committee Chair and DFO may add, revise or delete agenda items between meetings when necessary and appropriate. The DFO must approve the agenda prior to the meeting.

Time will be reserved prior to the adjournment of each Committee meeting for group discussion of proposed agenda items for the next meeting. Items not addressed or completed at one meeting will be retained on the agenda for the next meeting. Each agenda item will have a discussion leader.

All agenda items submitted for the Area Committee Chair and DFO to determine whether they should be placed on the agenda for Committee review and resolution will review consideration by the Committee. The number of items selected for any agenda will be determined on the basis of the degree of urgency, and the agreed upon length of the meeting. Exceptions to this process will be made only for issues of extreme urgency.

Agendas will be set and disseminated, along with background information, for receipt five days prior to Committee meetings. This information will also be available to any interested party upon request.

To further assist in building the agenda, the staff will provide issue reports generated from the TAP Contact Database. The reports will provide the committee the following information:

1. Number of contacts
2. Source of contacts (e.g. toll free, congressional offices, correspondence)
3. Outcome of contact (e.g. referred to panel, other agency, TAS)
4. Number of contacts by issues (e.g. collection process, customer service issues, electronic filing)
5. Statement of issue, research and analysis completed by the TAP staff for each issues

The Committee will use one or more of the following criteria to identify issues that warrant its attention:

1. Balanced input on the issue has been received from TAS, W&I and SB/SE.
2. Resolution of the issue would support the IRS' strategic goals.
3. The issue is in the "design" phase.
4. Resolution of the issue would address taxpayer burden reduction.
5. IRS program owners have a commitment to getting pre-decisional input on the issue from TAP.
6. The issue has been raised by and is of concern to a significant number of taxpayers.

Decision Making
The Committee will use consensus process, whenever possible, to reach decisions that all members can live with and publicly support.

A quorum for decision-making purposes will consist of at least _____ Committee members. Notwithstanding the presence of a quorum, the Committee may defer making a decision if it determines that one or more key stakeholders are absent. Committee decisions may be revisited only by consensus of the full group in attendance at the meeting; it will be the responsibility of those wishing to revisit decisions to convince other Committee members of the need to do so. This procedure will also apply to amending the Committee's charter and operating procedures.

In those situations that the Committee believes it does not have sufficient information to make a decision, the issue in question will be referred back to the submitting entity or individual. A member of the Committee will be assigned the tasks of communicating Committee questions and concerns to the submitting entity or individual, and determining if and when the issue will be resubmitted.

The Committee may use any or all of the following methods to acquire and maintain a consistent and adequate level of issue-relevant knowledge among its members: (1) sub teams or task groups to work in depth on specific sub-issues and provide recommendations or data to the Committee; (2) standing working groups to provide further information and detail as needed; and (3) informational briefings arranged by the DFO.

For example, in some circumstances, it may be appropriate for the Committee to charter a sub team or task group to study a sub-issue and bring back a recommendation to the full Committee. In such situations, the Committee is responsible for providing a specific definition of the task, a timeframe for its completion, and one or more Committee member(s) to serve on the sub team or task group. It may also be necessary and appropriate to ask non-members of the Committee to serve on the sub team or task group, when special expertise unavailable on the Committee is required.

Decision Implementation
TAP staff will liaison with IRS program owners concerning the decisions made by the Committee.

Minutes
Resources from the TAP office will be provided for recording minutes. Staff will distribute draft minutes by email within five work days after each meeting, highlighting issues and decisions, receive approval of the minutes from all Committee members with necessary revisions within ten work days of their receipt of the draft minutes, and distribute the revised and approved minutes to Committee members, IRS program owners and other IRS stakeholders within 15 work days of the Committee meeting.

Meeting minutes will contain the agenda and summarize the key decisions reached, action items agreed upon, assignments of responsibility and timelines for completion of the action items. Minutes will be available to the public as provided by FACA requirements. Minutes will be posted on the TAP web site at www.improveirs.org.

Communications
The Committee will establish communications vehicles to convey and share input, information, and successes among TAP members, TAP staff, and stakeholders. The Committee will develop a communications strategy that includes a bottom-up as well as a top-down information sharing process.

Self Assessment
The Committee will conduct an annual self-assessment of its climate and performance. This self-assessment will be completed in conjunction with the input to the annual TAP report to the Secretary of the Treasury. The Committee will maintain an on-going interactive dialogue with the TAP staff on the Committee's climate and performance.

Support
The IRS' TAP staff will provide all necessary support for the Committee (space, e-services, telecommunications, travel, training, etc.). The TAP staff will provide one analyst to support the Committee. Committee members will be given training and briefings as needed in understanding the issue before them and applicable FACA rules and regulations.