Area 1 Committee Meeting Minutes

August 26, 2003
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT
Teleconference

Welcome/Annoucements/Review Agenda
Chair Walter Fish opened the meeting by stating that the approval of the prior meeting minutes would not be conducted until the next meeting since he was aware that quorum would not be met during today's meeting.

Chair Fish also shared an email he had received from Panel Member Abigail Alicea stating her resignation. This results in the change of Area 1 Committee's quorum from 8 to 7. Chair Fish will be elevating this information to TAP Director to ensure that arrangements be made for a replacement for a representative from the State of New Hampshire.

Roll Call- taken by TAP Program Analyst Inez E. De Jesus

Quorum= 7

Total Members Present=4

Panel Members Present

• Walter Fish, NY, Chair
• Peter Gorga, Jr., Designated Federal Official (DFO)
• Eileen Shuman, VT
• Charles Silva, MA

Members Not Present

• Aimee Brace, NY
• Elizabeth Brodbine Ghoniem, MA
• William Gedge, CT (Excused)
• James Grimaldi, NY, Vice-Chair (Excused)
• Catherine Kelly, ME (In travel status to EITC Committee meeting in Atlanta)-(Excused)
• Diane Mignano, RI
• Paul Nagel, NY
• Shamsey Oloko, NY

TAP Staff

• Area 1, Program Manager Sandra Ramirez
• Area 2, Program Analyst Inez E. De Jesus

Guests

• None

Review/Approve Minutes of June 20 & 21, 2003 & July 22, 2003
Although these minutes cannot be approved they were reviewed which resulted in the following:

Action required: June 20 & 21, 2003, “Charles Silva, MA” is shown as being absent when he was actually present (as attested/confirmed by DFO Gorga) and this correction needs to be reflected.

Regarding the July 22, 2003 Area 1 meeting minutes, no change.

Sub-committee Reports
The Area 1, Mid-Year Assessment Report, October 9, 2002-June 21, 2003, was reviewed and Panel Member Eileen Shuman made the following recommendation:

Action: The “Action Taken” list should be moved and aligned next to the list “Issues under Current Consideration”.

Action: “Health Insurance for Employees With No Insurance” last item listed under “Action Taken” should be changed as follows to reflect: “Health Insurance Deduction for Self-Insured Persons”.

Since there is a short period of time between the next committee meeting, September 23, 2003 and the Annual Business Meeting, October 2-4, 2003, the updated Assessment Report will be most likely approved at the Annual Business Meeting.

Chair Fish will be elevating the suggestion of not having a meetings in July and/or August 2004 since this is a difficult time for many.

Under the title of “Disappointments” (Mid-Year Assessment Report) Charles Silva raised the issue and the other members present agreed that last minute notification of changes for meetings does not work for everyone. Charles suggested that the norm should be at least 48 hours in advance since not all panel members have easy e-mail accessibility.

Panel Member Shuman reminded everyone that since new procedures is to have agendas, meeting minutes, etc., will be more often than not now posted to “TAP Speak”, this will result in less emails being sent out. Everyone will be responsible for accessing TAP Speak and obtaining information that way. Program Manager Ramirez stated that if anyone was experiencing problems with accessing “TAP Speak” to please bring it to her attention.

Mention was made of today's meeting not being posted on TAP Speak and Program Manager clarified that this matter had been taken care of - all the Area meetings are posted.

Chair Fish expressed that meetings should not be scheduled that will take members away from another meeting. The EITC face-to-face meeting in Atlanta, recently scheduled for tomorrow, August 27th, resulted in a couple of members not being available for today's call since they are in travel status. Program Manager Ramirez explained that this was the result of a last minute decision to hold an EITC meeting, and is not and will not be the norm.

New Issues
No new issues will be discussed during this call; Chair Fish briefly shared that there was supposed to have been a public participant on this call which he had spoken to earlier whose issue is related to the auditing of tax returns and the unfairness regarding the people they select. This individual was not on this call.

Panel Member Shuman commented on Panel Member's Elizabeth Brodbine Ghoniem's August 22, 2003, proposed recommendation on some type on forms 1099 being sent at the end of the 2003 to taxpayers, regarding this summer's advance payment of the child tax credit, based on the Issue: proposal excerpt reads “When taxpayers receive a mid-year tax refund or advance credit, they do not always save the documentation that accompanies the check and during tax season have no record of how much the credit was for”.

Ms. Shuman complimented Ms. Brodbine-Ghoniem on the recommendation she prepared and suggests that issues include the timesavings for the taxpayer and for the IRS. “Anytime we work an issue we should look at it from all sides.” The members expressed that this was an excellent suggestion.

Committee discussed that if any new issues arrive by September 2003, they should be considered.

Panel Member Shuman shared that she had not received yet any confirmation regarding her travel reservations for the upcoming Annual Business Meeting in D.C., October 2-4, 2003. Shuman needs to know since she plans on taking her family.

Action: Program Manager Ramirez will check with Secretary Patti Robb who is handling this matter. At the writing of these minutes, Sandra and Meredith called member Shuman. Meredith explained, on August 26, 2003, to Shuman that she will shortly complete the air travel portion for her.

Chair Fish shared that perhaps there may be a program for family members since the committee members will be occupied during the entire scheduled timeframe. He also stated that he will inquire when he attends the Joint Committee Meeting in Denver next week.

DFO Gorga mentioned that a draft agenda for this upcoming Annual Business meeting has already been prepared and that Secretary of Treasury, John Snow and IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson are scheduled to be in attendance.

Joint Committee Report
Chair Fish shared that the Report to National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson is in process and it is not clear on how many issues of all the committees will be in this report. It would be interesting to see how many TAP issues are reflected.

Chair Fish inquired about his not receiving TAP Contact Database reports with new issues. Program Manager Ramirez shared that although the lines in the Brooklyn, New York TAP office have been up and running for several weeks, no TAP related calls have been received. Regarding website comments, if there are any received by next month's meeting, Program Manager Ramirez assured Chair that they will be distributed to the committee beforehand.

Action for all panel members: (Time to reflect) for those who do not wish to remain on the committee, a request is being made to please let Chair Fish and Program Manager Ramirez know of your choice at your earliest convenience.

Panel Member Shuman supported the 3-year term, which would allow for a continuous flow of members and a mixture of experiences with the incoming and outgoing volunteers – and also asked whether members would be asked to stay or would have to volunteer him or her self. Program Manager Ramirez said the logistics of the process are not fully worked out yet.

Chair Fish stated that by October 2003 a lot of unanswered questions will be figured out.

Public Input
None

Closing Assessment
Chair Fish apologized for the lack of attendees during this call and expressed gratitude towards those that were on the call.

Next meeting: September 23, 2003 at 1:00 PM, EDT