Area 1 Committee Meeting Minutes

October 4, 2003
Washington, D.C.

Opening of the Meeting
Chair Fish welcomed all members. He explained that Ghoniem was excused since she had to return home to attend a funeral. The issue of absenteeism was discussed and the chair requested that members asked to be excused when they know they would be missing a meeting.

Roll Call

Panel Members Attending

• Aimee Brace, NY
• Walter Fish, NY, Chair
• William Gedge, CT
• Peter Gorga, Jr., NY, DFO
• James Grimaldi, NY, Vice Chair
• Catherine Kelly, ME
• Diane Mignano, RI
• Paul Nagel, NY
• Shamsey Oloko, NY
• Eileen Shuman, VT
• Charles Silva, MA

Panel Members Absent

• Elizabeth Brodbine-Ghoniem, MA

TAP Staff Attending

• Marisa Knispel, TAP Program Analyst
• Sandra Ramirez, TAP Program Manager

Approval of Minutes
The minutes of September 23, 2003 teleconference were approved with a brief change under Report on Joint Committee. The Chair asked that minutes be printed with page numbers noted.

Subcommittee Reports
The members agreed to elevate the proposed recommendations on “Newspaper Carriers” to the Joint Committee.

New Issues
Shuman requested that there be a system to cross reference under consideration issues in all the Area and Issue Committees. A member mentioned the Issue Matrix provides this, however the issue matrix is not updated often. Knispel suggested placing a bucket in TAP Speak for issues that were elevated and a bucket for those currently being considered and that each analyst keep it up to date. This would allow for easy and updated access on issues throughout all TAP committees. All agreed.

Financial Literacy
Grimaldi will be working with the Brooklyn Borough President to research the best type of educational program on Financial Literacy to implement in the school system. He will also be attending a Fordham Law school event with Fred Arriaga, a Low Income Tax Clinic attorney. Knispel said that the IRS's “Understanding Taxes” program material is only available via the IRS website. This program provides the material needed by schoolteachers to teach tax responsibilities to students. Gorga added that recommendations on financial literacy would mean that the IRS organizations dealing with education would have to redesign the IRS website according to the educational needs of the public. He also added that Fordham Law School's Elizabeth Mareska might be able to provide material/ information on tax education.

Outreach
Gorga indicated some possible outreach opportunities for the upcoming months. On October 16th, the Taxpayer Advocate Service in conjunction with Small Business/Self-Employed organization will conduct an outreach in Madison Square Garden. On October 24th, there will be another one in the Yonkers, NY. On November 14th, White Plains, NY will have one. Finally, the Conference for Enrolled Agents and CPA's will take place on November 19th in Long Island, NY. Gorga suggested that members interested in participating call him for more information. He will also notify members as more outreach opportunities become available throughout the states. Ramirez asked that all outreach go through the TAP Area 1 office. The office is responsible for tracking the outreach activities of the members and reporting it upward, as well as approving funding for outreach expenses.

Ramirez asked members to inform her of any planned outreach opportunities and asked that members notify her office when they are in need of having TAP marketing/outreach materials sent to them. Kelly stated that on October 20th, Bentley College in Massachusetts will be holding the IRS's Tenth Annual Meeting and it would be a great opportunity for a member of that state to participate . Ramirez will follow-up with the local taxpayer advocate's in the other states to see how TAP can fit into their outreach plans.

Gorga said that another great outreach opportunity for members is attending local clinics set up by congressional offices that service senior and lower income citizens. For instance, Congresswoman Maloney and Congressman Rangel are currently planning a clinic with the Taxpayer Advocate Service. Gorga suggested that at the next teleconference, we plan the type of outreaches we want to do and try to coordinate our plans with IRS organizations' plans for outreach.

Gorga commended the members for the five elevated issues. He said that it was the members' outreach effort that brought in these issues as compared to other Area Committees that rely solely on the TAP Database to build recommendations on issues. His opinion is that this Database does not offer substantial issues to follow up and elevate.

Members wish to have a media specialist attend a Committee's meeting to discuss outreach possibilities and media relations. Members would also like to have copies of the materials distributed at the Annual Meeting's Outreach Workshop if possible.

EITC Examinations
The members discussed the issues that guest Arriaga presented at the last teleconference. Arriaga's main concern is that communication between the taxpayer or taxpayer representative during an EITC correspondence examination must be better than what it currently is. Among his concerns was the fact that neither the auditor nor someone knowledgeable about or having access to the exam file is reached when the telephone number on the notice is called. The taxpayer /rep should have real access to the status of the taxpayer's examination (i.e., what docs have been received, are they satisfactory, what other docs would be better, etc…).

Fish requested that a subcommittee be formed to look at these issues. Grimaldi will chair and Mignano, Brace and Kelly volunteered to join. Their subcommittee will be called EITC Examinations Communications.

TAP Database Referral
Fish reviewed a referral from the TAP Database of a taxpayer who received an IRS notice addressed to her deceased husband. The notice was addressed with his first name and the word deceased after it. The taxpayer felt that this is insensitive of the IRS to address letters to deceased relatives using the word deceased. Knispel will research IRS's policy on addressing correspondence where a deceased taxpayer is involved and report back to the committee.

Other New Issues
Nagel suggested that all IRS publications, forms and instructions contain a brief description of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel. Nagel and Brace will work on this issue.

Shuman suggested that Area 1 meeting minutes contain Action Items listed for follow up.

Kelly spoke about Form 2333V used by VITA/TCE volunteers to order IRS publications, forms and instructions. She wondered whether TAP members who need any of the above could use this Form to place an order. She said that for the non tax practitioner TAP members it would come in handy to be able to order forms and publications. Ramirez asked members to use this form to obtain products . R amirez explained that even if the form could be used, all orders would have to come through the TAP staff office since there are certain internal order numbers that must be used. Knispel reminded members that they could order all hard copy materials by calling the Forms toll-free number (1-800-829-3676) and place an order.

DFO Report
Gorga thanked all members for their hard and productive work this past year. He finds it a privilege and an honor to work with such committed volunteers.

Program Manager Ramirez agreed and reiterated Gorga's words.

Annual Assessment Report
When discussing disappointments, Gedge mentioned the lack of IRS assistance in outreach. Grimaldi noted that the first thing IRS staff did when TAP was formed was to give members the name and contact information of their LTAs. The LTAs were also notified and asked to contact the TAP members in their states.

Shuman's disappointment was that some members lack participation in the committee. Nagel added that because some members' chair other committees and are heavily involved with them, their participation in this committee might be diminished.

Discussion continued on the progress of issues as reported in the Mid-Year Assessment Report. Fish will write the Annual Assessment Report and forwarded to the staff.

Future Meetings
Area 1 Committee's face-to-face meeting plan for the upcoming year was discussed. Tentative dates and locations were: First meeting- December 7, 8, 9, 2003 in New York City; Albany as alternate location. Second meeting - June 6, 7, 8, 2004 in Portland, ME.

Teleconferences will continue to be scheduled the fourth Tuesday of each month, however committee agreed to change the meeting time to 11 a.m. ET to better accommodate the majority of the members schedule. No teleconference will be scheduled for December due to the planned face-to-face meeting.

Public Input
None.

Reconfirmation/Reelection of Chair and Vice Chair
Following a voting by ballot process, Grimaldi was named Chair of Area 1 and Elizabeth Ghoniem was named Vice Chair.

Closing Assessment
Fish thanked all members and staff for their participation. Meeting closed at 12:15 P.M. ET.

Action Items
Fish will report his assessment of the Committee with the Annual Assessment Report.

Knispel will place elevated issues and issues currently worked by the committee in TAPSpeak.

Knispel will research the issue of how the IRS addresses correspondence to deceased taxpayers.

Knispel will elevate the proposed recommendations on “Newspaper Carriers” to accordingly.

Grimaldi will research NYC's plans on financial literacy programs.

EITC Exam subcommittee to begin drafting ideas, requesting research/info, etc…

Ramirez will follow-up with the local taxpayer advocates in the other states to see how TAP can fit into their outreach plans.

Ramirez will work on having a media specialist attend a Committee's meeting to discuss outreach possibilities and media relations, and, follow-up on the list used in the Annual Meeting's Outreach Workshop.

Ramirez will follow-up on the form 2333V.

Brace and Nagel will write up a draft recommendation for publishing the TAP note on all published products.

Next Meeting
Next teleconference will be Tuesday, October 28, 2003 at 11:00 A.M. ET.