Area 1 Committee Meeting Minutes

February 24, 2004
Teleconference

Opening of the Meeting
Chair Grimaldi asked that Vice Chair Ghoniem chair the meeting due to Grimaldi's unavailability for this meeting. The meeting opened at 11:04 A.M.

Roll Call

Panel Members Attending

• Elizabeth Brodbine-Ghoniem, MA, Acting Chair
• William Gedge, CT
• Peter Gorga, Jr., NY, DFO
• Catherine Kelly , ME
• Diane Mignano, RI
• Paul Nagel, NY
• Eileen Shuman, VT

Panel Members Absent

• Aimee Brace, NY
• Walter Fish, NY
• James Grimaldi, NY, Chair
• Shamsey Oloko, NY
• Charles Silva, MA

TAP Staff Attending

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

Quorum was not met at the time roll call was taken. Therefore, no decisions were finalized. Note: Gedge joined the meeting approximately twenty minutes before it ended.

Meeting Minutes

Shuman's name was misspelled on the previous minutes. Correction was requested. Minutes approved with corrections upon Gedge's arrival.

Subcommittee Reports

Financial Literacy
Ghoniem briefed the members on Grimaldi's activities on this issue. On February 19th, Grimaldi met at the Brooklyn Borough Hall with the Brooklyn Borough President's representatives and with employees of the local Taxpayer Advocate Service and local Taxpayer Education and Communication (TEC) to discuss outreaching to the community and providing financial and tax education. The main purpose of the meeting was to plan for an outreach event in March. Once the agenda of this March meeting is in place, Grimaldi will solicit the participation of other TAP members in the New York area.

EITC Examination
Ghoniem did not have an update but she knows that Grimaldi is working with LITC's attorney Fred Arriaga (a former guest in our meeting) on this issue. Shuman asked Ghoniem if she knew whether or not Grimaldi had obtained copies from Arriaga of the EITC examination notices that she requested from him previously to bring to her upcoming Notices Issue Committee's face-to-face meeting. Ghoniem did not know and advised Shuman to contact Grimaldi directly since Shuman is very shortly leaving to Atlanta for the meeting.

Outsourcing
Shuman indicated that in view of the current news on outsourcing and an email Knispel forwarded to her, the issue of the IRS collection outsourcing should be dropped. Shuman explained that the email was from the National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson to another TAP member who mentioned outsourcing of IRS collection of revenue as an issue for her committee. The NTA advised that the TAP members do not consider this legislative issue in their position as TAP members, only as private citizens. Shuman decided to drop this issue, but reminded the committee that Fish may still continue to work on the IRS's toll-free line outsourcing issue.

Health Insurance Deduction for Employees With No Insurance
Shuman, as chair of this subcommittee, indicated that this is also a legislative issue which the Committee may consider dropping. There is a line on the Form 1040, she noted, that makes taking the deduction possible. Ghoniem noted that a legislative recommendation can be suggested to the NTA rather than to the Joint Committee. Ghoniem suggested that Shuman write up a letter to the NTA to be considered at the next meeting.

Form W-4
Shuman explained that an employer she met at a business seminar recommended this issue be considered. The issue is that the IRS holds the employers responsible for the information contained on the Form W-4s. Ghoniem asked whether this issue conflicted with a W-4 issue being considered by another TAP committee. Shuman said no because this issue is from the employer's perspective. Knispel said however, the issue is not clear. If the Form W-4s are not submitted to the IRS, Knispel asked, in what way are these employers held accountable for the information contained in them? Are they penalized in some way? Knispel will research the matter further and report back to Shuman. Shuman requested to withdraw from this subcommittee for lack of business experience. Nagel volunteered to work with Knispel on it, but asked that it be placed in the parking lot until after April 15th. This issue is now in the parking lot until further decision by the entire committee. In the interim, Knispel will verify what impact misreporting on W-4s by employees has on the employer.

New Business
Ghoniem presented the issue of implementation of new ITIN requirements and documentation to the Committee. A tax attorney who specializes in non-resident aliens referred this issue to her. The main problem is that the new regulations to obtain an ITIN require the applicants to submit the application at the time they file the tax return. The IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers no longer assist people non-resident aliens, so non-residents are directed to the available VITA sites or a toll-free phone number for assistance.

Knispel will also provide the new ITIN procedures to all members so that they can better understand the issue. Ghoniem asked that the TAP staff review and evaluate her recommendations. Nagel expressed his willingness to speak to the attorney to clarify the issue. Discussion of an occurrence where the NTA was involved and which appeared in the news about a TIGTA employee and the investigation of a non-resident alien followed. Shuman asked how NTA Olson heard of the situation and Ramirez indicated that it was through an LITC contact. DFO Gorga gave a brief summary of the occurrence.

TAP Database Referrals

W-4
A taxpayer from Connecticut suggested that the Form W-4 allowed the taxpayers to select their withholding as a percentage of income or as a flat dollar amount (as it currently does). Knispel explained that Area 2 Committee has already developed this suggestion and written a proposal on it. The members recommend this issue be dropped.

Outsourcing in India
There is no veracity to the issue of the IRS outsourcing tax returns to India , Knispel said, as this taxpayer understood it to be from the CBS 60 Minutes program. Knispel sent the taxpayer's referral and the transcript of the television program to the members of the Outsourcing Subcommittee. The transcript indicates that American accounting firms, not the IRS, are outsourcing the preparation of federal tax returns to India to save in wages. The members recommend this issue be dropped.

Ghoniem asked how we are replying to taxpayers who contact the TAP. Knispel explained that it is easy to reply to those contacting us via the TAP website with a canned paragraph; it preserves anonymity. It is not always easy as to reply to those reaching the TAP via the ASPECT toll-free line, she said. Most taxpayers do not give their address or phone number. Ghoniem asked if this is an issue that the Committee should address to the Joint Committee. Ramirez noted that at the CPE staff meeting in Washington, D.C., the staff concurred in requesting the phone number of the caller to acknowledge receipt of the suggestion and inform him/her of the TAP's actions with the suggestion. Ghoniem stated that since there is a procedure in place, there is no issue to address. Ramirez restated that as long as a taxpayer wishes to provide a telephone number or other means of contact, they will receive a reply of the Area Analyst.

Joint Committee Report
Ghoniem could not clearly understand Grimaldi's notes on the news from the Joint Committee. In the best interest to the members, Gorga suggested the topic be postponed until the next meeting.

One issue discussed by the Chair at the last Joint Committee meeting, Ghoniem said, was Nagel's and Brace's recommendation to add a statement about the TAP to the IRS printed material. Nagel would like to discuss this issue further with Brace at a later time and possibly develop it.

Another issue submitted by the Committee that the Joint Committee suggested be looked at further is that of the EFTPS Payment Archive. Does the Committee want to recommend an archive period of 24 months or 36 months? What about payments made by check versus those made electronically?-To be decided at the next Area 1 meeting.

Finally, the Committee received a response from the IRS on the recommendation to waive the $150 fee to apply for an OIC when the applicant is within the poverty income level. The IRS responded that the issue has been extensively examined and the fee does meet the poverty threshold. Ghoniem, author of this recommendation, suggested postponing discussion of this issue until the next meeting.

Ghoniem continued her report on the Joint Committee meeting by saying that those members who volunteered to continue their TAP membership for a third year will remain as members. TAP's Director Coston has recently addressed a letter to those members to confirm their acceptance of the third year membership. Ramirez asked that if anyone has decided not to continue after volunteering to do so, to please inform the National Office. Shuman asked about recruitment. Ramirez stated that the applications will be online at improveirs.gov and the contractor will soon have them available. Recruitment for a New Hampshire member is needed, he/she will probably come on in October. Ramirez noted the press release for the June face-to-face meeting will solicit a member for New Hampshire as well.

Member Gedge joined the meeting at this point (11:44 A.M.). Quorum was met. Members agreed to accept or reject the minutes at this time. The minutes of the January 20, 2004 meeting were accepted by consensus with the correction of Shuman's name.

Ghoniem continued reporting that the National Office has announced that a second face-to-face meeting will be possible for some committees. At the Joint Committee meeting, a decision was made that would allow some Area and/or Issue Committees to hold a second face-to-face. The announcement contained the caveat that the budget did not allow for a second meeting to all the existing Committees. Chair Grimaldi feels that the Area 1 Committee will benefit from a second face-to-face meeting. Discussion on the locations and dates ensued. Shuman recommended holding this second meeting in her town of Brattleboro, Vermont. The members tentatively agreed that September is a good possible meeting month. Ghoniem asked all members to check the calendar for September meeting dates.

Public Input
None

Closing Assessment
Taking advantage of the quorum, Gorga reiterated the members' decision to park the issues of the Form W-4 until after April 15th.

All members thanked Ghoniem for her excellent job in acting as Chair. Meeting closed at 12:04 PM ET.

Next meeting will be Tuesday, March 23, 2004 at 11:00 am ET.

Action Items

• Knispel will check availability of dates in September.
• Knispel will reply to TAP database contacts in order to close them.
• Knispel will correct January minutes and issue to members with the February minutes.
• Knispel will research impact to employees of misreporting on W-4s.
• Knispel will provide all the members the new ITIN procedures and what changes, if any, have been made at the TACs regarding non-resident aliens and assistance with 1040- NRs and ITIN applications.