Area 1 Committee Meeting Minutes

September 21, 2004

Opening of the Meeting
Knispel explained that Ghoniem would be leading the meeting in Grimaldi’s absence. Knispel announced Mignano’s resignation and the passing of chair Grimaldi’s father. All the Committee members expressed their condolences to Jim Grimaldi

Roll Call

Panel Members Attending

• Elizabeth Brodbine-Ghoniem, MA, Acting Chair
• Walt Fish, NY
• William Gedge, CT
• Paul Nagel, NY
• Eileen Shuman, VT
• Charles Silva, MA

Panel Members Absent

• Aimee Brace
• James Grimaldi, NY, Chair
• Shamsey Oloko, NY

Quorum was met.

TAP and IRS Staff Attending

• Peter Gorga, Jr., NY, DFO
• Marisa Knispel, TAP Program Analyst

Meeting Minutes
Ghoniem requested and all members agreed that a statement on page three of the August 24th minutes be revised to indicate that after an initial contact, the LTAs did not keep constant communication with the members in their respective states. Shuman did maintain constant communication with Vermont’s LTA Vincent Thibault, however.

Pending this revision, Silva moved to accept the minutes as written and all other members agreed.

Report on Joint Committee Meeting
Grimaldi was unable to attend the Joint Committee meeting in Denver. Ghoniem, who attended in his place, reported the events of the meeting to the Committee. This is a summary:

The Area 1 Committee submitted three proposals. The proposal to “Eliminate Form 2688” was accepted by the Joint Committee and will be referred to the IRS. The proposal to “Add a TAP Statement to Publication 1546” was also accepted with a few changes in the language to conform to the proposal submitted by Area 7 which proposes marketing of the TAP. Finally, the proposal to add lines to the Schedule D was not accepted. The Joint Committee was concerned in adding requirements to the taxpayer to send additional information to the IRS. This issue was subject of another committee’s proposal which the Joint Committee rejected. Some of this Committee’s members who are not tax practitioners suggested that a mock up of the recommendation should be submitted when a proposal is on a form or publication. Ghoniem promised to bring back the proposal and the suggestions made at this meeting to the proposal’s author and requested that Silva reconsider the proposal. Fish volunteered to assist Silva on a possible revision.

The issue of tax preparers outsourcing tax returns was discussed. The National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA) Nina Olson requested that the TAP refrain from considering this issue.

A TAP handbook with guidelines to current and new members will be distributed at the TAP’s Annual Meeting in November. This handbook will also be available online. A pocket media guide will also be distributed that will provide guidance for outreach presentation and media interviews.

TAP Director Coston will be conducting exit interviews via email. It was unclear how these interviews could be anonymous if they are done by email.

The issue of addressing legislative issues was discussed and the idea of addressing them to the Ad Hoc Committee which would in turn address them to the NTA. Ghoniem did not agree with this idea because it would add another layer of bureaucracy whereas the committee could directly address them to the NTA as done in the past by Area 1. All the members agreed. The issue will be decided by NTA Olson.

Another issue was that of committee chairs. The maximum term for a committee chair is two years. When discussing the elective process of the Joint Committee Chair, the members discussed electing this Chair from the current members and electing a chair elect (or vice chair) from the new members. At the end of the first year, this chair elect would become the Joint Committee Chair. A question raised was why restrict the chair elect to a new member since when the current Joint Committee Chair Seuntjens was elected the members did not know one another. This issue created great discussion at the Joint Committee meeting as well as this meeting. The issue will be raised to NTA Olson and the Joint Committee will make a decision thereafter.

Area 1 FTF Meeting in Brattleboro, VT
The members discussed the agenda for this meeting. Ghoniem suggested that the committee be flexible in following the agenda and adapt to the circumstances of the meeting since we expect a large public attendance. Two changes were made: 1) limit the Joint Committee Report by Ghoniem to five minutes to allow the TAP Director more time to discuss the issues covered at that meeting, and 2) to extend the lunch period on the second day of the meeting to one and a half hour since all participants will have to leave the premises for lunch.

Shuman discussed available restaurants and sightseeing in the area. She also stated that a local newspaper will publish an announcement of the TAP meeting.

Public Participation
None

Closing Assessment
Ghoniem thanked everyone for attending.

Action Items

• Silva and Fish will review and revise the proposal on the Schedule D Loss Carry-forward.

Next meeting will be Monday, September 27th and Tuesday, September 28th, 2004 in Brattleboro, Vermont.