Area 1 Committee Meeting Minutes

February 2, 2005

Opening of the Meeting
Ghoniem welcomed all the participants and asked if anyone had changes to the agenda. She announced the participation of Connecticut’s Local Taxpayer Advocate (LTA) Francis Romano, TAS Program Analyst Juanita Corbitt and public guest Douglas Buck of Connecticut. Corbitt introduced herself and thanked the Committee for allowing her to join the meeting as an observer.

Roll Call

Panel Members Attending

• Aaron Bell, NY
• Elizabeth Ghoniem, MA, Chair
• Philip Cimino, NY
• Harvey Epstein, NH
• Harold Gadon, RI
• Elizabeth Ghoniem, MA, Chair
• James Grimaldi, NY
• Michael Guthman, CT
• Dorothy Havey, ME, Vice Chair
• Paul Nagel, NY
• Sanford Searleman, NY
• Eileen Shuman, VT
• Charles Silva, MA

Panel Members Absent

• Paul Nagel, NY

Quorum was met.

TAP Staff Attending

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

IRS Guest

• Francis J. Romano, LTA, Hartford, CT
• Juanita Corbitt, TAS Program Analyst

Meeting Minutes
The note indicating the date of the next meeting as February 5th must be revised to indicate February 2nd. Pending this revision the minutes of January 5th were accepted.

Joint Committee Report
Ghoniem reported on the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) realignment and how this impacted some of the TAP Area Committees by adding or reducing the amount of states represented by these Committees. Luckily, the Area 1 Committee will remain intact. Ghoniem also reported that the TAP has created a new Issue Committee to focus on TAP Communication, both internal and external communication. She said that, at this time, all the Area 1 members should have received notification of this new Committee and should have been solicited to join the new Committee. A specific number of members volunteering to transfer from their current Issue Committees to the new TAP Communication Issue Committee is required to accommodate the size and state representation in all the Issue Committees.

Gorga commented that this new TAP Communications Issue Committee will be beneficial in advertising the TAP. He noted that in his outreach presentations, he meets many people who never heard of the TAP or the TAS. Ghoniem agreed with this comment.

Ghoniem also reported that the TAP is addressing making corrections to its charter in order to have a more accurate reflection of the organization and how it operates. Most changes to the charter are on administrative issues of the TAP such as the number of subcommittees and the term of membership for the TAP members.

Finally, Ghoniem spoke about the TAP’s 2004 Annual Report. She had previously requested that Area 1 members notify Knispel by email on the number of hard copies they want. The hard copies of the Report, Ghoniem said, could be distributed at outreach events but is also available electronically.

IRS Guest
Francis J. Romano, LTA in Hartford, CT was invited to participate in this meeting. Romano indicated that in the past he did not have much opportunity to interact with the Panel. However, this year he has already met with Michael Guthman, Connecticut’s TAP representative.

Romano talked about the IRS’s EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit) pre-certification audit in Hartford aimed at reducing erroneous earned income credit payments by requesting proof of residency of qualifying children and the effects this audit has had on the city. He said that the Mayor of Hartford called this audit a violation of civil rights and discrimination against the 8,200 Hartford families eligible for the credit. The City filed suit against the IRS and Commissioner Everson in an attempt to get an injunction against the audit. Romano concluded by saying that no other issue has had greater impact on the Hartford TAS office; however, it is too early to tell what the overall effect of the audit results will be.

Gadon asked Romano how his TAS office gets its clientele. Romano explained that the practitioner community, the IRS’s toll-free line and the IRS employees refer taxpayers to the TAS office. Also, he added, it has become a practice of his office to send letters each calendar quarter to the local organizations advertising the services of the TAS.

Gadon also asked Romano if he foresees the case volume increasing due to the EITC pre-certification audit. Romano responded that the need for the assistance of the Taxpayer Advocate Service is always greater when enforcement increases.

Subcommittee Report
The elected Subcommittee Chairs reported on their respective subcommittees:

Subcommittee #1 – Epstein, chair; members: Bell, Ghoniem and Cimino.

Epstein was elected subcommittee chair during their first teleconference and Epstein reported that the members decided to consider the issues of: 1) W-4 and multiple jobs, 2) Filing 5500 and extensions, 3) Gambling earnings for the elderly and 4) ITIN – in the order mentioned. The W-4 issue will be prioritized as it is one that could affect more people than the other issues considered. It is also an issue that has a direct impact on the IRS when it comes to collection issues. The issue is headed by Cimino.

The next teleconference for this Subcommittee will on February 11th at 9:00 AM ET.

Subcommittee #2 – Grimaldi, acting chair; members: Gadon, Guthman, Nagel.

Due to conflicts with personal schedules, this subcommittee did not participate in a teleconference and thus no chair was elected officially. The election of a chair will be at their first teleconference. Grimaldi, a returning TAP member, initiated a call to each member to speak on issues that the Subcommittee may consider. They agreed on four issues: 1) Refund Anticipation Loans, 2) IRS Website improvements. 3) Obtaining Form 8109, Federal Tax Deposit coupon from the IRS website and 4) Filing Form 1096.

Subcommittee #3 – Shuman, chair; members: Havey, Searleman and Silva.

Shuman was elected subcommittee chair during their first teleconference. She reported that the issues of interest are: 1) Lack of clarity of IRS correspondence, 2) Adding a Penalty & Interest statement to IRS correspondence, 3) Possible closing of TACs (Taxpayer Assistance Centers), 4) Form 1127, Application of Extension of Time for Payment of Tax.

Shuman is drafting a proposal on the second issue which will be shared with all the members when completed. Knispel participated in the subcommittee teleconference and has invited a couple of IRS employees to join the members at the next teleconference in discussing the issue of the possible closing of the TACs. Shuman indicated that Searleman is interested in the issue of the Form 1127. Searleman explained the purpose of this Form to the members who were unaware of it and said that the problem is the public’s unawareness that this Form exists. We need to advertise this Form and its purpose in IRS literature.

Monthly Teleconference
Knispel indicated that most people agreed to continue the scheduling of the Area 1 Committee’s teleconference on the first Wednesday of each month. The time of the teleconferences has been changed to 3:00 PM ET beginning in March.

Face-To-Face Meeting
Knispel indicated that most members agreed to have the FTF meeting in Boston on June 16-18th. Searleman and Guthman will be unable to attend. Since 2 members are now unable to attend, Ghoniem asked Knispel to revisit the schedules members provided and propose an alternative date that might make 100% attendance possible.

Participation in Meetings
Gorga spoke about the importance of participating in the TAP meetings. He said that the members should vote on the number of absences allowed for a member before the issue of absenteeism begins to affect the subcommittees and the Area 1 Committee as a whole. The Area 1 Committee had a situation in the past, where the members had to make a decision whether or not to remove a member due to lack of participation. Gorga does not foresee this problem occurring again but it should be an expectation of the Committee. Ghoniem agreed with Gorga that the Area 1 Committee seems to be an enthusiastic group. She advised that if a member feels a personal situation conflicting with his or her commitment to the TAP, that member should consider resigning to allow another candidate to fill the member’s position.

Gadon asked what the definition of consensus was. Ghoniem explained consensus is “a general agreement”- when a member can accept (“to live with”), to abide by the majority’s decision. Shuman gave an example of an issue that caused some difficulty for the former Area 1 members in reaching consensus.

TAP Issue Flow Process
Knispel mailed a handout on the Issue Flow Process to all the Area 1 members. The handout explains the route that a proposal takes after submission by the Committee. For example, a proposal from the Area Committee will be elevated to the Joint Committee for acceptance prior to submitting it to the IRS. Knispel will email all the members a copy of the current format to be used in writing proposals.

TAPSpeak
Knispel also mailed a handout for guidance on the use of this website. She encouraged all members to browse this site.

Outreach Report
Most members continued to conduct outreach informally with acquaintances and members of their communities. Gadon reported on his communication with Rhode Island’s LTA Cheryl Egan. He also made a few presentations at the Cranston Central Library and the Citizens Advisory Committee to the Narragansett Bay Commission. Guthman participated at a Stakeholder Relationship Management meeting with LTA Romano. Havey has scheduled a meeting with the Washington Hancock Community Action on March 16th.

Public Participation
Douglas Buck commented that there is a need to advertise the TAP and the TAS since the public, including himself, is unaware of these organizations. These comments were made earlier in the meeting. Ghoniem told Buck that the TAP has a website and urged him to browse it.

Closing Assessment
Ghoniem thanked all the members and guests for their participation.

The meeting closed at 12:30 PM ET.

The next meeting will be on March 2, 2005 at 3:00 PM ET.

Action Items
Knispel will email the Joint Committee Issue Referral Form and the Outreach form.

Knispel will revisit the members’ schedules for a face-to-face meeting.

Knispel will make sure TAPSpeak is updated to reflect Area 1 meeting schedule.