Area 1 Committee Meeting Minutes
August 21, 2007
Teleconference

Designated Federal Official

• Fallacaro, Betsy - Boston, MA - DFO

Committee Members Present

• Barry, Shaun - Franklin Square, NY - Member
• Epstein, Harvey - Lee, NH - Member
• Gadon, Harold - Cranston, RI - Member
• Havey, Dorothy - Lincolnville, ME - Chair
• Jason, Julie - Greenwich, CT - Vice-Chair
• Margulies, Howard - North Easton, MA - Member
• Whiteside, Deidra - Buffalo, NY - Member
• Zgoda, Bruce - Clarence, NY - Member

Committee Members Absent

• Chen, Betty - New York, NY - Member
• Colombo, Paul - Colchester, VT - Member
• Hom, Gim - Acton, MA - Member

TAP Staff

• Goldberg, Gloria - Brooklyn, NY - Manager
• Knispel, Marisa - Brooklyn, NY - Analyst
• Jenkins, Audrey - Brooklyn, NY - Analyst
• Odom, Meredith - Brooklyn, NY - Note Taker

Welcome
Havey welcomed members and staff

Roll Call
Quorum met.

Joint Committee Report
At the August JC meeting, committee chairs were asked to canvass the members and gather suggestions on how the TAP chair elections could be handled this year. Including who should be allowed to run for TAP chair. Should the TAP Chair elections exclude new members? A member suggested that it may be a good idea to select a TAP Chair at the beginning of the Annual meeting because this will leave availability for others who do not win to run for other Committee Chair positions. It was also suggested that members throw in their hats for TAP Chair election prior to the annual meeting with a short bio so members can familiarize themselves prior to the 5 minutes campaign speech. All suggestions, Dorothy Havey will forward to the JC.  

Linda Stiff is the new Acting Commissioner for the Internal Revenue Service.

The new TAPSpace page is up and running and Dorothy encourages everyone to read Bernie Coston’s National Office update.

Recruitment is well underway.  All interviews have been completed and recommendations for selections have been discussed and forwarded to Nina. There have been discussions on how to bring in alternates and include them on the happenings of TAP.  There will be an alternate replacing the recently resigned Luis Parra joining the panel at the Annual Meeting.

The TAP Annual Report for 2006 is out and is on TAPSpace.

Subcommittee Report-Out
Subcommittee 1
The committee reviewed the status of some issues that were being worked and for most of the issues require additional research.  The subcommittee is currently working on:

• 3 Day rule for transmitting e-returns:  We are researching whether this rule applies only to VRPP or to all paid preparers as well.  Harvey Epstein sent an e-mail with this question to Jeff Bledsoe. 

• Use and disclosure by Intermediary Service Providers (ISP)

• BPOL (Banks, Post Offices and Libraries) program and the late distribution of forms to libraries. Audrey continues work on getting a SME to address the sub-committee regarding this issue.  Audrey determined that the late availability of paper forms has been an annual occurrence.  Dorothy will prepare a proposal for dealing with the problem of making paper forms available earlier especially for rural, disadvantaged and elderly taxpayers that may find it difficult to e-file.

• Getting tax return information from the IRS:  Issue closed.

• Form 1099 was issued to a TP for a subsidy they were given to defray costs of daycare provider for their children. Deidra Whiteside could not provide more information.

• We decided to park the issue and reopen it if more information becomes available.          

• W-4 Compliance - Audrey Jenkins will research W-4 compliance regarding employee requests for exempt status.  What does the IRS check?  When?  Are there penalties or does the IRS reset the W-4 information to some default state if the rules are not met?  Are there penalties for employers with a large number of employees claiming exempt status inappropriately?  We need information on whether and how the IRS confirms eligibility to claim exempt status.

• Documentation requirement for charitable deductions. Audrey will research this further to try to find out how many take charitable deductions. With that information we will be able to determine whether enough taxpayers are affected to justify working the issue. We all agreed that the $0 threshold seems too low. Audrey:  will also research where the rule came from and is published so if we decide to recommend a change we will have a reference document in which the change can be placed.

Subcommittee 2
The committee was working Schedule D and the lost carryover line response. The subcommittee composed a letter dated July 10, 2007 to Bob Erickson that was forwarded to the JC. At the recent JC meeting it was suggested that an effort could be made to respond in a more personal manner. There could be a call made to hold a one on one conversation with him to discuss the response. Marisa Knispel will contact Bob Erickson to set up a meeting. Knispel forwarded the original proposal as well as the letter to the Burden Reduction Program Owner because they are currently working on a Schedule D project. They may be able to support the committee with this proposal.

The committee has also been working on:

• required minimum distribution

• Self Select Pin – Hal Gadon is suggesting having another call with Jeff Bledsoe at which time Marisa could present the number of rejects attributed to the self select pin for the past year. Gadon also requested that anyone who has any relationships with paid practitioners, question them and see if they use the self select pin.

• 1040X proposal – Harvey will forward to all members and the committee for approval. – by consensus the committee approved with corrections to move this proposal forward to the JC.

Designation Federal Official Report
Betsy Fallacaro, DFO informed the committee that there will be an AARP Convention being held in Boston on September 6-8, 2007. She explained that this would be a wonderful outreach opportunity and extended an invitation to all members who are interested in attending. All interested is requested to send their request to Audrey for approval of funds.

Outreach Report-out by Members
N/A

Issue Committee Update
N/A

Office Report
Audrey reminded everyone that the Annual Meeting will be held in Washington, DC on December 11-14, 2007.  Dorothy asked if anyone has given any though to running for Chair of Area 1 since this is her last year as a TAP member.  She encouraged everyone to give it a thought.

As far as recruitment, there will be members from all states including Vermont.

Marisa reviewed the list of parking lot issues with the committee to determine it any of the items should be removed;

Issue # 3519 - LITC – Education – (referred by Gwen Handelman (former TAP member) after she participated at the LITC National Conference - Keep
Issue #2907 - ITINs – POA – Remove
Issue # 3158 - Form 1099 – Remove
Issue # 3995 - TE/GE Customer Service Toll-free line - Remove

Audrey suggested to the members take a look at the entire issue list to see if there are any issues the committee may want to adopt.

Public Participation
N/A

Next Meeting September 18, 2007 9:00AM ET