November 21, 2002
3:00 - 5:00PM EST
Teleconference Meeting

Participants (Committee Members)

• Mary Balmer (Chairperson)
• Richard Bobb
• Anthony DiMartino
• C. Morgan Edwards (Vice Chair)
• Jerry Gensiejewski Jr.
• Calvin Johnson
• Karen Kerrigan
• Robert Maziarz
• Patrick McCombie
• David Meyer
• Manning H. Mosley III
• Theodore Perros
• George Pruchniewski
• Lou Romito (Designated Federal Official)
• Harvey Schiff
• Doreen Scott
• Leonard Steinberg
• Faith Vinikoor

Staff Members

• Nancy Ferree (Program Manager)
• Inez E. De Jesus (Recorder)

Visitor(s)

• Robert Taylor

1) Welcome/Announcements/Review Agenda
Temporary Chairperson Mary Balmer began meeting timely by welcoming everyone. Chairperson extended a special welcome to the committee members, David Meyer from New Jersey and Patrick McCombie from Delaware, whom did not attend the TAP Orientation on October 7-9, 2002 in Alexandria, VA; also, the recently selected committee members Richard Bobb from North Carolina, and Harvey Schiff from South Carolina were welcomed.

2) Roll Call
TAP Program Analyst De Jesus took the roll call; quorum was reached since at this time 16 committee members were on the call besides the Designated Federal Official (DFO) Lou Romito. Visitor Robert Taylor was welcomed when he identified himself. For the record, by the end of the call, it was learned that all 17 committee members participated. DFO Romito asked for acknowledgement from any participating citizens. He received none.

3) Review/Approve Minutes, Operating Procedures, Ground Rules
Minutes from October 8, 2002, and operating procedures and behaviors between and during meetings were reviewed, and accepted by consensus.

4) Election of Chair and Vice-Chair
Chairperson Balmer reminded all that since we were still waiting for an additional member to be selected to this committee, she will be holding the temporary Chair position until this selection is finalized. At this point, re-election for permanent Chairperson and Vice-Chair will be conducted. (There were no objections.)

Chairperson addressed the issue that Temporary Vice-Chair, C. Morgan Edwards has decided to step down from this position due to his recent selection as Vice-Chair on the Notice Issue Committee. Area 2 members were asked to vote for a temporary Vice-Chair, but agreement was made to wait until the official elections for permanent positions are held.

5) Future Meeting Planning
The committee agreed to hold monthly teleconference meetings the first Tuesday of every month, as well as two face-to-face meetings during the program year.

The Designated Federal Official, Chairperson, and Program Analyst shared with the members that there is no information yet on the TAP Budget, but we are to plan meetings until September 2003. The Program Analyst conducted a cost analysis for a face-to-face meeting in Washington, DC area during the end of February 2003, and the cost will be approximately $20,000.00.

Selection of the permanent TAP Director Deryle J. Temple was announced.

The following is the schedule of future Area 2 committee meetings as agreed by consensus:

TBD=to be determined

6) Local Travel
The Designated Federal Official Romito and TAP Program Manager Nancy Ferree clarified the requirements and procedures for reimbursement.

Chairperson shared information from the Joint Committee meeting she attended on November 19, 2002. One of these is the required "TAP Speaker Request and Report" form which panel members were requested to start using prior to any outreach activities. Procedures established is that this form be sent to the Area 2 Program Analyst who will submit to the Program Manager for approval.

Action item: DFO Romito will research the regulations regarding Tort Claim coverage when a panelist travels on government business at no charge to the government.

7) Citizen Expressing Interest in Becoming Panel Members
The Designated Federal Official shared the process in place when a citizen expresses an interest in becoming future panel members. As a result of the newspaper article which appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on October 30, 2002, entitled: "Trying to ease taxpayers' woes-Area residents are advising the IRS" -Jim Hartman from Wayne, New Jersey and Ervin Toll from Cherry Hill, New Jersey both contacted the TAP Staff Office. The names and addresses of these individuals are kept in the TAP database for reference when recruitment is conducted in the future.

8) Media Related Activity/TAP Website
The TAP website address: www.improveirs.org was shared with all.

Committee discussed how media coverage in certain areas were not as active as in others, e.g. in Charlotte, North Carolina. Program Manager Ferree encouraged members to make direct contacts through their local Media Specialist. (list previously provided to all)

Program Manager Nancy Ferree is currently coordinating all activities that are posted to the web site. These should be funneled through the Area 2 Program Analyst.

The TAP mission statement, future-meeting dates, meeting minutes, and member's information will be posted on the web site. All were advised to visit this site. There are various links on this site including one for visitors to make comments.

Committee expressed concern on how they were to deliver a consistent message. The Chairperson shared that currently a subcommittee is being established to work on the designing of a "TAP PowerPoint Presentation" and she asked for volunteers, and Patrick McCombie expressed an interest. Chairperson will be submitting Mr. McCombie's name to the PowerPoint subcommittee coordinator Program Manager Sandy Mc Quin.

9) Process for Submitting Agenda Items
These are to be sent to the Chairperson and Designated Federal Official.

10) Outreach- (How do we accomplish?)
Committee expressed concern on how they were going to get the TAP message out. Members Theodore Perros, Anthony DiMartino, and Harvey Schiff shared their experiences so far.

Members Faith Vinikoor and George Pruchniewski shared their upcoming participation with the Practitioner Seminar to be held in Baltimore, Maryland on December 6, 2002. DFO Romito will work with the Baltimore Local Taxpayer Advocate to attempt to get a separate table for TAP and will contact the Baltimore IRS communications staff in an effort to arrange media coverage for TAP participation in the practitioner institute.

It was suggested that committee members liaison with their local IRS/Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) offices, in order to develop contacts for networking with the operating division taxpayer education teams.

Committee member Harvey Schiff also shared his invitation to the local IRS office, Stakeholder Relationship Management Committee (SRMC) meetings with statewide IRS managers. Mr. Schiff will be attending future VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) and Practitioner training classes as a result.

Chairperson Balmer shared with all the upcoming "Webinar" her employer is sponsoring on December 16, 2002, whereby Chairperson Balmer will be conducting a brief presentation of TAP, explaining its mission, etc. Additional information is forthcoming.

Chairperson Balmer addressed the recent draft "Issue Form" she had sent out to all and requested that it be used by all members from now on. She expects to receive by no later than November 25, 2002, any suggestions for changes to the form.

Commitment was made to begin to fill out form and it will be entered into the current database system.

It was shared with all that TAP outreach/marketing "Speak up" materials, are on order and these will be distributed to all upon receipt by the TAP Staff.

11) Taxpayer Suggestion #1203
The Designated Federal Official shared Contact Database Control#1203, suggestion received from citizen/taxpayer Elizabeth Dodd. Ms. Dodd's suggestion regarding the need for the "simplicity of IRS Forms"- the emphasis on the "logical sequence" was discussed and clarified. Committee member Dick Bobb volunteered to contact Ms. Dodd and obtain additional information regarding if Ms. Dodd had a specific form in mind.

The Committee held a brief discussion on the feasibility of modifying the IRS notices that are sent to taxpayers to include a mention of TAP and its purpose, and to provide the TAP toll-free number. The members generally commented that approach would blur the independence of TAP from IRS. Additionally, the suggestion would encounter resistance from the IRS Notice Clarity team, and even if successfully implemented, would overburden the TAP call sites as taxpayers would call the TAP number to get tax information rather than wait for help on the regular toll-free assistance telephone lines.

Action item: Committee member Dick Bobb will share his findings after discussion with Ms. Dodd with all panel members by next meeting January 7, 2003. (Agenda Item) At that point committee will address whether this is a suggestion that warrants being elevated.

Action item: Committee members requested that Program Analyst De Jesus mail out copies of prior success stories from the original Citizen Advocacy Panel(s), e.g. Previous Annual Reports.

12) Fraud Form
Designated Federal Official Romito provided information on the IRS Form 211, Application for Reward for Original Information, based on an email sent by committee member Jerry Gensiewski Jr., which addressed this form. DFO Romito shared the existing problems due to "Disclosure" issues under IRC Section 6103 regarding status reports on the processing of a reward claim.

Action item: DFO Romito will be sending out to all background information on the fraud referral process.

13) Monthly Report to Joint Chair
Chairperson Balmer shared with all that by the 14th of each month she is responsible for submitting a monthly report to the Joint Chair, which indicates all AREA 2's activities. Emphasis was made on the importance of filling out the TAP Speaker and Issue forms in order to capture all pertinent data.

14) Public Input
No comments

15) Closing Assessment
All comments were positive.

TAP Program Manager inquired about committee's preference in receiving emails vs. weekly mailings. Discretion will be used by the TAP Staff to indicate on all emails, "action vs. information only" and mail out weekly hard copies of information items.

The next teleconference meeting will be on Tuesday, January 7, 2003, from 3:00pm-4:00pm EST.