January 7, 2003
(3:00-4:00PM EST)

Participants (Committee Members)

• Mary Balmer (Temporary Chairperson)
• Lou Romito (Designated Federal Official)
• Richard Bobb
• Anthony DiMartino
• Karen Kerrigan
• Patrick McCombie
• David L. Meyer
• Manning H. Mosley III
• Theodore Perros
• Harvey Schiff
• Doreen Scott
• Leonard Steinberg
• Robert Taylor
• Faith Vinikoor

Staff Members

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

Members Not Present

• C. Morgan Edwards
• Jerry Gensiejewski Jr.
• Calvin Johnson
• Robert Maziarz
• George Pruchniewski

Quorum: 11

1) Welcome/Announcements/Roll Call
Temporary Chairperson Mary Balmer began the meeting by extending a welcome to all participants.

Program Analyst De Jesus took the roll call, and a quorum of 11 was met as per Area 2, Mid-Atlantic States Operating Procedures. For the record, there was no public participation.

In addition, Chairperson Balmer welcomed recently selected Robert Taylor who had been waiting patiently to be selected.

David L. Meyer attended the Joint Committee Teleconference meeting on December 17, 2002, on behalf of Mary Balmer and provided a brief overview to all.

All panel members that were selected after Orientation will be given the opportunity to participate in a "make-up orientation" by teleconference on January 9, 2003 at 11:00am EST. Recently selected members confirmed that they had received an electronic invitation from Program Manager Nancy Ferree with all the pertinent information.

Tentative "make-up orientation" for those who miss the January 9th teleconference will be on January 16, 2003.

2) Election of Chair and Vice-Chair
Designated Federal Official (DFO) Lou Romito reported the following results received from the email he had sent to all:

Chairperson: Mary Balmer
Vice-Chairperson: David L. Meyer

Since there were no objections, these will go on record as being Area 2's permanent Chair and Vice-Chair and "Congratulations" were extended to both Mary and David.

3) Review/Approve Minutes of November 21, 2002
Minutes from the prior meeting were reviewed and all agreed that once a minor correction was made to one of the future meeting dates listed, the minutes would be recorded as accepted.

The following are action/follow-up items that were not discussed during this meeting due to time constraints. These will be added to next month's agenda:

1. DFO Romito will research the regulations regarding Tort Claim coverage when a panelist travels on government business at no charge to the government.
2. Issue# 1203-Request for Simplicity on all IRS Tax Forms-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.
3. Committee members requested that Program Analyst De Jesus mail out copies of prior success stories from the original Citizen Advocacy Panel(s)-(CAP's), e.g. Previous Annual Reports. Completed - On November 26, 2002, Florida CAP's Annual Reports for 3 years were sent out to all committee members. Also, on this same date, Pacific North-west CAP's first annual report was sent to all.
4. DFO Romito will be sending out to all background information on the fraud referral process.

4) Meeting Times & Frequency
Chairperson Balmer suggested increasing meeting times and frequency in order to make the best use of the committee's time. The committees' primary objective is to spend more time discussing issues.

The committee agreed by consensus that all future teleconference meetings will be extended to ninety minutes. (No objections)

Updated Future Meeting Dates (new timeframe indicated in "bold")

5) Flowchart-Illustrating the Process for Working the Issues
DFO Romito addressed "how are we working the issues from now on"- and reviewed the process as indicated by the flowchart. There were certain areas of the flowchart that were not clear.
Action item: DFO Romito will obtain clarification on the process of handling and elevating issues at the next TAP Staff Meeting scheduled for Wednesday, January 8, 2003, and report back to the committee.

Chairperson discussed the possibility of using a spreadsheet format to list all issues received, and to send this spreadsheet out to the committee members on a periodic basis asking them to volunteer for those issues that may be of most interest to them.

6) Issues
Until the Process for working the issues is clarified, the following issues (#1203, 1204, 1206, 1209, 1210, and 1211) as noted on the agenda, will be placed on hold and possibly added to next month's meeting agenda.

7) Outreach Activities Since Area 2's Last Meeting
Panelist Harvey Schiff from Florence, South Carolina shared his recent experience whereby he attended a local meeting for Tax Professionals. There were approximately 250 in attendance. Mr. Schiff gave a brief presentation on the mission of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel. Also, Panel Member Schiff distributed TAP outreach "Speak up" flyers at this event.

Panelist Faith Vinikoor, from Baltimore, Maryland, informed the committee on recent outreach she was involved in with Panelist George Pruchniewski (also from Baltimore, Maryland). This was the annual Federal and State Tax Institute. Panelist Vinikoor mentioned that there seems to be some confusion between the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) and Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP).

Panelist Vinikoor suggested that when a committee member is invited to an event, it's a good idea to request to get on the agenda, in order to spread the word out on the existence and purpose of this panel. This is also a positive avenue to partner/liaison with the IRS. All agreed.

DFO Romito spoke of his upcoming outreach at local shopping malls during the filing season as part of an annual TAS outreach activity. At these events, tax preparation assistance is provided and DFO Romito plans on using this event as an outreach for TAP.
Action item: DFO Romito will be sending out IRS contact points to all.

Chairperson Balmer shared her recent Webinar outreach event and is considering using this with TAP. DFO Romito shared that he had conducted research to determine if the IRS could do same but learned that the program in existence is for internal use only.

Vice-Chairperson Meyer shared that he is currently working on the possibility of broadcasting his involvement with TAP to his law firm clients, soliciting their ideas, suggestions and comments. He intends to keep the panel informed of his progress in this endeavor.

Chairperson Balmer also shared that she sent an email to all employees of the company she works for, in both the Virginia and Florida locations, soliciting ideas, suggestions and comments, using the tag line "What is it about the IRS that most annoys you?" She was very pleased with the responses received as a result of the email. These responses were all entered into the database and will be prioritized and assigned out to committee members for review.

A question arose with respect to the process for acknowledging comments received from the public.
Action item: Program Analyst De Jesus will provide Chairperson Balmer with "canned messages" the staff uses when emails are received from the public via the website.

In response to a question about how we can best make the public aware of our upcoming face-to-face meeting, the panel members were advised to establish relationships with their local Media Specialists in an attempt to get this information published.

8) Public Input/Closing Assessment
Panel member Patrick McCombie provided the committee with a status report on the TAP Powerpoint Presentations task force team on which he currently serves. Their next meeting will be on Tuesday, January 14, 2003. Mr. McCombie shared that they are focusing more on accomplishments than on history of prior CAP's. Mr. McCombie will be sharing the final draft to all via Program Analyst De Jesus as soon as it is available.

Panel members agreed that taxpayers continue to feel intimidation with respect to the IRS and as a result there seems to be reluctance from the public to "speak up" and share their concerns with panel members. Everyone agreed that the TAP independence from the IRS should be emphasized at all outreach activities. All agreed that "if we identify ourselves with the IRS, we are defeating ourselves and the mission of TAP."

Panelist Schiff inquired about the placement of TAP Outreach Flyers at local Taxpayer Assistance Centers (formerly known as walk-in offices) and the feedback received was that it would probably be better to find other venues like Low Income Tax preparation offices, AARP, or VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) organizations.

Action item:
The committee will be informed by email of the specifics regarding their first face-to-face meeting scheduled for February 28-March 1, 2003, in the DC Area.

Next teleconference meeting will be held on February 4, 2003, from 3:00pm-4:30pm EST. The dial-in number and pass code will remain the same.

February 4, 2003