Date: May 4, 2004 (3:00 PM – 4:30 PM EDT)
Via: Teleconference

Roll call was taken by TAP Program Analyst Inez E. De Jesus
Quorum= 9; quorum was met, 9 members and the Designated Federal Official (DFO) were present on this call.

Designated Federal Official (DFO)

• Terry L. Mapp

Panel Members Present

• Richard (Dick) Bobb, NC
• Anthony DiMartino, NJ
• Karen Kerrigan, VA
• Robert Maziarz, NJ
• Patrick McCombie, DE
• David L. Meyer, NJ, Chair
• Theodore Perros, D.C
• Leonard Steinberg, NJ
• Faith Vinikoor, MD

Members Not Present

• Mary Balmer, NC
• C. Morgan Edwards, NC
• Jerry Gensiejewski Jr., PA
• Calvin Johnson, VA
• Manning H. Mosley III, PA
• Robert Taylor, PA

TAP Staff

• Nancy L. Ferree, TAP Program Manager
  
• Inez E. De Jesus, TAP Program Analyst/Scribe

Welcome/Announcements
Chair David Meyer opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and sharing that he realized several weeks ago that he must prioritize his professional responsibilities due to the demands placed on him lately by his new job. At that time, he spoke to Vice-Chair Mary Balmer about Mary taking the lead of this committee and she communicated to him that she was having the same conflicts due to her job obligations and priorities. Meyer expressed regret that Mary was not on this call in order to share her own point of view.

Meyer went on to share that he will be stepping down as Chair and Mary as Vice-Chair; both intend to continue to participate as members but not in a leadership role. This leads to two positions that need to be filled, Chair and Vice-Chair for Area 2 TAP.

Address Area 2 Leadership/Election for Chair/Vice-Chair
When Meyer asked the committee who would be interested in fulfilling these two vacancies, there were no responses.

Meyer then asked Dick Bobb if he was interested in being Chair for the remainder of the term and Bobb said he could not due to other commitments. At this point, DiMartino and Vinikoor made some inquiries on what was needed in order to assist Meyer and the committee. By this point, Meyer said he would remain as Chair but he will not be able to participate on some of the upcoming face-to-face meetings, such as the upcoming Joint Committee later on this week due to job commitments. Chair expressed that he would need someone to fill the void when he was not available.

DiMartino and Vinikoor volunteered to fulfill the positions of Co-Vice Chairs for the remainder of the term and the committee agreed by consensus. This would be a new position.

TAP Program Manager shared that she and Inez had recently reviewed the committees’ “Operating Procedures” and that she did not see any reason why the committee could not operate with two Co-Vice Chairs. Action item: Committee will review their “Operating Procedures” during the next meeting to see if any changes need to be made. (Agenda item).

Update on face-to-face meeting

• Chair Meyer proceeded to clarify some confusion there may be out there and share his perspective regarding the Area 2 face-to-face meeting. Meyer had been told that if the committee did not have an agenda to justify a face-to-face meeting, then a meeting should not be held.
• Meyer then stated that he sent out an email to the committee requesting “Proposed Agenda Topics”. Not all committee members responded; he received about 5 responses, and two of these were in support of not holding the face-to-face meeting. A teleconference meeting was then held between, Ferree, DFO Mapp, Balmer, De Jesus, and David. After reviewing the agenda items submitted, since some of the issues were already being addressed by the IRS; thus, a decision was made not to have a face-to-face meeting. David expressed surprise at seeing that the decision was reversed.
• At this point, Program Manager Nancy Ferree shared that when David and Mary decided to step-down, she saw the issue of having a face-to-face meeting in a different light. She did not want to see the committee punished; she felt the meeting will cement the team.
• Meyer stated at this point that Dick Bobb’s proposed suggestion to leave a “road map” of lessons learned for the newly reconstituted committee is one that has a lot of merit and would like the committee to consider for future discussion. Meyer wondered if these could be covered in future teleconference meetings.
• Dick Bobb asked whether the face-to-face would be well attended by the committee? He also emphasized that he feels it is very important for this committee to review what activities worked well and what didn’t work well. During the next few months, this matter should be addressed. He advocates that the committee focuses on setting recommendations that would provide for more effective volunteer participation in the future and ensure more success for the Area 2 TAP. DiMartino concurred with Bobb.
• Since the committee agreed that this was a good idea and an agenda item for the face-to-face meeting, Dick Bobb volunteered to chair this portion of the meeting, since David Meyer will not be able to attend due to a business trip to California on that same week (which was scheduled and confirmed at the time it was agreed that there would not be a face-to-face meeting). Bobb believes that this topic should take about four hours for discussion and he envisions the committee breaking out in groups. Bobb has had a lot of experiences with volunteer work. He will focus on the successes, gripes, leadership skills and responsibilities. David advised that whatever is done is done within the context of the TAP Authority.
• Steinberg shared that he will be representing Area 2 at the upcoming Joint Committee meeting in Chicago, ILL., May 6-8, 2004. He informed the committee that he was not in favor at one point of holding the face-to-face meeting, but now feels there is a need to establish some groundwork without re-inventing the wheel. The committee should put their ideas down on paper/ for the record. Leonard requested from the committee that they let him know what issues they would like discussed at the Joint Committee face-to-face meeting. Action item for the entire committee. Respond to Steinberg by Thursday morning, May 6, 2004. Also, Inez is to share with Steinberg the Chair’s reports on “what committee has done and what are their goals”.
• DFO Mapp shared that “we did decide at one point not to have the face-to-face meeting”, and she now agrees with Nancy that with the stepping-down of David and Mary, perhaps it will help to bring renewal to the whole process.
• Nancy Ferree stated that she appreciated the honest and candid input being expressed, and that although she does not have a vote on this committee, but as the Program Manager, she did not want to see the committee fall apart. She feels that this committee is very viable.
• Based on a question from DiMartino, Ferree responded that she had polled the members regarding the face-to-face meeting and 11 out of 15 members stated they would attend; 2 said no, and 2 did not return her call.
• Vinikoor shared that she noticed last year that the committee came together after they had their face-to-face meeting in D.C. A suggestion Vinikoor made is that in the future, the committee may consider under “lessons learned” that future face-to-face meeting(s) be held earlier in the year.
• Summary:
  1. Meyer will continue to be the Chairperson of this committee.
  2. DiMartino and Vinikoor, new position: Co-Vice Chairs for Area 2
  3. There will be a face-to-face meeting in D.C., June 11 and 12, 2004.
  4. The committees’ “Operating Procedures” will be reviewed by the committee.
  5. Dick Bobb will chair part of the face-to-face meeting which will address the “Lesson Learned & Roadmap for future Area 2 TAP”.
  Action item: Bobb will be providing input for the draft agenda. Chair Meyer has some ideas he wants to bring forward and he will make sure these are included in the draft agenda.

Motion to move July 6th teleconference to July 13, 2004
Steinberg reminded everyone that a Tax Forum will be held in Atlantic City, NJ on July 6th and that some of the panel members may be in attendance and he made a motion that the teleconference be changed to July 13th instead, at the usual time. Committee agreed by consensus. Action item: Inez is to annotate the changes on TAP Master Calendar and inform all parties concerned of this change.

Revised Power-of-Attorney Issue 2919
Chair Meyer shared with the committee his experiences with the recently revised Power-of-Attorney Form 2848. He had noticed that the revised form was requesting the paid preparer’s social security number which should not be required to be disclosed. He immediately brought this to the attention of Nancy and Inez who researched this matter and followed-up immediately resulting in the IRS correcting the form and issuing on the website a new form without the request for the representative’s social security number.

Meyer applauds Nancy and Inez for their immediate attention and follow-up to this matter. Meyer also expressed his gratitude towards a letter that Nancy had written to the Service- “job well done”!

Meyer also stated that he believes some of the erroneous forms might have been caught in between and that the rejections have been remedied.

Steinberg chimed in and stated that he read about some other group which caught this same matter also and that he too was impressed with how everyone at the IRS assisted in resolving the problem in a very short period of time.

Review/Approve Minutes from meeting on March 2, 2004
(Note: April 6, 2004 teleconference meeting was cancelled)

These minutes were approved by consensus.

Action Items from Prior Meeting
The only action item from the previous meeting minutes was for Nancy Ferree to arrange a teleconference meeting with a Subject-Matter-Expert for the sub-committee that is addressing the issue of Improving IRS Informational Bulletins. Records show that the teleconference with the Subject-Matter-Expert took place on March 9, 2004.

Status Reports from Sub-Committee Chairs

Form 1041 Issue #1309 (Mc Combie)
No Comment

Improvements to IRS Informational Bulletins Issue # 2389 (Perros)
Dr. Perros stated that he would have information to share at the upcoming face-to-face meeting.

Update on Elevated Issues (Telephones Issue # 70 and W-4 Issue # 494)
Chair Meyer reported that both of these issues have been elevated and accepted by the Joint Committee.

Steinberg shared that he is aware that the W-4 issue is going to Program Owner Margie Kinney from Small Business/Self-Employed (SBSE) and will be getting special attention.

Others chimed in and stated that the Area 4 committee and EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit) Issue committee have also done a lot of work regarding the W-4 issue.

Finalize Agenda Items for upcoming face-to-face meeting-
“Recap Committee’s Successes/Activities over the past 2 years and Lessons Learned”-Action item: Dick Bobb will be providing input for this portion of the meeting agenda.

Review of New Issues

Issue #2808, IRS Employee’s Email & Direct Number Be on Notices:
Analyst De Jesus reported that the following issue was received as a result of an outreach event Steinberg attended.

Background: Practitioner experienced a total of a 50-minute wait on an IRS toll free number when he responded back to a correspondence received from the IRS.

Issue Statement: 1) Practitioner suggests that the IRS Employee’s email address should be on the correspondence sent out to the practitioners. 2) Employee’s direct extension should be included besides the toll free number provided as a contact number. This will save a lot of time for the practitioner.

Discussion:

• Vinikoor stated that on the audit report you are led to believe that the person noted on the report can address your problem. This is misleading and not customer service. The National Taxpayer Advocate’s (NTA) 2003 Report to Congress addresses this matter. Vinikoor also shared that the EITC Issue Committee has brought up similar concerns to the Program Owner.
• DFO Mapp stated that due to the IRS’ infrastructure, the sharing of employee’s email addresses is not a good medium to use and should not be pursued.
• The committee agreed that this seemed like a legitimate complaint and that a response should be sent out to the Practitioner supporting the NTA’s position and that a copy of the report be sent out as well.
  Action item: Vinikoor volunteered to prepare the response to the Practitioner.

Issue # 2917, Request Previous Years 1040 Information is Made Available On-line:
Background: Anonymous suggestion came in requesting to make it possible to access figures from previous years 1040 returns on-line.

Issue Statement: Previous years 1040 return information should be accessible to taxpayers on-line.

Discussion:

• Meyer addressed that there may be a security problem/disclosure issue.
• Vinikoor recalled a transcript that was once provided to taxpayers.
• There have been changes made to what is being issued at Taxpayer Assistance Centers.
• DFO Mapp suggested that Inez research what is currently being given out to Practitioners.
  Action item for Inez: to obtain this information and have available for the committee at the next meeting.

Outreach Efforts

• Leonard Steinberg shared that he will be doing some TAP outreach next Monday, May 10, 2004, when he attends the “Institute of Management Consultants, New Jersey Chapter” meeting which will be discussing “Running a Small Business.
• Dick Bobb shared that he did a local radio interview as discussed during the last meeting, and that he was invited to speak at local Kiwanis Club meetings for sometime in July and August of 2004.
• Faith Vinikoor inquired about Theodore Perros participation at the D.C. Tax Preparation & Information Fair back in February 2004, but he was not available to response.

Administrative News from the DFO
No news to report this month.

Public Input/Closing Assessment
None

Chair confirmed next meeting: face-to-face in D.C. June 11 & June 12, 2004

Chair adjourned meeting.

These meeting minutes were reviewed and approved by the Area 2 committee on July 13, 2004.