Area 2 Committee Meeting Minutes

Date: February 15, 2006
Via: Teleconference

Designated Federal Official

• Eileen DeLeo (Acting for Terry Mapp)

Members Present:

• Bill Bly, Wayne, PA
• Paul Brubaker, York, PA,
• Emilio Cecchi, North Bethesda, MD, Vice Chair
• JoAnn Davis, Scott Depot, WV
• Blanche Davis, Rehoboth Beach, DE
• Sonny Kasturi, West Orange, NJ
• Paul McElroy, Pfafftown, NC, Chair
• Martin Romeril, Bethlehem, PA
• Steve Rue, Mechanicsville, VA
• Lynwood Sinnamon, Arlington, VA
• James Tarpey, Sunset Beach, NC
• Elizabeth Warnecki, Ladson, SC
• Beadsie, Woo, Durham, NC

Members Absent:

• Lee Congdon, Washington, DC
• Robert Haines, Lebanon, NJ
• Bessie Moore, Mt. Laurel, NJ

Staff Present:

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

Welcome
Chair Paul McElroy opened the meeting by welcoming everyone. He reminded everyone that we had a lot to cover on the agenda and asked if anyone had any objections to remaining on the call if we ran over.

An announcement was made that Designated Federal Official (DFO) Terry L. Mapp will not be on today’s call, but she has assigned Eileen DeLeo to participate on her behalf.

Roll Call
Quorum of greater than 50% (9 members) was met; 13 members were present.

Announcement of Chair & Vice-Chair
TAP Program Manager Nancy L. Ferree reported that since Paul Brubaker (Former Area 2 Chair) was elected during the annual meeting as the TAP Vice Chair, this affected the chair and vice chair occupants for this committee. As a result, Paul McElroy is the Area 2 Chair and Emilio Cecchi is the Area 2 Vice Chair.

Review Administrative Minutes – January 12, 2006 in D.C.
Ferree reminded everyone that the annual meeting in Washington, DC was an administrative meeting, and not guided by FACA (Federal Advisory Committee Act) guidelines. The January minutes are available on TAP Speak.

Vote on Face-to-Face Location- DC, Philadelphia, or Charlotte, NC
Analyst Inez E. De Jesus shared that she had done a cost estimate for the cities that this panel had shown an interest in holding their face-to-face meeting from June 22-24, 2006. (Travel days: June 21st, and the afternoon of June 24th).

Results from the lowest to the highest cost are DC, Philadelphia, Charlotte, NC, and lastly Charlottesville, VA. Many members had mentioned that they had just gone to DC and would prefer another location. Ferree stated that budget was a big concern this year. De Jesus also mentioned that several hotels in Charlotte would not honor the government rate.

Acting DFO Eileen DeLeo shared that Terry Mapp had her staff conduct preliminary scouting efforts to identify hotel availability in the event Philadelphia is selected for the face-to-face. There will be many conventions going on during the week of June 19th, and many hotels are already booked. Mapp has secured temporarily reservations at the Embassy Suites-Philadelphia Center City. The plan so far is to hold the meetings during the day at the IRS office at 600 Arch Street, and on Saturday, June 24th, hold the meeting in one of the hotel’s conference room at a lower rate than usual.

Decision: Committee agreed on Philadelphia, but James Tarpey stated that since he was from Philadelphia and had contacts at a Holiday Inn that is located closer to the IRS office, he will look into this and get back to the area analyst with the results. Follow-up action required for Tarpey.

Sub-committee Reports

1. Schedule D-“Draft” Proposal- Sub-committee chair Steve Rue inquired if there were any objections to the draft proposal that had been shared with everyone. There were no objections. Next steps: the subcommittee with the assistance of the area analyst will finalize the proposal by using the correct form and format; it will then be sent to this committee’s new Quality Review Committee, and the goal is to have the final product on the agenda for next month’s meeting to obtain the committee’s approval before elevating this issue to the Joint Committee.
   
2. Schedule C By Vita- Sub-committee chair Beadsie Woo turned this over to Brubaker and McElroy who both are on the new TAP VITA Committee. The IRS Program Owner has indicated that she is interested in this issue and that it may be forwarded to the VITA Committee. If this issue is considered by the IRS, this committee will receive credit for submitting it. Kasturi stated that there are some VITA sites that train their volunteers to prepare this form. Afterwards, there were no objections to this. Next steps: Analyst is to transfer this issue to the VITA Committee via the contact database.
   
3. Form 4868 - Sub-committee chair Lyn Sinnamon reported that this subcommittee has not met yet since this is the filing season and many as himself have been busy. He suggested that this issue be placed in the “Parking Lot” status until April 2006, and it be presented again for discussion during the May 17th call. After the filing season, this team will meet and see if this is still an issue. There were no objections to this. Next steps: Analyst is to change the status of this issue on the database and monitor it until April/May 2006.
   
4. On Hold Wait Time - Sub-committee chair Paul Brubaker shared that this team had not met yet but it plans on meeting within the next month and should have information to share with the entire committee by next month’s call.
   
5. Envelope Issue - Sub-committee chair Bill Bly provided for the benefit of the new members a brief background on this issue. A vote was taken and there were no objections for the committee to move forward with the drafting of a new proposal using the new form and format. This will be coordinated between this team and the area analyst. This proposal will then be sent to the new area 2 Quality Review Committee, and the goal is to have the final product on the agenda for next month’s meeting to obtain the committee’s approval before elevating this issue to the Joint Committee.

Outreach Events Reports
Chair McElroy briefly provided an overview of this committee’s Outreach Activities Report for the month of January 2006, which is available on TAP Speak as well. He was impressed with this panel’s various and many activities throughout January. He reminded everyone that if any expenses are going to be incurred that this had to be sent prior to the event to Nancy Ferree for approval. Also, that after the event, the Speakers Report needed to be sent to Inez who captures this information into the Outreach Database.

McElroy inquired if anyone had plans for the remainder of this month and the responses were as follows:

• James Tarpey will have an event on February 21, 2006. Tarpey requested outreach supplies from the staff for about 100 persons.
• Beadsie Woo will be conducting outreach at her work place on February 22nd,
• McElroy himself on March 2nd with a Senior Citizens’ group.
• Emilio Cecchi has been obtaining opportunities to conduct outreach through Montgomery College and VITA contacts.

New Issues/Screening Committee Report
Vice Chair Emilio Cecchi opened this session by sharing that this new team composed of himself, Bill Bly, JoAnn Davis, James Tarpey and Lee Congdon met via teleconference on February 9th. Although Congdon was not able to participate he did send his comments which were incorporated during their discussion. (Nancy and Inez also participated on this call) Cecchi stated that this is a new team and it is a work in progress and the team welcomes any suggestions others may have in order to improve the process.

The team has created a recommendation system as follows:

Recommendation #1 means this issue is a real issue, impacting the taxpayer, and it is in TAP’s responsibility to take it into consideration.

Recommendation #2 means we do not have enough information on this issue and we should know more about it before a decision is taken. If the area 2 committee accepts this issue, Inez will conduct the appropriate research.

Recommendation #3 means that area 2 should not take it into consideration because it is not within TAP’s mission, or it may be currently addressed by another area committee.

Cecchi then went on to provide the committee with the following report on behalf of the screening committee:

1. Issue 3732-Order IRS Forms & Publications through IRS Website- Recommendation to cancel was accepted by all since the IRS website already provides this service.
   
2. Issue 3735-IRS Treatment of State Income Tax Deductions- Recommendation #2 accepted by the panel; this issue will be reviewed at the March Screening Committee meeting after more information is collected.
   
3. Issue 3736-Revise EFTPS Registration Procedure-Recommendation #2 accepted by the panel, this issue will be reviewed at the March Screening Committee meeting after more information is collected.
   
4. Issue 3737- Require IRS Correspondence to Provide Contact Information- Recommendation #1 accepted by the panel and Inez will update the status of this issue to “Parking Lot.”
   
5. Issue 3738- One Stop Customer Service- Recommendation #1 accepted by the panel and Inez will update the status of this issue to “Parking Lot”. Committee discussed further and all agreed that this issue should be consolidated with Issue 3737.
   
6. Issue 3739- Suggest Delayed Billing or Rewording of Notices- Recommendation #1 accepted by the panel and Inez will update the status of this issue to “Parking Lot.”
   
7. Issue 3740- Offer-in-Compromise (OIC) Appeals Process- Recommendation #2 accepted by the panel, this issue will be reviewed at the March Screening Committee meeting after more information is collected.
   
8. Issue 3741-Automated Collection System (ACS) Line has 6 Options- Recommendation # 1 accepted by the panel, and Inez will update the status of this issue to “Parking Lot.”
   
9. Issue 3742- Exceptions to Private Letter Ruling Fee Increases- Recommendation #3 changed to #2- based on discussion during the call; this issue will be reviewed again by the screening committee during their March meeting.
   
10. Issue 3702-Revise Pub 393-Household Employment Filing Requirements- This issue is already being addressed by a subcommittee composed of Romeril and Woo, and during today’s call: Kasturi and Cecchi have joined this team. Inez is to update the status of this issue to “Active”.

The Screening Committee was asked to rank the recommended issues so that the area committee could determine which issues to work on first.

Public Input
None

Follow-up Action(s) required on the following issues:

• James Tarpey will be making some inquiries with a Holiday Inn Hotel in downtown Philadelphia, in order to get rooms for the committee’s face-to-face meeting in June 2006. Tarpey will be reporting back to area analyst and the committee on his findings prior to the next call.
• Inez is to work with the Schedule D sub-committee in finalizing the proposal and making sure it is reviewed by the Quality team prior to next month’s call.
• Inez is to transfer Issue #3634, Preparation of Schedule C by VITA, electronically to the new TAP VITA Committee.
• Inez is to change the status of Issue # 3609, Review Processing of Form 4868, Automatic Extension to File, to “Parking Lot” status and monitor it.
• Inez is to work with the Envelope sub-committee in finalizing the proposal, and making sure it is reviewed by the Quality team prior to next month’s call.
• Inez is to send outreach materials to James Tarpey prior to February 21st.
• Inez is to update the contact database accordingly to all the issues that were discussed during today’s call.
• Nancy Ferree is to follow up on Bessie Moore.

Closing Assessment/Q&A
Members were reminded to fill out the meeting satisfaction survey and to submit it directly to Inez who will consolidate the results and share this information with the entire panel.

Brubaker made a motion and it was accepted that a Quality Assurance Review Committee be created and its primary function will be to review proposals before they are elevated to the Joint Committee (between subcommittee and whole committee). Volunteers for this team are: Sinnamon, J. Davis, and J. Tarpey.

Concern was expressed towards panel member from New Jersey, Bessie Moore, and Nancy stated that she will be following up on this.

Chair adjourned the meeting.

Please note: Next Teleconference Meeting: March 15, 2006 at 2:30 PM, dial in information will remain the same until further notice.

*Certification: These minutes were approved by the area 2 committee by consensus on March 15, 2006.