Area 2 Committee Meeting Minutes

Date: May 17, 2006
Via: Teleconference

Designated Federal Official

• Terry L. Mapp, Local Taxpayer Advocate, Philadelphia, PA

Members Present

• Bill Bly, Wayne, PA
• Emilio Cecchi, North Bethesda, MD, Vice Chair
• Lee Congdon, Washington, DC
• Blanche Davis, Rehoboth Beach, DE
• JoAnn Davis, Scott Depot, WV
• Sonny Kasturi, West Orange, NJ
• Paul McElroy, Pfafftown, NC, Chair
• Steve Rue, Mechanicsville, VA
• James Tarpey, Sunset Beach, NC
• Elizabeth Warnecki, Ladson, SC
• Lillian (Beadsie) Woo, Durham, NC

Members Absent

• Paul Brubaker, York, PA
• Robert Haines, Lebanon, NJ
• Bessie Moore, Mt. Laurel, NJ
• Martin Romeril, Bethlehem, PA
• Lyn Sinnamon, Arlington, VA

Staff Present

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

Guest(s)

• Janet Hennen, IRS TAS Program Analyst, Parkersburg, WV

Welcome
Chair Paul McElroy opening the meeting by welcoming everyone and acknowledging guest, Ms. Janet Hennen, from the West Virginia staff office.

Roll Call
Quorum of 9 was met.

Joint Committee Report
Chair expressed his appreciation to Emilio Cecchi for sitting in for him at the last Joint Committee call; Cecchi’s notes were well taken and the following are highlights of what was discussed:

• Recruitment this year exceeded last year’s. There will be a need for volunteers to conduct the upcoming telephone interviews. Please let the TAP Staff know if you would like to participate.

• The 2005 TAP Annual Report has been mailed out to everyone. If you have not received your copy yet, please let it be known to the TAP Staff.

• Outcome from the meeting with the IRS Commissioner on April 20, 2006, resulted in 5 Top Priority issues, these are:
  1. Sale of Private Taxpayer Information to Third Parties- Area 6 has the lead, and Area 2 is assisting.
  2. Return Preparer Regulations Standards- Ad hoc Committee has the lead.
  3. VITA/TCE Direction- Area 4 has the lead.
  4. Free File- Area 5 has the lead.
  5. Private Collection of tax information- Area 3 has the lead.

Acknowledgment of IRS’ Responses to Elevated Recommendations
Chair McElroy stated that he assumed that everyone has had the opportunity to review the responses received from the IRS on the following elevated issues; the committee agreed as follows:

1. TAP 05-033, SS-4 & LLC Issue 3295- Sonny Kasturi stated that the response is acceptable considering the IRS constraints and that is fine. Status: Closed, Proposal Partially Accepted.
   
2. TAP 05-032, Pub 554-Issue 3234- Older Americans -the committee agreed that they would like to monitor to make sure that the suggestions are implemented by the IRS. Status: Monitoring the IRS.
   
3. TAP 05-056, W-7 & 1040NR-Issue 3546- the committee agreed and accepted the IRS response. Status: Closed, Proposal Accepted.

Chair McElroy requested that Inez inform the Joint Committee Analyst, Barbara Toy, of the committee’s decisions.

Review & Approve Meeting Minutes-April 19, 2006
These minutes were approved by consensus.

Review “Draft” Agenda for Face-to-Face Meeting in Philadelphia, PA, June 22-24, 2006
Chair McElroy shared that he had just made a change to
Day #2: he suggested that the Screening Committee be broken down into 2 sessions: 1) Screening Committee- Goals & Procedures, and 2) Screening Committee Meeting

DFO Terry L. Mapp is in the process of obtaining subject-matter-experts on issues this committee has expressed an interest in.

Update: Regarding the Free file Initiative- since this is a very political and sensitive issue at this time, a speaker will not be available.

However, regarding the telephone “On-hold” questions and answers, arrangements are being made to have a speaker available. Inez has been working with Ms. Mapp’s staff on this matter.

McElroy reminded everyone to submit any suggestions they may have on the current draft agenda directly to the TAP Staff.

Beadsie Woo was concerned about the start time of 8:00 am.

Some members were concerned about the hotel check-in and check-out times. It was suggested that if a room is not available at time of arrival, since meeting begins on Thursday, June 22nd at 1:30 pm, then you may check bags at the hotel and walk over to the IRS Federal Building.

Sub-committee Reports:

• Issue 3702, “Draft” Proposal Pub 393- Sub-committee Chair Martin Romeril was not available on this call in order to update everyone. It is believed that the draft proposal needed to go to Quality Review and that Martin wanted to format it.

• Issue 3685, On Hold Wait Time- Lee Congdon shared that he had received the answers from the IRS and he hopes that the person who will be addressing the committee at the upcoming face-to-face meeting is knowledgeable about this matter.

• Issue 3736, Revise EFTPS Registration Procedures- Elizabeth Warnecki shared that she has still not received a response from the IRS. She had sent an email. There is a toll free line, but she has not had the time to follow up on this. There is an interest on individuals, not businesses, using this system. Bill Bly suggested that a sub-committee meeting be scheduled, he feels he may have some ideas to share. Elizabeth will be setting up a teleconference among this sub-committee soon.

• Issue 3747, Filing of W-2’s & 1099 Misc.- Chair McElroy gave kudos to Beadsie Woo for the great job she did in drafting the proposal that has been circulating. JoAnn Davis, from the Quality Committee, has provided feedback also, the next step is to share with Inez the updated version; Inez will place this information into the TAP contact database and share with the entire panel. The approval of this proposal will be an agenda item during the next meeting.

• Issue 3868, Sale of Taxpayer Information to Third Parties- this issue has been identified as one of the IRS Commissioner’s top 5 priorities. Cecchi shared that during the Joint Committee call, Area 6 took the lead on this.

Sonny Kasturi shared that he has written a letter to the Commissioner and the National Taxpayer Advocate as a private citizen on this subject matter. Request was made that this letter be shared with the entire panel. Sonny promised to send a copy of it to Inez for distribution to all.

It was agreed that Sonny will work with Area 6 if they accept the offer, and Sonny will be keeping area 2 informed on what transpires.

Nancy Ferree suggested that the “threaded discussion” available on TAP Speak be used. Sonny stated that he has used this feature in the past.

• Issue 3634, Preparation of Schedule C by VITA- this issue was not addressed during this call.

Prioritization of New Active Issues
Chair McElroy shared that currently this committee has 5 active issues with active sub-committees. We had to place the “new active issues” in the parking lot status until we begin to elevate and close current issues. In the interim, these new active/parking lot issues have been ranked. He thanked everyone for their. These will be worked in the order as noted, and this is all subject to review and change as new active issues arrive.

For the record, the issues that are referenced are as follows:
#1 Issue 3228, E-file Alternates and Interactive Forms
#2 Issue 3609, Review Processing of Form 4868
#3 Issue 3743, Revise Form W-9
#4 Issue 3739, Suggest Delayed Billing or Rewording of Notices
#5 Issue 3740, OIC Appeals Process
#6 Issue 3741, ACS Automated Collection System
#7 Issue 3742, Private Letter Rulings-Increased User Fees

There were no objections to this.

Questions arose regarding the last 2 elevated issues that were approved by the Joint Committee on April 5, 2006, these are:

1. Issue 3572, Consolidation of Schedule D & D-1
2. Issue 3390, Timely Response Required on Envelopes

Nancy Ferree shared that 30 days is not sufficient time for a follow-up, since the TAP Staff has been working on other priorities at this time. It was suggested that the chair inquire via the Joint Committee on the status of this. He promised that he would do so. This committee has not yet received a copy of the letter that accompanies the recommendations that are sent to the IRS.

Outreach Events Reports
Chair McElroy shared that there were 6 different activities reported during the past month. He gave both JoAnn Davis and Sonny Kasturi kudos for their continual outreach activities. He encouraged the committee to continue to get out there and spread the word on TAP and to keep Inez informed when they do so.

New & Parking Lot Issues Report from the Screening Committee
Vice Chair Emilio Cecchi referenced the email he sent out to all on May 13, 2006, with the report from the screening committee meeting that took place on May 10th. He assumed that everyone had an opportunity to read the information and recommendations made on the new issues. He apologized to James Tarpey for not acknowledging his attendance on May 10th.

Issue 3868, Sale of Private Taxpayer Information to Third Parties, as previously discussed, Area 6 has the lead on this subject, and Sonny is working with them. Anyone else interested in participating, should contact Area 6 chair MaryAnn Motza. Sonny Kasturi will be keeping area 2 informed.

Issue 3879, Employer Burden Regarding Re-Mailing of the W-2’s- Recommendation to drop this issue was accepted with no objections.

Issue 3893, IRS Needs to Communicate Better Internally-Recommendation to drop this issue was accepted with no objections.

Issue 3915, Transmission of Supporting Details for E-filed Returns- Sonny requested that this issue be withdrawn since this matter has already been elevated and it is currently in the 2005 TAP Annual Report, TAP -05-072, Form 8453/8879 VITA/TCE Mailing Requirements. This issue will be sent back to the Screening Committee for review with the new information.

Issue 3917- Free File Needs to Better Serve the Citizen Taxpayer- Recommendation is to pass this issue on to Area 5 since they have the lead on this subject. There was no objection to this.

There will be no June Screening Committee teleconference since we will be having our face-to-face meeting in Philadelphia beginning on June 22nd.

Public Input
Ms. Hennen from the West Virginia Taxpayer Advocate office expressed her appreciation to the panel for the opportunity to understand what the TAP does.

Closing Assessment/Q&A
Chair McElroy reminded everyone to please fill out the meeting survey and send it to Inez.

DFO Terry Mapp reminded the Pennsylvania citizens like Bill Bly of the upcoming Working Together Conference on May 24, 2006. This invitation is extended to Brubaker, Bly and Romeril who are in the area. Nancy thanked Terry for keeping the TAP in mind for these outreach opportunities and Paul McElroy reminded these participants to please fill out an outreach report after the event and submit it to Inez.

Nancy also reminded the participants, that if there are any travel expenses involved to please let her know beforehand so that Jenny Reyes, TAP Secretary, can obtain the necessary authorizations.

Chair McElroy adjourned the meeting.

Next meeting: Face-to-Face – June 22-24, 2006 in Philadelphia, PA
Thursday, June 22, 2006, 1:30- 4:30 pm-IRS 600 Arch Street, Conf Room A

Friday, June 23, 2006, 8:00 am- 4:30 pm-IRS 600 Arch St. Conf Room A

Saturday, June 24, 2006, 8:00 am – 11:30 am @ Holiday Inn-Historic District Conference Room (to be assigned) 400 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA

*Certification: These minutes were approved by the TAP Area 2 Committee by consensus on June 22, 2006