Area 2 Committee Meeting Minutes

September 20, 2006
Teleconference

Designated Federal Official

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

Members Present

• Bill Bly, Wayne, PA
• Paul Brubaker, York, PA
• Emilio Cecchi, N. Bethesda, MD, Vice-Chair
• JoAnn Davis, Scott Depot, WV
• Blanche Davis, Rehoboth Beach, DE
• Robert Haines, Lebanon, NJ
• Sonny Kasturi, West Orange, NJ
• Paul McElroy, Pfafftown, NC, Chair
• Lyn Sinnamon, Arlington, VA
• Elizabeth Warnecki, Ladson, SC
• Lee Congdon, Washington, DC

Members Absent

• Lillian (Beadsie) Woo, Durham, NC
• Martin Romeril, Bethlehem, PA

Staff Present

• Inez E. De Jesus, TAP Program Analyst
• Isai Pallango, Intern & Note taker

Guests

• Mr. Ben Chapman (Potential Panel Member from New Jersey)

Welcome
Chair Paul McElroy opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and acknowledged Ben Chapman from New Jersey for joining the call for a second time.

TAP Program Manager Nancy Ferree will not be on today’s call since she is in a meeting with the TAP Director and other TAP Managers.

Roll Call
Quorum of 8 was met.

Joint Committee Report
Chair McElroy provided a brief report from the Joint Committee’s September 6, 2006 meeting. Recruitment is on schedule and the IRS Commissioner has received a lot of feedback and publicity from the TAP and others on the use by the Internal Revenue Service to put taxpayers’ collection cases in the hands of private debt collectors. Also, the vote on how to elect Chair and Vice Chair of TAP was addressed; members agreed that voting should be done early and announced early during the annual meeting. New members should be given the opportunity to run for office if they wish to do so. One member objected and the vote issue will be addressed in the October Joint Committee meeting.

Approve Previous Meeting Minutes-August 16, 2006
These minutes were approved by consensus.

Review and Approve Draft Proposals:

• Issue 3634 Self-employed Taxpayers’ Free Tax Preparation
  Paul Brubaker shared the goal statement which is “to increase number of low-income self-employed taxpayers who can have their tax returns completed at VITA sites,” and that this may be made easier. Panel members agreed to elevate issue to the Joint Committee; *Sonny Kasturi opposes the elevation of this issue and has prepared a “Minority Report” which will be attached to the proposal.

  Inez questioned whether this proposal had been submitted to the area quality review committee. Chair and members agreed by consensus that issue will be elevated after the quality review team reviews it.

Proposals Returned from the Joint Committee:

• Issue 3736 - EFTPS Registration Procedure
  Chair McElroy stated that this issue was elevated and returned by the Joint Committee with some comments. Subcommittee member Elizabeth Warnecki & Bill Bly reviewed the suggestions for changes and these have been incorporated into the revised proposal. Panel members agreed by consensus to elevate this issue after it is reviewed by the area quality review team.

• Issue 3925 - Option for Access to Person on IRS Toll-Free lines
  Lee Congdon incorporated multiple issues that were discussed during the face-to- face meeting, and the suggestions made by the Joint Committee’s Quality Review team. Issue is ready to be elevated again. Panel members agreed by consensus to elevate issue subject to review by the area’s quality review team.

New Issues -Recommendations from the Screening Committee:

• Issue 3945-Distribution of Forms at TAC Office
  Cecchi: Recommendation is to place this issue in the parking lot status; the key issue is to reduce the burden on taxpayers by making tax forms availability easier. Panel members agreed by consensus.

• Issue 3946 -Filing of Charitable Reminder Trusts
  Cecchi: Recommendation is to place this issue in the parking lot status. Panel members agreed by consensus.

• Issue 3952- Taxpayer Choosing E-file and Direct Deposit in 2006
  Cecchi: Recommendation is to drop/close this issue. Panel members agreed by consensus.

• Issue 3957- Toll Free Menu Needs to be Changed
  Cecchi: Recommendation is to drop/close this issue. Panel members agreed by consensus.

• Issue 3997- Create Form to Terminate “S” Election
  Cecchi: Recommendation is to place in parking lot status; this was decided one hour prior to this call but, since most of the members had not had time to review this issue, it was decided to carry it over to next month. All agreed.

Sub-committee Reports (Active Issues):

• Issue 3228, E-file Alternates and Interactive Forms
  Elizabeth Warnecki shared that she is still monitoring this issue and searching for new developments that IRS is making in regards to E-filing user friendly avenues. Warnecki thinks that to continue monitoring is best option and place in monitoring mode. Inez suggests placing in parking lot as it has been done with other issues, and keeping issue spreadsheet updated and labeling it in monitoring mode. Panel members agreed by consensus to place into parking lot status with monitoring mode.

• Issue 3739, Suggest Delayed Billing or Rewording of Notices
  Martin Romeril, suggested via e-mail that this issue be transferred to the Notice Committee. There is not enough information to elaborate but suggested transfer to Notice Committee because they would have more knowledge of issue. Inez had spoken briefly with The Notice Committee Analyst and was told that this issue is not something they are working on since the Notice Committee like all TAP issue committees operate under the guidelines of their IRS program owners. The Notice Committee is willing to provide support to the area committee if needed.

• Issue 3740, Offer-in-Compromise (OIC) Appeals Process
  Elizabeth Warnecki shared that she had recently spoken to former panel member Steve Rue since he had submitted this issue to the panel and that she and Robert Haines are in the process of developing a draft proposal. Warnecki and Haines have not yet heard from Steve Rue and completed a draft based on information gathered. Chair advised to e-mail former panel member and possibly have a draft proposal ready for next teleconference meeting.

• Issue 3742, Private Letter Rulings-Increased User Fees
  Panel member Sonny Kasturi stated he had nothing to report at this time since he has been ill.

• Issue 3743, Revise Form W-9 & LLC Instructions
  Panel member Sonny Kasturi turned issue to Lee Congdon. Congdon has contacted the citizen that brought this issue to the panel and the proposal is in the process of being drafted. It will be addressed during the next call. Draft proposal will be discussed during the October teleconference meeting.

*The ranking and prioritization of the issues in Parking Lot status needs to be updated since as a result of today’s meeting there have been some changes. Chair McElroy will be working with Analyst De Jesus on this matter.

Issue 3953, IRS Completing Simple Returns, Currently in Parking Lot Status-
Inez shared that Area 7 is currently working on a similar issue and has requested that area 2 transfers Issue 3953 to them or partner with them. Area 2 agreed by consensus to transfer this issue to area 7 and Sonny Kasturi volunteered to work with area 7.

Outreach Events Reports
During August, there were two reported outreach events. JoAnn Davis worked at an H&R Block seminar and discussed Taxpayer Advocacy Panel, and Lyn Sinnamon gave a TAP presentation before the Enterprise Development Group of ECDC International. Chair wanted panel members to participate more in outreach events.

Lyn Sinnamon referenced the IMRS “Issue Management Resolution System” and questioned whether members had problems opening the link that has been sent out.

Lyn Sinnamon shared that he recently was contacted by Stakeholder Liaison David Yeskoo and wondered if other panel members had been contacted as well. Lyn asked DFO Terry Mapp if this was a new IRS initiative, and responded that she was not aware of this but would look into it.

Public Input
Mr. Ben Chapman from New Jersey stated that the meeting went well and he was looking forward to participating on future calls. He expressed appreciation for being allowed to participate.

Closing Assessment / Q&A
Paul Brubaker reminded everyone that there would be a November Area 2 conference call. Inez confirmed that the November 15, 2006 call has been placed on the calendar and
Chair requested that the meeting survey be completed.

Brubaker mentioned the mentoring process will be improved this coming new year, and requested anyone interested in mentoring a new member to please inform him.

Chair McElroy adjourned the meeting.

The next teleconference meetings are scheduled for October 18, 2006 at 2:30 PM ET & November 15, 2006 at 2:30 PM ET

*Certification: These minutes were approved by the TAP Area 2 Committee by consensus on October 18, 2006.