Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP)
Area 2 Committee
Meeting Minutes

Committee’s Teleconference Meeting
October 17, 2007 @ 2:30 PM ET

Designated Federal Official (DFO)
Lois G. Lombardo, Local Taxpayer Advocate, Philadelphia, PA

Members Present
Bill Bly, Wayne, PA
Paul Brubaker, York, PA
Michael Bryant, Oakton, VA
Kimberly Brown, Blakeslee, PA, Vice-Chair
Emilio Cecchi, North Bethesda, MD
Benson Chapman, Wayne, NJ
Steve Fulkrod, Bel Air, MD
Robert Haines, Lebanon, NJ
Sonny Kasturi, West Orange, NJ
Paul McElroy, Bethania, NC
Lyn Sinnamon, Arlington, VA, Chair

Members Absent
Blanche Davis, Rehoboth Beach, DE
Carolyn Hutchinson, Fletcher, NC
Elizabeth Warnecki, Ladson, SC
William Yaeger, Alexandria, VA

Staff Present
Nancy L. Ferree, Plantation, FL, TAP Program Manager
Inez E. De Jesus, TAP Program Analyst
Anita Fields, Note Taker

Guest(s) Present
Connie Sharpe, Reva, MD
Terrance Adlhock, Washington, DC
Joel Lawson, Villanova, PA
Norman Klug, Easton, MD
Robert Grzebinski, Raleigh, NC
Edward Johnson, Florence, NJ
Ava Anders, Liberty, WV
Joseph, Holley, Barboursville, WV
Robert McQuiston, Bryn Mawr, PA
Peter Welch, Charlotte, NC

Welcome & Roll Call
Chair Lyn Sinnamon opened the meeting by welcoming everyone.
Roll call was taken and quorum of 8 was met.

Joint Committee (JC) Report
TAP Managers attend a TAS leadership training.

Thanks to Elizabeth and her team Issue 4011 was elevated and thanks to Sonny and his team Issue 3944 was elevated.  There will be an exiting member survey and Bernie Coston, TAP Director would like all graduating member to please answer survey.  Chair election process was discussed.  We talked about mentoring program.  There were no issues from Area 2 that had not been resolved.  Lyn requested that the area 2 members review the chair’s monthly reports and meeting minutes since these are the vehicles that are used for the TAP Annual Report.  He requested that if they saw any discrepancies to please let it be known.

New Election Process for TAP Chair & Vice Chair
Lyn Sinnamon asked if there were any question on the new election process.   Benson Chapman was nominated for TAP Chair and he did accept.  

Elizabeth Warnecki has been selected to represent Area 2 on the nominating committee.

TAP annual Metting December 10-14 2007
Lyn Sinnamon stated to the committee to please fill out the travel request form that had already been sent out.  Also indicate when you would like to fly and please follow travel regulations.

Review/Confirm Meeting Minutes- September 19, 2007
Robert Haines moved that the minutes be approved and Kimberly Brown seconded.  The minutes were approved by consensus.

Screening Committee’s Recommendation on Issue 4333- National Standards for Allowable Living Expenses-(Steve Fulkrod)
Steve Fulkrod stated that the problem was that revenue officers would not go off the tables, but the bureau stated that they are allowed to.  Steve and the screening committee suggest that it be dropped.  The IRS as of September just updated this table on a regional basis.  The committee agreed to drop this issue by consensus.

Subcommittee Reports On Active Issues:

Issue 3948, Form 944, Change Threshold (Sonny Kasturi) 
Sonny Kasturi reported that he will continue research on this issue.

Issue 3997, Terminate “S” Election- (Robert Haines)
He will have a report out in a few days.

Issue 4155, Schedule D Carryover Losses (Benson Chapman)
Ben Chapman stated that the subcommittee is not ready to drop this issue even though the IRS has indicated that this issue should not be addressed any further since there is no plan to add back the lines on the Schedule D.  

Program Manager Nancy Ferree volunteered to set up a call to go review the research report with the subcommittee.

Issue 4182, Standardization of 1099 Forms- (Robert Haines)
There is still research with this issue.  The SME wanted to see more specific examples of the problem.  Paul Brubaker sent examples to Inez and she forwarded them on to the IRS on 10/15/2007. 

Bob Haines reported that the IRS was sympathetic to this issue and they to believe there is a problem.  Paul Brubaker shared that the VITA committee is also interested and are addressing this issue as well.

Possible New Issue on Form 1041 Instructions- (US income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts)- (Robert Haines)
Robert Haines had no information to report because he has not had time to review to determine if there is a new issue.  Nancy Ferree promised to send him historical information on this issue.

Motion to Drop Parking Lot Issue 3868- Object Sale of Private Info to Third Parties—(Sonny Kasturi)
Sonny stated that there was a position paper sent last year to the IRS Commissioner; therefore we decided to monitor it.  Sonny proposed to drop the issue since there are other organizations working on this issue to date.  The committee decided to drop by consensus.

Issue 4273- Returned from Ad Hoc, TAP Info in Form 1040 Instructions- to Parking Lot Status (Lynwood Sinnamon)
Issue 4273 is an issue of communication.  Lyn is still trying to find someone to take this forward.  Issue is in the Parking Lot.  Lyn stated that Ad Hoc was asked to review the 1040 instructions they looked at it they said that they will put TAP in the publication, but not in the 1040 instructions.

Elevated Issue 3390-TAP 206--004 Envelope Issue-(Where’s the IRS Response?)-(Bill Bly)
Started Feb 05 passed around, in 06 it was sent up from the Joint Committee to the IRS who in turned sent it to the Notices Committee who refused to deal with it.  Then it kind of got lost. Nancy Ferree agreed to send it back to the IRS.

Outreach Events
17 for September, and Kim thanks everyone for their support.

Public Input
Someone asked to have outreach defined.  Kim defined it.  Joel Lawson asked what we look for in turn for a response from your outreach.  Ed Johnson asked if TAP have resources for people to use for outreach.  The answer is yes we do.  When are the notices going out about the selection.  Connie Sharpe asked about the TAC Survey.  She wanted to know if this will be available in December.  Peter Welch asked could a website be set up to invite people to join web talk.  Nancy Ferree stated that he can be as creative as you want with outreach.  He also asked about the issue of the 1099.  He wanted to know if a member of the public to participated in or is it inclusive to members.  Connie Sharpe also wants to be included in this issue.  Nancy Ferree will send out a copy of the research report along with Paul Brubaker’s contact information to all guests that are interested.

Closing Assessment/Q&A/Meeting Survey
Chair Lyn Sinnamon reminded everyone to fill out the meeting survey; this was a good meeting, and meeting was adjourned.

Next Teleconference Meeting:  November 21, 2007 at 2:30 PM ET

*Certification: These minutes were approved by the TAP Area 2 committee, by consensus, on  11/21/2007.