Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP)
Area 2 Committee
Meeting Minutes

Committee’s Teleconference Meeting
November 21, 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
Kimberly Brown, Blakeslee, PA, Vice-Chair
Emilio Cecchi, North Bethesda, MD
Benson Chapman, Wayne, NJ
Steve Fulkrod, Bel Air, MD
Robert Haines, Lebanon, NJ
Carolyn Hutchinson, Fletcher, NC
Sonny Kasturi, West Orange, NJ
Paul McElroy, Bethania, NC
Lyn Sinnamon, Arlington, VA, Chair
Elizabeth Warnecki, Ladson, SC

Members Absent
Michael Bryant, Oakton, VA
Blanche Davis, Rehoboth Beach, DE
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
Bernie Coston, TAP Program Director

Guest(s) Present
Connie Sharpe, Reva, MD
Terrance Adlhock, Washington, DC
Joel Lawson, Villanova, PA
Ray Boyle, Wilmington, Delaware
Louise McAulay, South Carolina
Edward Johnson, Florence, NJ
James Brock, Williamsburg, VA
Joseph, Holley, Barboursville, WV
Robert McQuiston, Bryn Mawr, PA
Peter Welch, Charlotte, NC
Vladimir Turkeltaub NJ
Robert Patterson, York, PA

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

Welcome to New Members
Lyn welcomed all the new members.  He informed them that he is working on getting mentors for the 7 names he was given.  Lyn will be their ad hoc mentor until a permanent one is assigned.

Comments from TAP Program Director
Bernie Coston thanked the retiring panel members for the leadership, commitment and time that they have shown during their tenure.  He also took time to ensure the guests on the call that are waiting their appointment that we will be getting an answer back from Treasury really soon, and to keep the week of December 10th open.  Bernie reported that the 2007 Annual Report would be released early.  He reported that for the first time in TAP history we are going into the New Year with a clean slate as far as elevated issues are concerned.  He announced that the issue committees are available for selection, for the returning members to choose.  He informed them to make a selection and send the response to Sandy McQuin.  The results of the election for TAP Chair and Vice Chair will be out by the end of the week.

Joint Committee (JC) Report
 Lyn Sinnamon informed the committee of the mentoring program.  He also made it known that Nancy Ferree is managing Area 1 in addition to Area 2 & 3.  This is just until a new manager is named. 

Highlights of Upcoming Annual Meeting in DC
Lyn made reference to the draft agenda and schedule, he also informed the committee of the Area 2 dinner on Tuesday night at Clydes.

Reminders: Self Assessment and Annual Report
There is a real push to get the Annual Report out by March 2008.  Lyn stated that he would like for Area 2 members get their Annual Self Assessment to him expeditiously. 

Status of TAP 206-004- Timely Response Required on Envelopes
Bill Bly reported that we did get a response.  The suggestion was that the IRS put timely response required on the outside of envelopes where there might be a 60 day window or less time for the taxpayer to respond.  The IRS replied that it can’t be done because it is cost prohibited and it has to be done by hand.  Bill Bly proposed that they accept the response, but also draft a memo requesting that the next time they deal with the program that handles their mail-outs to consider this an enhancement to be handled in the future.  The committee decided to close proposal rejected by consensus and Bill Bly has volunteered to draft a memo.

Review/Confirm Meeting Minutes- October 17, 2007
The minutes were approved by consensus.

Placeholder for Screening Committee’s New Issues (Steve Fulkrod)
Steve Fulkrod reported there is nothing to report this month.

Subcommittee Reports On Active Issues:

Review of Issue 3910- Delay in TAC Services and Support
Blanche Davis is the lead on this issue and is not available to give a report.  There was a consensus to carry over to next month.

Issue 3948, Form 944, Change Threshold (Sonny Kasturi) 
Subcommittee did research and agreed there is no way the committee can tackle the threshold issue because the IRS just started looking at the thresholds.  The committee agreed to place in parking lot and re-visit at a later date.

Issue 3997; Terminate “S” Election- (Robert Haines)
Bob Haines stated that the IRS has issued a new Form 1120S with a box on it, which is what, was going to be suggested.  It is suggested that it gets placed back in the parking lot, because by them adding the box they are going to have to change the regulation which we were also concerned about with the instructions.

Issue 4155, Schedule D Carryover Losses (Benson Chapman)
Ben Chapman stated that this is still an active issue.  The IRS is not going to change the Schedule D.  The suggestion is that the IRS computers be programmed to track the carryovers automatically from one year to the next.  We will discuss further at the December meeting.

Nancy Ferree stated that she will share information from the program owner at the December meeting.

Issue 4182, Standardization of 1099 Forms- (Robert Haines)
Paul Brubaker stated that based on the cooperation from IRS National Office Susan Berry, he suggested that this be placed in the parking lot because nothing is being done with it.  Information was sent and there was an agreement that something needed to be done this year we are going to try and collect more examples and feed them back to the committee.  The committee agreed to place in parking lot monitored by consensus.

How will Area 2 Accomplishments get into the TAP Annual Report (Lyn Sinnamon)
Lyn Sinnamon is looking to have self-assessments to him by the end of November for non-returning members and December for the members that are going to Washington.  This is an intricate part of getting the Annual Report out.

Outreach Events
Kimberly Brown reported that there was 20 outreaches in October and not yet finished with November.  Nancy Ferree took the time to thank Kim for taking such good care of reporting each month on the outreach.

Public Input
The participants had questions reference to the information for the Annual meeting and the information was given to them.

Farewell to Lyn, Bill, Brubaker, McElroy, Sonny and Elizabeth
Nancy Ferree took this time to thank all of the retiring members for their dedication and time that they volunteered to work on the panel.  Inez informed the panel of the responses back from the IRS on Issue 4011 Form 8863 Education Credits has been adopted in part.  Also, Issue 3944 Tax Treatment of Litigation Settlement Proceeds was adopted in part.  Again, Inez gave Kudos to both Sonny and Elizabeth for the roles they played in these two issues.

Closing Assessment/Q&A/Meeting Survey
Chair Lyn Sinnamon in closing informed all returning member of the meet and greet on Monday at 5pm December 10th.  He encouraged the returning members to try and arrive by 5pm to meet and greet the new members of area 2. 

Next Face to Face Meeting in Washington D.C.:  Official meeting begins on December 11, 2007 at 8:00 AM ET.  Area 2 will meet December 12, 2007 at 8:00 AM ET.

Certification: These minutes were approved by the TAP Area 2 committee, by consensus, on 12 December 2007.