Area 3 Committee Meeting Minutes

Face-to-Face Meeting
Atlanta, GA
July 22, 2005

Members in Attendance:

• Gwen Handelman – Ft. Lauderdale, FL
• Edward Hanna – Temple Terrance, FL
• Matthew Henry – Pine Bluff, AR
• José Irizarry – San Juan, PR
• William Matheny – Long Beach, MS
• Joyce Natter – Miami, FL
• Owen Oatley – Daytona Beach, FL
• Buck Paolone – Hoover, AL
• Al Vivona – Sarasota, FL
• J. T. Wright – Carrollton, GA

Staff:

• Carolyn Lewis, DFO
• Sallie Chavez, TAP Program Analyst
• Nancy Ferree, TAP Program Manager
• Martha Curry, TAP Senior Program Analyst

Guests:

• Betty Allen, IRS, Local Taxpayer Advocate
• Melvin Ware, Area 3 Taxpayer Advocate
• Raymona Stickell (Via Conference Call), Director, Competitive Sourcing, Agency Wide Shared Services
• Peter Stipek, Director, Accounts Management, Wage & Investment, Customer Services (CAS), Customer Account Services
• Betsy Kinter, Director, Accounts Management, Wage & Investment, Customer Services (CAS), Accounts Management
• Tim Nolan, Program Manager, Wage & Investment, Customer Service (CAS)
• Connie Bailey, Revenue Officer, Gainesville, GA

Welcome
Panel Chair Edward Hanna welcomed everyone. He said this meeting is dedicated to the members who will not be returning next year.

Introductions of Guests
Local Taxpayer Advocate Betty Allen and Area 3 Taxpayer Advocate Melvin Ware introduced themselves.

Introductions of Panel
Each Committee Member introduced themselves.

Joint Committee Report
Committee Chair Ed Hanna reported the following from the last Joint Committee Meeting:

• New recruits will be invited to attend meetings.
• Area 1 will handle any Low Income Tax Clinic (LITC) Issues.
• Staff will use TAPSpeak as the primary source for information starting August 1.
• The closing of the Taxpayer Assistance Offices (TAC) has been delayed.

National Office Report
TAP Senior Program Analyst Martha Curry represented TAP Director Bernie Coston. He wanted to thank the members who are leaving for their services. Planning for the Annual Meeting is being worked on right now. It will be held November 2 – 5, 2005 at the Hyatt Capital Hill. The staff is finished recruiting and interviewing. The final selections are not far away.

Review of Previous Meeting Minutes
It was decided to include the titles of the issues next to the issue number. It was also requested to have all acronyms spelled out. There were a couple of corrections. After corrections are made, minutes are approved by consensus.

Issue Referral Form
Committee Member Gwen Handelman walked committee through the new Issue Referral Form.

IRS Telephone Outsourcing
Raymona Stickell joined the meeting (via conference call). She explained the IRS completed a pilot study on the toll-free line for tax law questions from February – April 2004. This was not outsourcing but competitive sourcing. She explained the difference. She gave the background on competitive sourcing.

During the tax law telephone pilot study, 10% of the calls went to the vendor company. During the test period, the IRS accuracy rate was 82.46% while the vendor was 44.6%. Ms. Stickell explained that the low rate was probably based on lack of experience.

After the call, taxpayers were given the opportunity to give feedback. The one thing they heard the most was that they were concerned with privacy. IRS officials decided not to go forward with further testing.

Telephone Experts
Betsy Kinter, Director, Accounts Management, Peter Stipek and Tim Nolen answered questions committee members submitted earlier. The questions are attached (Attachment 1).

OIC Presentation
Connie Bailey gave presentation on OICs.

Teleconference Suggestions
Committee Chair Ed Hanna asked committee members for suggestions for improving teleconferences.

• An hour is not realistic for teleconference for a good dialog. Need to allow enough time for conversation. Expend meeting time.
• Ask each member for input. Encourage dialog.
• Need to set goals and objectives to accomplish. This will determine time limits.
• Have subcommittees do work off-line. Submit their information to whole committee for comments.
• Difficult to get window agreeable to everyone.
• Adjust agenda to limit to issue to be discussed in an hour’s time.
• Set up priorities before meeting
• Can’t get everything done in one hour that should have been done during the month.
• Loss audience after one hour (attention span).

Finalization of Telephone Concern
Committee discussed. Subcommittee will prepare a letter to send to the telephone speakers thanking them for the information they provided and adding support for some of the issues.

Subcommittee In-Process Concerns
Issues 2148, 1989 and 2915 – Telephone Quality – Subcommittee will work on a letter to send to the telephone speakers.

Issues 3188 and 2672 – Dependent Issue – Committee Chair Ed Hanna will contact Subcommittee Lead Charlotte Cassady to see what is happening with this issue.

Issue 218 – Check-box Authority – Still in parking lot.

Issue 3224 – Installment Agreement Clarity – the Installment Agreement Notice has been re-written – committee agreed to drop this issue.

Issues 3326 and 3147 – W-2s – W-2s are controlled by Social Security – committee agreed to drop this issue.

Issue 3345 – Delay in Appealing OIC – discussed the results of questions. Subcommittee recommended dropping. Committee agreed by consensus.

Issue 3138 – Offer in Compromise Criteria – Subcommittee will discuss tomorrow.

Issue 3356 – Disaster Area Information – Active Issue assigned to Owen’s subcommittee.

Issue 3357 – 21st Century Act – Still in parking lot.

Issue 2866 – Refund Information Available on Toll-free for Prior Years – Subcommittee member Bill Matheny stated that since the telephone experts advised that this was too complex, there were a minimal number of taxpayers and it was not cost effective. They are recommending the issue be dropped. Committee agreed by consensus.

Meeting was adjourned for the day.

July 23, 2005

Members in Attendance:

• Gwen Handelman – Ft. Lauderdale, FL
• Edward Hanna – Temple Terrance, FL
• Matthew Henry – Pine Bluff, AR
• José Irizarry – San Juan, PR
• William Matheny – Long Beach, MS
• Joyce Natter – Miami, FL
• Owen Oatley - Daytona Beach, FL
• Buck Paolone – Hoover, AL
• Al Vivona – Sarasota, FL
• J. T. Wright – Carrollton, GA

Staff:

• Carolyn Lewis, DFO
• Sallie Chavez, TAP Program Analyst
• Nancy Ferree, TAP Program Manager
• Martha Curry, TAP Senior Program Analyst

Welcome
Committee Chair Ed Hanna welcomed everyone back. Explained what committee would be doing this morning.

New Issues
TAP Program Analyst Sallie Chavez reviewed new issues that have come into TAP.

Issue 2387 – Address Listing in IRS Website – this information is provided on the IRS website – committee agreed by consensus to drop.

Issue 2976 – EITC Refund Offset to Child Support – it was determined that Child Support Offsets are Legislative.

Issue 3500 – Social Security Tax Rate on Form 1040 – it was determined that the Tax Rate on Social Security is Legislative.

Issue 3539 – Third Party Contacts – Designated Federal Official Carolyn Lewis said Carolyn McGinnis in the Taxpayer Advocate Service is working on this issue. Committee agreed to transfer this issue to her.

Issue 3537 – Refund to Create Savings Account – Committee Member Brad Moore has already taken this issue and done some research – Committee Member Gwen Handelman said she will help on this subcommittee.

Issue 3540 – One Stop Service – committee discussed this issue – there is no way the IRS can do this – committee agreed to drop this issue.

Issue 3543 – Improvement to Instructions – Committee Member Owen Oatley discussed the problems with the Instructions for Form 5329 – it was agreed to put this into the parking lot.

Issue 3544 – Basis for Stock Sale – Committee agree this was not possible and dropped issue.

Issue 3553 – Filing Status Requirements – Committee agree to look into this issue – assigned to Bill Matheny and Matthew Henry.

Proposed Calendar
Committee Member Buck Paolone discussed a proposed calendar. The committee discussed his proposal

Closing
Committee was asked to complete the Meeting Survey.

Committee was reminded there was no August meeting. Next meeting is September 6, 2005.

Meeting was adjourned.

Questions about toll-free operations

1. Brief us on the 2005 tax-year evaluation/feedback on taxpayers using tool-free lines; and one source would be results from the Customer Satisfaction Survey.

(Betsy Kinter) During January – March 2005, there were 3,577 respondents to the after-call survey. The overall satisfaction results were 4.68 (out of 5). During the same period last year, the ratings were the same.

2. What is the CURRENT "wait time" compared to previous years, and is there an anticipated increase in use of toll-free lines given the reduction in "Toll-Free Hours of Operation" and closing of "Taxpayer Assistance Centers" as noted in FY Budget Reduction Initiatives

(Peter Stipek) The IRS feels the closing of the Taxpayer Assistance Centers and the reduction of the toll-free hours of operation will have a negligible affect on the toll-free telephone lines.

The wait time, or Average Speed Answered (ASA) is 236 seconds (average). They have busy signals or courtesy disconnects when there are not enough assistors available to take calls. The IRS does not have the technology for giving wait times. The IRS is going to start using a new technology that will put calls into the “queue” until an assistor is available no matter where in the country the assistor is located. At present the call is transferred to a location to wait for an assistor.

3. What is the status of "call-back message process", i.e., effectiveness and future utilization?

(Betsy Kinter) This is called Referral Mail (R-Mail). These questions were answered by specialist within the IRS. After April 2005 there will be no more R-Mail. All questions will be answered at the call sites.

4. What is the procedure if a caller has a question applicable to an occupation or industry that obviously requires a person with knowledge and expertise in that area to properly respond? Examples might be a question about the clergy or an automobile dealership.

(Betsy Kinter) The toll-free operation doesn’t have industries. Calls are routed by specialists of issues. If there are multiple issues, the call can be transferred.

5. If the caller does not believe that the IRS representative is well informed and therefore does not really understand the questions, can the caller request that an expert be put on the line?

(Betsy Kinter) Call should be routed to an expert. A call can always be transferred to another assistor if the assistor can’t answer the question. Also, caller can always ask to speak to a manager/supervisor.

6. Is it possible to open up the automated refund telephone line to include all tax years, not just the current tax year (i.e., for amended returns or late filed returns)?

(Peter Stipek) It is possible but not cost effective. The problem is that it is very complex.

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