Area 3 Committee Meeting Minutes

August 15, 2006

Members in Attendance

• Wright, James (JT)
• Matheny, William
• Scott, Louie (Max)
• Mosler, Henry
• Dreska, Christopher
• Marker, Patrice

Members Absent

• Cordeiro, Daryll
• Natter, Joyce

Designated Federal Official Present

• Carolyn E. Lewis

Staff in Attendance

• Nancy Ferree, TAP Program Manager
• Isai Pallango, Student Intern

Public Present
Committee Chair J. T. Wright welcomed citizen, Cathy Blakeney from De Kalb County in Atlanta, Georgia to teleconference meeting.

Roll Call
Quorum was met.

Review of Prior Meeting Minutes
Committee chair J. T. Wright stated approval of June 20, 2006 minutes by consensus.

Review of Joint Committee Call
Committee chair J. T. Wright continued on topic of “Review of Joint Committee Call” which was held on August 2, 2006.

The first item on the agenda was the National Office Report which was presented at the face to face meeting, but a new item was presented. All members should have received an email regarding a TAP vision statement as well as volunteer position description, to properly document, track and measure effectiveness of volunteers. All participants agree this would be good idea to extend opportunities of TAP members to be on various committees and develop certain documents. This email came from Barbara Toy on August 10, 2006. Access to this document would be to members only.

Election of Officers
Committee Chair J. T. Wright and Joint Committee stated that election of TAP Chair and TAP Vice-Chair process during annual meeting delayed organization and project issues. Question presented to committee was “required qualifications” for TAP chair and TAP vice-chair. Committee Chair J. T. Wright asked for member input on improving the process, including electing these officers prior to the annual meeting.

All members of committee came to a consensus that all Candidates should make a presentation and the election should occur early in the annual meeting.

Review of NTA Objectives Report
Program Manager Nancy Ferree gave a brief overview and asked everyone to familiarize themselves with these objectives. Program Manager Ferree asked for any questions from the committee, but none was asked.

Subcommittee Report

• Issue 3734 - Change Downloadable Form 1099
  Committee Member Hank Mosler discussed the delay with the elevated issue to incorporate similar issues from other areas. This subcommittee has been working with these other areas on this issue. Committee Chair J. T. Wright and committee agreed to revisit issue.

• Issue 3869 - 1009R Non Standard 1009-R
  Committee Member Hank Mosler discussed this issue. The Subcommittee recommends dropping the issue. Committee agreed to drop issue.

• Issue 3671 - Electronic Filing Rejects due to Name Problems.
  Committee Member Patrice Marker discussed and recommended to elevate this electronic filing issue due to name recognition problems. Committee Chair J. T. Wright praised Committee Member Patrice Marker for bringing this issue forward and for her excellent research. Committee agreed to elevate the issue after the editing committee reviews the proposal.

• Issue 3604 - Mailing Notices in Different Languages.
  Committee Member Christopher Dreska agreed to follow-up this issue with TAP Analyst Sallie Chavez upon her return to the office.

• Issue 3921 - Expanding the Third party authorization Term
  This issue is completed per Committee Member Bill Matheny. Committee Chair J.T. Wright will forward this issue to the Joint Committee.

• Issue 218 - Internal Revenue Service Honoring Third Party Checkbox
  Issue was raised by IRS practitioners and concerns of possible problems. Panel members attended the Tax Forum and conducted surveys of practitioners, and most agree problems existed. 161 surveys completed. 43 aware of checkbox, with no problems, 61 did not use checkbox, 51 used checkbox and had problems with IRS honoring the checkbox. Based on this survey, there appears to be a problem. Many practitioners stated that although they had the return in front of them, and had the checkbox checked, the IRS employee would not honor the checkbox. One or two practitioners stated to alleviate the problem; they would just hang up and call back until they received an IRS employee who would honor the checkbox. Most of the problems arose from telephone contacts. One option is offering training to IRS employees on the checkbox at CPE. Another option is to be sure employees have current desk guides. Committee Member Hank Mosler asked about what type of information is available to the employee when a practitioner calls in. DFO Carolyn Lewis states there is an indicator on the computer screen that reflects the checkbox authority. Committee Member Bill Matheny states that employees are very concerned about disclosure and security. Committee Chair J. T. Wright suggested that a sub-committee be formed to further discuss improved training of IRS employees. DFO Lewis offered to help out as needed. Committee agreed by consensus to keep this issue active.

TAPSpeak
Committee Chair J. T. Wright asked if there were any issues to discuss today about TAPSpeak. No issues.

Outreach
Committee Chair J. T. Wright stated in the month of July eight positive contacts were made and committee was praised for great work, in particular Committee Member Patrice Marker. Committee Chair Wright thanked Committee Members Bill Matheny, Daryll Cordeiro and Max Scott for great work at the Tax Forum, and the great amount of time and effort put forth. Committee Member Marker mentioned she had previously sent out letters but received no response, but after utilizing Committee Chair Wright’s letter, she was able to secure an appointment with her congressman. No further questions or comments.

Citizen Input
Cathy Blakeney from De Kalb County in Atlanta, Georgia asked for assistance from the committee on what she can do as a citizen. Committee Chair J. T. Wright stated she should visit the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel website and relay information to citizens to make them aware of the panel and some of the things the panel is doing. Also, asking them to communicate with the panel to make suggestions. Committee Member Bill Matheny suggested Cathy provide TAP information to friends and acquaintances and encourage them to provide suggestions for improvement to customer service.

Committee Chair J. T. Wright also welcomed Isai Pallango and asked if he had any comments. Isai is looking forward to working with the committee in the future. Committee Member Bill Matheny asked who is taking minutes and Isai indicated he would be recording the minutes today.

Meeting Close
Committee Chair J. T. Wright closed the meeting and noted the next teleconference meeting will be held on Tuesday September 19, 2006 at 11:30 am ET.