Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP)
Area 3 Committee
Meeting Minutes
May 19, 2008

Members in Attendance
Dale Cooper
Louis Kapugi
Hank Mosler
Mark Paris
Al Rodriguez
Homer Sewell III 
Tommy Thompson

Members Absent
Jaspconia Florence
Luis Fuentes
Patrice Marker
Max Scott 
Chuck Tice

DFO present
Rose Browne, DFO

Staff in Attendance
Nancy Ferree, TAP Program Manager
Sallie Chavez, TAP Program Analyst
Steve Berkey, TAP Senior Analyst
Anita Fields, Secretary

Welcome
Dale Cooper welcomed everyone and asked Anita to take roll.

Roll Call
Quorum was met.

Introductions of Guests

Review of April 14, 2008 Meeting Minutes
The minutes were approved by consensus.

Review of Joint Committee
There was an update on the recruiting status.  A 60% increase over last year.  There are 118 applications for area 3.  There were two issues elevated to the IRS.  One was SSN on checks and the other was Notice Deficiency.   Outreach was discussed; we talked about the new tri-fold.  The tri-fold was approved by Joint Committee to move forward with it.  One change was the address on the back, instead of going to Washington it would go to the perspective area offices.  There was a discussion on whether there should be a deadline for completing active issues.  Dale said that area 3 would continue to use estimated completion dates to work active issues.  Hank Mosler invited all to join a Joint Committee call.   The next one is June 4, 2008 at 2pm EST.

Subcommittee Reports
Issue 4404—Copy of Return—Rose reported that she spoke to Janice Washington the Subject Matter Expert (SME) and she shared that she was working with Donna Powers and Nancy Ferree.  They are going to have a conference call this week.  Janice said that even though it is not written, they do get a copy of their returns free; they just have to put disaster on the top of the return.  She also said that she would research further.  Sallie is going to follow-up.   We will hold until next month for approval.  Hank suggested that the one page of the quality review form be attached to the referral. 

Issue 4550—Free Tax Prep Problem—Dale reported that all work is completed and it is ready to go forward.  It has already been written on the Joint Committee referral form.  It just needs to be approved by the committee and then it will go to the Joint Committee quality review.  Sallie will set up call with area 2’s Quality Review before the issue go to Joint Committee.   Hank thanked Dale for moving the issues along. 

Issue 4589—Unable to Contact IRS with Number on Notice— Al Rodriguez reported that has been submitted. The committee decided to hold off on this issue; Mark Paris stated that the Communications Committee has been working and issue regarding 800 numbers.  The committee has decided by consensus to let Mark Paris run this by Communications to see if it will be elevated as a Joint effort.  Al Rodriguez will forward an email he received from Sallie regarding this issue is being worked through IRMS.  We will review this again in June and decide whether we will elevate to Joint Committee.  Nancy Ferree will research to verify if Area 2 is also working this issue.

Issue 4635—Expanding Third Party Authorization Term- Dale reported that there are three areas working on this issue,  Area 3, Area 4 and Area 7.  Area 4 has been just sitting on it until Area 3 does something.  Dale is going to get in touch with Area 7 find out that their status is.  Dale is rolling this over until June.  Sallie will pull research report from Area 7 and send it to Dale Cooper.

New Issue Review
Issue 4688-- Instruction for Child Care Expenses---Caller has a spouse in prison.  She is filing MFJ.  Husband earns minimal income in prison and goes to school.  Instructions do not explain if his income and schooling will allow her to take childcare expenses.  Instructions should cover situation of spouse in prison.  Based on the information researched the committee agreed by consensus not to work the issue. 

Issue 4690-- Dividends from a REIT--- Pub 17 and Pub 550 do not explain how to report dividends from a REIT that is paid in the first quarter of the year.  Is it to be reported in the distribution year or the year actually paid?  Rules are not clear for taxpayers or the financial institutions.  Sallie found the information and it is very specific when to file.  Based on the information researched the committee agreed by consensus not to work the issue. 

Issue 4686-- E-Services for Tax Professionals-- Comment: I am a practitioner trying to use the e-services.  I continually have problems logging in and now I am on my fourth registration since last summer.  I am sure I am not the only one and eservices is useless until I get the new letter in the mail with the confirmation code.  E-services the way it is set up are not automation it is aggravation.  I would rather wait on the phone, listen to Muzak and talk to a live person in an hour or so.  By making practitioners call instead of using e-services there are less resources available for taxpayers.  If you think I am the only one with this problem pull the records and see how many practitioners have received multiple confirmation code letters 3563(GG).  The screening committee recommended placing this in the parking lot.  The committee agreed by consensus to place issue in the parking lot.

Issue 4739-- Personal Service Contracts-- Individual would like the committee to advocate for the imposition of a tax reporting and liability mechanism for intra-family Personal Service Contracts. Contracts that are used primarily by children to spend-down their parents' remaining assets to place them on Medicaid.  Dale states that this is not an IRS issue; therefore, the screening subcommittee recommends dropping the issue.  Nancy suggested that when the team makes a decision to drop an issue, add a history item to the research report so that it can remember why we dropped it.   Dale and Sallie will write a letter explaining why the committee is not going to work the issue.  The committee agreed by consensus to drop the issue.

Issue 4785-- TAC Phone Number not Working -- TP called asking for information on the Ocala, FL TAC office.  She wanted to call and make an appointment.  She said the phone number was not working.  I called and received a very strange message on the line.  I told her I would check on it and call her back.  Analyst Sallie Chavez attempted to contact Michelle Jones to report the problem. She never returned call.  Sallie called the manager for the Ocala TAC office. She left a message with the secretary that the phone line was not working.  The secretary advised Sallie to call the person who was in charge of the phones.  Sallie called this person but she was not available.  She left a message to advise them the phones were not working.  The next day the phones still were not working so Sallie input the problem into SAMS (Systemic Advocacy Management System).  Within 2 hours, a manager was on the phone with Sallie discussing the problem.  The next day the phones were working.  The SAMS manager advised that the TAC office was not aware the phone was not working.  Committee would like to see if the TAC phones are checked on a regular basis.  TAP Analyst will check on this.

Outreach
Dale said that outreach was good across the board.  He stated that because of tax practitioners and tax season, it was a little low for April.  Kudo’s to Max for have 500 contacts.  Dale reported that he and Lou participated in a Congressional Liasion meeting.  It was very successfully and Dale thinks this is something that should be continued.  He gave Kudos to Rose Brown and her office for putting on such a good meeting.

Citizen Input
No citizen input.

Meeting Close
Dale thanked everyone and said that he appreciate everyone’s efforts and continue doing your outreach. 

Next Meeting scheduled for Monday June 16, 2008 12:30pm EST.

Certification: the Area 3 Committee approved these minutes by consensus on 06/16/2008.