December 16, 2002

The TAP members for the Area Five Committee met via telephone on Monday, December 16, 2002.

Members in Attendance:

• Linda Bader
• Dianne Glass
• Maria Hermann
• John Hollingsworth
• Kenneth Logan
• Tom Seuntjens
• Paul Smathers
• Nan Wilson
• Lillian Woo
• Frank Woods
   
   
• Mary Ann Delzer, TAP Analyst
• Sandy McQuin, TAP Program Manager
• Lori Mings, Taxpayer Advocate Kansas City Campus

• Ken Eichner

Roll call was taken and minutes from 11/18/2002 approved with corrections.

Introduction of William Woods
Woo welcomed Woods to the Area 5 TAP committee. Woods shared that he is retired from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, serving as a warden, with his specialty being the personnel area. As TAP Chair, Seuntjens welcomed Woods as well and informed him of the orientation conference call to held in January.

Midwest CAP Issues:
Woo shared that she had invited John Boehm, Chair of the former Midwest CAP, to join the call. Boehm was unavailable, but gave Woo a prioritized list of the issues he felt still needed to be worked.

Partner with SBSE to get the CAP message out-Discussion included concerns that TAP needs to partner with more than SBSE and self-employed taxpayers. Members should make an effort to contact their LTA and CPA societies or similar groups to get the word out about the program. Seuntjens encouraged members to inquire about participating in the Stakeholder Relationship Management Local Councils (SRMLC). The SRMLC is one way to get insight into the IRS. Smathers and Bader both reported they had success contacting the media in their marketing efforts. Seuntjens recommended partnering with the media specialist to achieve this goal. Glass suggested members should contact their Local Taxpayer Advocate (LTA) for help getting involved with the SRMLC. Parking lot.

ACTION: Delzer to send Woods LTA information.

Innocent Spouse Claims Processing and Increased Education-After discussion, the committee decided to learn more about the issue and request a speaker for the February meeting in Kansas City.

ACTION: Delzer will arrange for a speaker to discuss the Innocent and Injured Spouse programs at the February meeting.

"Just in Time" Notification -- Woo shared that Boehm did not list this issue as a priority. Delzer shared that Area 4 was working the issue with a subcommittee formed.

Employer Identification Number (EIN) processing -- Logan shared that he saw a slippage in service about six months ago, with the backlog to receive an EIN of six weeks. McQuin shared that the issue cam about from a large backlog problem that develops at the beginning of the calendar year when many business start and rush to obtain an EIN. Parking lot.

Toll Free -- Bader stated that toll free service is a problem, as she recently spent 20 minutes on hold in an attempt to get an answer to a problem. Seuntjens stated that this time of year it might be difficult to get through, as resources are re-aligned for the filing season. Committee will monitor and look at again in February or March.

ACTION: Delzer to send out phone list of the new toll free numbers for the upcoming filing season.

Walk-in Accessibility -- Seuntjens stated IRS needs to do a better job of letting people know when an office is moving. Smathers shared that in North Dakota the IRS has a mobile unit that travels to different locations. McQuin explained that the currently IRS is undergoing a major movement to close IRS offices. The plan is to re-direct traffic to the larger offices. The Midwest CAP pursued the idea of increasing the number of mobile units to take the service to people who otherwise had no access. McQuin suggested the committee review which sites will be open during the filing season in their states.

ACTION: Delzer will send out the list of Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) that will be open for the upcoming filing season.

Estate and Gift -- Delzer gave a background of the issues as the CAP had worked it. Smathers stated the issue was in flux with many tax law changes. Parking lot.

Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt from Tax -- Smathers shared that many small organizations are aware that they even have a filing requirement. Delzer shared that Area 4 was working the issue with a subcommittee formed. Parking lot.

SIMPLE IRA plans -- Delzer shared that Area 4 was working the issue with a subcommittee formed. Parking lot.

New Issues
Bader has been contacted about a concern with student loan inequity. A young attorney with student loans a few years old is unhappy that he is unable to consolidate his loans at the new lower rates of 3-4%.

ACTION: Bader will research the law in regard to the deductibility of student loan interest and will report in January.

Woo has been reading about the expansion of Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). Glass suggested the committee reads the National Taxpayer Advocate's Report to Congress for good background information on the issues.

ACTION: Delzer will arrange for a speaker to discuss AMT at the February meeting.

Status of Template TAP Presentation
McQuin reported that on December 12, 2002, the Area representatives held a conference call to look at the various TAP presentations that have been completed. It was decide that parts form each would be made into one template, hopefully creating a streamlined presentation. This will then be brought to the Joint Committee for further discussion. The template will be Power Point and can be used as talking points, notes or as the actual show. Members will be able to pick and choose the slides they need according to the time allotted/kind of presentation they are doing. Members will also be able to personalize the presentation with the assistance of the staff. Smathers expressed his concern that too many graphics will make it difficult to e-mail/download. McQuin said the committee had the same concern and will limit the graphics.

Future meeting planning
Glass discussed the logistics of the Kansas City meeting. Lori Mings the Taxpayer Advocate at the Kansas City Campus will assist in the planning. A tour of the pipeline processing will be available, as well as the Directors of the compliance and call sites to answer questions. The Campus visit will be scheduled for Friday morning February 7, 2003.

ACTION: Delzer will secure a hotel for meeting space and Robb will contact members to make travel arrangements.

ACTION: Delzer will arrange for a press release to alert the public of the open meeting on Friday afternoon, February 7, 2003 and Saturday morning, February 8, 2003.

Public Comment
Ken Eichner asked the committee to consider taking on two issues related to the Offer In Compromise (OIC) program.

1. The program is poorly run. The intent of the program is to bring people back into the system paying taxes. To be eligible for an OIC, a taxpayer must be "current" with any estimated tax payments that are due. If a taxpayer cannot make estimated tax payments, then they cannot file an OIC. This actually creates a system where there is no incentive to pay the estimated taxes. It causes the majority of OIC to be filed in January/February before any estimates are due. So IRS the has a backlog of cases at the beginning of each year and is over staffed at the end of each year as no one files OICs at the end of the year.
2. The other issue is that CPA fees are not adequately accounted for when the living expense formula is considered. Taxpayer needs the CPA to help them negotiate through the stem, but the IRS formula does not allow for them adequately in determining what the taxpayer can pay on the OIC.

Eichner indicated that he has brought this to the attention of the IRS before with no results. He will send written materials to the committee for their further consideration.

ACTION: Delzer to email Eichner the street address to send his written materials.

Logan agreed that the OIC process is a good issue to be look at and should be moved up the priority list.

ACTION: Committee will discuss the OIC issues at the January meeting.

Next Scheduled meetings:
January 13, 2003, 2:30 p.m. CT

1. OIC program and process

February 7-8, 2003, Courtyard Overland Park, Overland Park, KS