Area 5 Committee Meeting Minutes

November 10, 2003

Present:

• Linda Bader
• Patrick Castleberry, Acting Chair
• Laura DeMarais
• Maria Hermann-Pariente
• John Hollingsworth
• Steve Landauer
• Tom Seuntjens
• Nan Wilson
• Frank Woods, Jr.
• Dianne Glass, DFO

Absent:

• Lydia Brasch
• Paul Smathers
• Lillian Woo

Visitors:

• Steve Bankler
• Ken Eichner
• Billy Hubbard, Territory Manager, SPEC

Staff:

• Marge O'Brien, Acting TAP Manager
• Patti Robb, Note Taker

Welcome/Announcements/Review Agenda
Castleberry announced that he would be the acting chair for this call.

Roll Call
Quorum Met.

Review/Approve Minutes
Minutes approved by consensus.

Subcommittee Reports
Bonnie Grove, Program Assistant, called to inform the committee that Terry Lutes, Deputy Chief Information Technology, was called away to another meeting and would be joining the meeting late.

Billy Hubbard – responsible for central and southern Texas . Have sections dedicated to providing financial literacy tax services to low income or limited English proficiency. They offer banking or financial help. Some provide free financial services. We have a memorandum of understanding with the National Credit Union Association (NCUA). We have no current participation from credit unions at this time in south central Texas . I have not had an opportunity to see what they can provide. Most major banks will sponsor financial literacy classes if needed. FDIC has been very pro-active in this program. What areas are you interested in?

Bader – what is the money smart curriculum?

Hubbard - Money management, credit management, how to manage a mortgage ownership, home ownership advantages, credit card purchase explanations, how to open a checking account and how to maintain a checking account.

Bader – does it teach anything about tax compliance?

Hubbard – no that is not the focus. I will send out a copy of the smart curriculum. If you have a tie into a financial institutions, please refer the coalition chair name to him.

Castleberry – what are the top challenges you face this year?

Hubbard – maintaining service level of the outreach program, challenging somehow moving out coalition efforts to a more self-sustaining level.

Castleberry – I was not aware of this program until you spoke.

Landauer – do you set up these coalitions as the territory manager?

Hubbard – the territory manager is supposed to be the focal point for these coalitions. I have been able to assign relationship management to some of my senior managers. There is a relationship with the YMCA. They are very interested to have VITA volunteers, and would be willing to provide contact information at the national level. Some YMCAs are prevalently Spanish speaking. If there is an existing coalition, I recommend the YMCA hooks up with an existing coalition. If there is not an existing one in an area, speak to your territory manager and have them speak to the YMCA.

Castleberry – thank you for all your information.

Action Items

1. Glass was going to get this information. Has sent out a message to the information to LTAs requesting that they can contact the TAP members.
2. Still waiting for determination
3. Done
4. Woods contacted Ms. Seward concerning her problem with the Memphis office, date stamping her correspondence and returning it to her with no explanation. Woods inquired of her if she had ever received an explanation.
   
   She responded that she did receive a telephone call from Ms Williams of the Memphis office but did not really get an explanation, only that they have guidelines that they must follow. Woods then wrote a letter to Ms Williams asking her for an explanation as to why Ms. Seward's letters would be returned without explanation and requested a copy of any written guidelines her office has as to handling correspondence, as of this date no reply.
   
   Castleberry stated that he had spoken with Ms. Seward concerning an OIC and he suggested that as a next step he would get permission from her to track a piece of her correspondence.
5. Done
6. Done
7. Done
8. Done
9. Done
10. See Billy Hubbard's report above.
11. Tax Administration IRS Should Reassess the Level of Resources for Testing Forms and Instructions, GAO-03-486, http://www.gao.gov
12. Done 

Sub Committee Reports

• E-Filing
  Hollingsworth – had a meeting on October 31, 2003 . Looked at forms. The report was modified and forwarded in the October monthly report.

• E-File for VITA / AARP
  DeMarais – on hold until the proper time.

• Correspondence Issue
  Woods – See action item #4 above

• Address Change Procedures
  DeMarais – got information from the post office. Will need help from Delzer. More work to be done.

• ID Theft Impact on IRS
  Bader – the Senate and House both passed bills last week. One bill cuts out a lot of state's rights. The post office is now getting involved in ID theft. More work to do.

• Audit Methodology
  Seuntjens – got information from Nancy Sitzberger. Still reviewing so will report at the next meeting.

• Accuracy of Tax Law Answers
  Smathers – not on today's call.

• Complexity of Depreciation
  Smathers – not on today's call.

• Copies of Return / Transcript
  Warren – no report at this time.

• Direct Capital Gains
  Wilson – presented two recommendations at the national meeting. They were sent to Nancy Harwell. Needs to be straightened out with her.

ACTION: Send Castleberry copy of new roster – Robb.

New Items
Wilson – would like to work on the OIC issue.

Seuntjens – what happened to the research report?

ACTION: Delzer will report at December meeting.

Outreach Report
Castleberry – was in contact with Attorney Seward. She is looking for acknowledgement for receipt of requested information and letter.

DeMarais – attended a breakfast meeting with financial planner who does a radio show. Included comments about TAP in the show.

Landauer – visited YMCA and VITA sites. Talked to IRS employees in Davenport .

Warren – spoke to a taxpayer about a notice. Referred to TAS.

Wilson – attended a financial fair. Lots of people there. Handed out TAP material. Shared a table with LITC.

Office Report
Castleberry – Delzer sent out the article from Commissioner Everson – that the IRS is going to concentrate on enforcement. Any comments?

Seuntjens – I hope to meet with Commissioner Everson when I finish the annual report. I will speak to him about enforcement then.

Public Comments
Steve Bankler – went to an IRS walk in office. It is a terribly confusing system. You never know when you will be called. There is a major black hole in the IRS with the OIC process. Your paperwork goes in but nothing ever comes out.

We want copies of the handouts for these meetings.

Ken Eichner – want to reiterate that there are problems with OIC. We need more time to respond to requests from OIC. As far as the acknowledgement situation talked about, I certify all information sent to the IRS. Then you know they received it. I believe estimated taxes affect OIC. The IRS is changing calculations from 60 months to 15 years.

Next meeting is Monday, December 8, 2003.

Meeting adjourned.

ACTION ITEMS:

ACTION: Send Castleberry copy of new roster – Robb.