Area 5 Committee Meeting Minutes

August 8, 2006

Designated Federal Official:

• Marian Adams, Local Taxpayer Advocate, Wichita, KS

Committee Members Present

• Sandra Bland, Bemidji, MN
• Elizabeth Colvin, Austin, TX
• Howard Guthmann, St. Paul, MN
• Steve Landauer, Davenport, IA
• Richard Rousseau, Killeen, TX
• Lee Stieger, Leavenworth, KS
• Mary Suther, Dallas, TX
• Warren Wong, Rochester, MN

Committee Members Absent

• Bob Meyers, Omaha, NE
• Ralph Rivera, Garland, TX

TAP Staff

• Sandy McQuin, TAP Manager
• Mary Ann Delzer, Program Analyst
• Patti Robb, Secretary

Visitors:

• Mary Hickey, Local Taxpayer Advocate, Omaha, NE

Welcome / Roll Call / Review Agenda
Quorum met.

Meet the LTA – Mary Hickey, Omaha
Mary Hickey is the Local Taxpayer Advocate (LTA) in Omaha, Nebraska. She has been with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for 25 years; the last five as the LTA in Omaha. Before that, she worked in TAS, Problem Resolution, and walk-in (currently the Taxpayer Assistance Center). She has one senior analyst, four case advocates, and one secretary in her office. She has enjoyed working with Bob Meyers. He came to the office on April 6 to meet IRS employees. He invited me to attend the Communications Committee face-to-face meeting in Omaha. She looks for joint outreach opportunities for TAS and TAP.

The trend we are seeing this year is an increase in cases. We have received 736 cases to date compared to 465 cases last year. That is a 46% increase. We believe it is related to a better awareness of TAS and more IRS emphasis on enforcement activities. We were Involved in the TAS immediate intervention in the Fresno cases. There was a date stamping problem and that caused a lot of problems. Please look me up if you are ever in Omaha.

Area 5 Chair Report - Stieger
Approval of July 11, 2006, Minutes
Minutes approved as submitted.

Joint Committee Meeting

• Free File Report
  McQuin reported that Joint Committee Report had a very short call this month. They didn’t address any elevated issues, but only worked on finalizing the reports for the Commissioner. The Free File report, along with the rest of the reports, are being reviewed by the Joint Committee’s Quality Subcommittee before the reports are forwarded to the Commissioner.

• Election Process
  TAP is considering changing the way chairs are elected. Delzer forwarded an email from Combs with options and points of discussion. Guthmann thinks Area 5 should suggest a nominating committee. He will write up a proposal for the committee’s consideration. The nominating committee could be comprised of the retiring TAP Chair, the chair of each area committee (or a designated member), along with a couple staff members. The first year members would probably not be serving.

  The Joint Committee was concerned that there isn’t enough time to have area and issue committee meetings at the annual meeting as the election takes up so much time. Also, it is hard to get to know people in such a short time. They thought this would be a good way to start this year.

  Wong asked if there is a definition of the chair’s responsibility. McQuin shared that one thing Coston is working on is establishing four subcommittees on various internal TAP issues. An email will come out soon asking for volunteers.

  1. Establishment of a vision statement for TAP
  2. Establishment of a stronger TAP member description - We have an ethics agreement and a TAP member guide, but need to improve the position description.
  3. Member evaluation process/how to evaluate members.
  4. Creating Measures

  As you can see, Coston is looking at establishing a position description for panel members. You may want to ask for a more extensive list of duties, responsibilities, and the time commitment. Stieger thought the descriptions in the TAP Handbook were pretty accurate; however we definitely need to emphasize the time commitment.

  A change in the election process would have to be fast tracked to be able to get it done this year. It may not go quite as smoothly as we would like this year, and would be better next year. Colvin agrees with Guthmann’s suggestion. Suther thought we should say people serving on the nominating committee cannot run for Chair. Bland added it should be limited to people who have not held a chair position in past. Colvin agreed. Suther agreed that the position description for chairs in the TAP handbook is good with exception of time commitment issue.

  ACTION: Guthmann will email his suggestion of a nomination committee to Area 5 Committee members for their comment by August 14.

  ACTION: Delzer will consolidate all comments and ideas for the chair election and forward to Barbara Toy by August 31.

  Stieger said everyone should look at Guthmann’s report and give feedback or comments to him. Colvin thought chairs interested in running again could appoint someone to the nominating committee in their place. The nominating committee should be people serving the final year of their term – be it a two or three year term.

Issue Discussion

• Training for Forms/Pubs Employees - Steve Landauer
  Our subcommittee had a conference call with Sandy Kopta, Chief Individual Forms and Publications, and we asked what we could do to help them. She stated that we could write up a recommendation that the IRS should hire more writers/editors. We are working on the process to determine whether Counsel has overwriting authority. The real issue is the ability to write a proper sentence and paragraph. We will be putting something together for the next meeting. Stieger suggested they may want to add something about hiring contractors to do that type of work.

• POA Issues – Rick Rousseau
  Guthmann worked on this issue and a recommendation was sent to the Joint Committee. Joint Committee will consider the recommendation at their September meeting.

• Toll Free Issues
  Guthmann and Landauer are still researching the issue.

Outreach
Suther reported the Congressional Forum in Dallas was a great success. It was not at all what she thought it would be. The IRS spoke about various issues; bankruptcy, exempt organizations and several others. The IRS stakeholder liaison does outreach with stakeholders and other folks. Guthmann said he has been invited to go to some outreaches by Stakeholder Liaison employee Carol Smith. Bland got a call from Stakeholder Liaison employee Patricia Buttweiler. Delzer attended the Practitioner Liaison meeting in Wisconsin last week. She said you can find out what the hot topics are in the IRS. Suther said one of the major issues she heard addressed is the way people are brought up for audit and the way money is collected. McQuin noted that you may hear from other parts of the IRS of issues that may turn out to be a great issue for TAP to look at. It may also give you a different look at issues. Suther called her LTA to find out if anything was happening, and she suggested all TAP members call too. McQuin said we are getting toward the end of the fiscal year so you may not be able to participate in outreaches this fall, but it cannot hurt to get on their radar.

Landauer spoke to United States Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist about TAP.

Office Report – Sandy McQuin
Recruitment is coming along. We are finished interviewing for all the areas and are now waiting for background checks, tax checks, and fingerprints. This year we have an additional check; a subversive name check. That may delay things a little bit. We have done everything we can do; now we have to wait for the checks. Coston is tracking everything and hopefully it will go smoothly. We have a contact in Treasury to help us. It will all be sent forward and out of our hands soon.

The annual meeting is set up for the week of December 11, 2006. Suther said she will be unable to attend the annual meeting due to another commitment.

Public Input
None.

Closing / Assessment
Everyone felt it was a good meeting. It moved along with direction and everybody participated. There were good ideas exchanged on outreach.