Designated Federal Official

• Mary Ann Delzer - Milwaukee, WI - Program Analyst

Committee Members Present

• Bell, Kay - Austin, TX - Vice Chair
• Bland, Sandra - Bemidji, MN - Member
• Colvin, A. Elizabeth - Austin, TX - Member
• Fretheim, Dan - Decorah, IA - Member
• Guthmann, Howard - St. Paul, MN - Member
• Lynch, Reagan - Midland, TX - Member
• Shah, Rajiv - Scottsdale, AZ - Member
• Rousseau, Richard - Harker Heights, TX - Member
• Shoemaker, Paul - Lincoln, NE - Member
• Villarreal, Josefina - Corpus Christi - Member
• Woodard, Norma - Choctaw, OK - Member
• Wright, Kenneth - Chesterfield, MO - Chair

Committee Members Absent

• Capehart, Craig - Dallas, TX - Member
• Freeman, Christopher - Chaska, MN - Member
• Stieger, Lee - Leavenworth, KS - Member

TAP Staff

• Robb, Patti - Milwaukee, WI - Secretary

Welcome
Ken Wright welcomed everyone to the call. 

Roll Call
Quorum Met

Area 5 Chair Report-Wright
Joint Committee (JC) Report-out
The JC discussed the quality review process.  There will be five panel members on the Quality Review subcommittee.  Two members from the JC, two from Area committees, and the fifth person will be the chair of the committee elevating the issue(s).  The recommendation will go thru quality review, and if is complete, be forwarded to the JC for consideration.  If the recommendation needs clarification, it will go back to the originating Area committee.  The Quality Review committee will not make substantive changes. 

The JC also discussed metrics (measures); trying to come up with qualitative measures to determine success of TAP; contacts, issues, etc.

Response to TAP Issue 507-3534 – Lynch felt this is the best we will get for now.  At least they didn’t reject all our suggestions.  Guthmann said the IRS assumes everyone is familiar with IRS.gov. and many people don’t even have a computer.  Our clients don’t know where to mail their returns until we give them the address on an envelope.  A leaflet with all the addresses in the country would be so very helpful.  Lynch suggested the IRS should have a searchable database.  A taxpayer could put in their address and it would give them the correct mailing address to be used.  Taxpayers question why they use one address for refund and another for payment.  Wright said if more people are using software, which should print the address information; a preparer should provide this information to their client; and if someone is doing a paper return, they will probably have the instructions and the address.  Guthmann noted the bigger problem is after the filing season.  Wright said if we are going to get back to them on this issue, we need to have numbers and data.  Villarreal thinks there is an option on the IRS toll-free number to make a selection for mailing returns. 
ACTION:  Villarreal will call the IRS toll-free number to see if there actually is an option for mailing returns. 

Delzer suggested closing this issue partially accepted, monitor the problem, and possibly make it an active issue after the filing season. 

Area 5 Annual Report
The Area 5 annual report submission is waiting for more information.  It will be sent out to the whole committee after it’s completed.

Face-to-Face Meeting
We will not be visiting the service center during our face-to-face meeting this year.  We can revisit this next year.

Issue Discussion

• Direct Deposit - Bland

Wright sent his comments on the draft letter to National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA), Nina Olson, regarding the misdirected direct deposit of income tax refunds.  There were some grammatical and style changes.  Wright said many firms are implementing new procedures to avoid liability with misdirected deposits.

Delzer reported that beginning January 1, 2008, if a taxpayer realizes they put the incorrect bank account number on a return, and they can let the IRS know within 7-8 days, the IRS may be able stop the direct deposit and send a paper check. 
ACTION:  Delzer will make the discussed changes to the letter and then forward the NTA. 

• RAL – ANPRM - Delzer

Area 4 will be working on this issue and Lynch will work with them.

• Issue Prioritization Subcommittee - Bell

The subcommittee came up with four issues they felt were worth looking into further: 

• # 4522 - Reporting of income from child care when done by grandparents
• # 4435 - Automatic six month extension for Forms 990
• # 4193 - Self calculating PDF forms – this would cut down on math errors.  Wright suggested looking at the Ohio state returns as they are an excellent model.
• #3712 - Third party preparation POA

ACTION: Lynch will begin working on issue # 4435, automatic extensions for Forms 990.
ACTION: Delzer to update the database to show issues 4522, 4435, 4193 and 3712 as Active.  All other “new” issues will move to the “parking lot.”
 
Outreach - Wright
Wright expressed disappointment with how many members did outreach this month. 

Villarreal said she has a rather large meeting coming up.  She will have a table and TAP handouts for this meeting and should reach approximately 200 people. 

Twelve outreach activities by Bland, Lynch, Rousseau, Shoemaker, Stieger, and Wright.

ACTION: Item review
Issue # 4241 – EFTPS – Delzer reported on the research she had completed.  Wright suggested to keep Active, but not form a subcommittee yet. 

Issue # 4268 – Identity theft – Wright thinks this is an issue that will never go away.  Delzer reported the NTA included identity theft in this year as a Most Serious Problems and that IRS had a task force working on this issue.  It will stay in the parking lot for now.

Since the scheduled conference call for November falls on a holiday (Veterans Day), the call will be on Monday, November 10, at 9:30 C.T.

Issue Committee Highlights
Wright reported the Ad Hoc Forms & Pubs Committee have some assignments but are not doing a whole lot right now.

Office Report
The new acting manager for the Milwaukee office is Trish DeTimmerman.  She is an analyst in the Des Moines TAS office.  She has a great background, is smart, and not afraid to jump into things. 
The secretary position is still vacant.    

Wright asked about how soon the junior analyst position will be filled.  The response was hopefully very soon. 

Public Input
None.

Closing/Meeting Satisfaction Assessment
Area 5 will not be hosting a Town Hall meeting this year.  The closest one will be held in Springfield, IL, on May 1, 2007.  Ken Wright said he plans to attend that meeting. 

Bell said it was a busy meeting.  We have a partial victory on one issue; we signed off on a letter to the NTA; we have one new issue to work on; and we are also going to work with Area 4 on the RAL issue. 

Meeting adjourned.

Next Meeting is March 11, 2008, 9:30 a.m. CT