Designated Federal Official

• Marian Adams - Wichita, KS - Designated Federal Official

Committee Members Present

• Bell, Kay - Austin, TX - Vice Chair
• Capehart, Craig - Dallas, TX - Member
• Colvin, A. Elizabeth - Austin, TX - Member
• Freeman, Christopher - Chaska, MN - 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
• Stieger, Lee - Leavenworth, KS - Member
• Villarreal, Josefina - Corpus Christi - Member
• Woodard, Norma - Choctaw, OK - Member
• Wright, Kenneth - Chesterfield, MO - Chair

Committee Members Absent

• Bland, Sandra - Bemidji, MN - Member

TAP Staff

• Ferree, Nancy - Plantation, FL - TAP Manager
• Fields, Anita - Plantation, FL - Secretary

Guest

• Velinski, Frank - Omaha, NE

Welcome
Ken Wright welcomed everyone to the call.  He mentioned that Mr. Velinski is a member of the public and has an issue he would like to discuss when we do issues.

Roll Call
Quorum Met

Area 5 Chair Report-Wright
Susan Gilbert is now our new temporary manager in Milwaukee.  Bernie is working to get a permanent manager there.  There are currently two applicants.

• Joint Committee (JC) Report-out

The JC had a conference call last week.  Kenneth informed the committee that the Tax Forms and Pubs/Language Services Issue Committee need Spanish speaking panel members to help MLI review the Spanish free file portion of the website.  Ken will email Jo information regarding MLI and free file. There were two issues elevated. The recruitment is up 60% over last year.  You will be getting information asking for help with interviews.

• Springfield Town Hall Report-out

There was a good turn-out.  Sixty-two people attended mostly practitioners.  Nina Olson was pleased with the feedback that was received.

Issue Discussion
Kenneth Wright would like to propose a way to work elevated issues to the Joint Committee.  What ever subcommittee is working an issue, after the committee agrees to go forward then the subcommittee writes it up, post it to the area for review and comment with a one week suspense.  The chair and vice-chair will do a quality review.  Then it will go to Joint Committee.  This process is adopted as policy for processing issues within Area 5.  It is agreed on by consensus.

Kenneth initiated a conference call with the Area Chairs.  They discussed changes to the Annual Meeting where they spend more time in the areas and spend more time doing real work.  This would get the new members involved right away with issues and how to work them.  Ken would like input on the agenda from last year’s annual meeting from the new members of area 5.  He wants to get their input on what they feel could be left out to afford more time in the areas.

Ken said for issues regarding forms and pubs, the subcommittee should write it up, place it on Tap Space for comments, after the 1 week deadline it will then be forwarded to Tax Forms and Pubs.

How the IRS responds to 30 day letters, is an issue that Nina Olson is compassionate about. She would like the committee to work on it.  Ken asked for volunteers to be part of the subcommittee to work the issue.  Howard Guthman, Reagan Lynch, Joe Villarreal and Ken Wright will work this issue.

Outreach – All
There was no outreach reported.
 
Action Items

• Ken Wright to follow-up with Mr. Velinski.
• Ken Wright to publish new procedure for Area 5’s elevation of issues.
• Ken Wright put issues list together and assign subcommittees.

Issue Committee Highlights - All
Ken Wright did a review on a proposed regulation on cancellation of debt and the pub will be going to print this week.  At the Town Hall Nina mentioned that she read those comments. 

Office Report – Nancy Ferree
Nancy Ferree reported that there is a 61% increase of applications from last year.  We received a completed application from every state that we were recruiting in.  The ranking started this week.  Look for emails requesting help to assist with the interviews.  Bernie is pursuing finding a manager for the Milwaukee office.  We have four new Junior Analysts one in each of the offices.  Milwaukee’s new secretary will report May 27, 2008.

Public Input
Frank Velinski discussed an issue regarding the tax gap.  Mr. Velinski owns a home for elderly care business.  He is stating that this type of business is steadily growing and a number of the businesses are getting federal grants and the state is going out and hiring Independent contractors to do the work.  He says that once the contractors are given a 1099, they in-turn don’t pay the taxes that are required by law, which attributes to the tax gap. This issue was number 23 in Nina’s 2007 Annual Report.  Ken Wright mentioned that he is very thankful that Mr. Velinski joined the call and shared his issue; it is not something that TAP can work on.  He then explained the mission of TAP.

Kenneth Wright told Mr. Velinski that he would like to explore this further, because there are a number of issues that we may be within our purview.

Closing/Meeting Satisfaction Assessment - Shah
Congratulations for having a brief and productive meeting.