Taxpayer Advocacy Panel

Joint Committee (JC) Report-out - Kay Bell brought up that an issue was elevated regarding Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) at the Joint Committee meeting. Bell has forwarded a copy of the recommendation to Norma Woodard. There is a push to get as many issues elevated as possible before the end of the year.

Issue Discussion

4697 – Collection – National Standards (Norma Woodard) – Woodard is waiting for input from Jo Villarreal and Dan Fretheim. Howard Guthmann is re-sending his email regarding this to Woodard. Once she receives this information if someone could help her put everything together it will all be ready to go. Roy Block indicated he received an email from IRS executives from Washington, DC and they would like to meet with TAP regarding the National Standards for collections. The meeting is to take place September 16th and they are asking for TAP’s input. Should these executives want to put together a team, Woodard will be available to be to participate.

4480 - Name and SSN Mismatch (Paul Shoemaker) – No report this month.

4241 - Improve Tax Payment Options (Norma Woodard) – No report this month.

ACTION: Delzer to review issue matrix for other EFTPS related contacts.

4805 – Form 1116 Foreign Tax Credit (Craig Capehart) – Capehart and Shah were elected to work on this.

ACTION: Delzer to complete requested research regarding the Foreign Tax Credit.

4814 – Payment with Form 4868 (Ken Wright) – Write up is finished and will be distributed soon.

4653 – LLC and rental income (Ken Wright) – This is still being written up and plan to have completed sometime next week.

4651 – LLC Disregarded Entity Information (Ken Wright) – Write up is finished and will be distributed soon.

4815 – Combo Letter in Exam (Ken Wright) – Wright will prepare a letter to send to National Taxpayer Advocate, Nina Olson, for her consideration in regard to possible most serious problem for taxpayers. Block shared that IRS does acknowledge that they have a problem in this area.

4575 – Website accessibility for blind (Regan Lynch) - Lynch is waiting on comments from people who volunteered to test the site. Lynch is hoping to have this finalized in the next couple of weeks. Lynch will also be including Chris Freeman in the discussion.

Outreach

July – One: Capehart
August – Two: Woodard and Shoemaker

Woodard will start teaching her minister seminars in two weeks. She has approximately 750 participants.
ACTION: Delzer to send marketing materials to Woodard for her seminars.

Action Item Review – Delzer

Delzer is still working on the preliminary research on the Name and SSN Mismatch Issue.
Delzer changed status of issue 4697 to “Active.”
Delzer will continue to pursue working with Systemic Advocacy on the Combo Letter and find out what we will need to do.
Delzer is still working on Form 8109 issues with Fretheim. Delzer will work on creating a survey for Wright’s tax seminars beginning in October.

Issue Committee Highlights – All

COMMUNICATION COMMITTEE--Bell stated they are working on a project trying to consolidate electronic services within TAP, “e-TAP.” They would like more widespread involvement and so if anyone is interested in helping, please let Bell know.

VITA COMMITTEE-- Colvin stated VITA did a survey of TAP members concerning areas in which VITA could expand services. The results showed that members’ opinions were to not have VITA expand services to include tax preparation of Schedule C or K-1’s. They also worked on a publication revision, but have not seen the finished product yet. The committee also decided to ask IRS for updates on recommendations previously sent forward in 2007. This showed that IRS still needs to address some old issues.

FORMS AND PUBS COMMITTEE – Guthmann reported that all assignments that were in process have been completed.

TAC – Fretheim shared they are working on a report that will provide suggestions on revising Taxpayer Assistance Centers process for return preparation. The report is currently in draft and will be finalized in October for submission to the IRS in November.

BURDEN REDUCTIONS – Shah stated they are working an issue regarding hobby vs. business loss. IRS wants to have verbiage that is clearer for taxpayers as whether they have a business loss, or when to classify it as a hobby. IRS is hoping to create a brochure/webpage geared to the average taxpayer. Also working on coming up with a calculator to help determine the taxable amount of Social Security. Taxpayers could then more easily determine what amount of income will incur how much in additional taxes, to then know if it is worth making more money or not.

EITC – Villarreal was on vacation and had not attended the meeting, but will be attending the meeting this week. The committee is working on a model for the EITC page on the IRS website and is currently fine tuning it. They hope to make it very user friendly.

NOTICE IMPROVEMENT – Woodard shared that they are waiting for new notices and publications to review as they have completed their assigned work.

Office Report – Roy Block – The office is in transition as Delzer will be on an Acting Detail as TAP Manager in Seattle during the month of October. Delzer will finish all action items before she goes on detail and Block will support Area 5 in her absence.

Public Input – Tom Walker is excited about the TAP program and indicated it sounded like there was a good flow of issues during the meeting.
ACTION: Gabriel to email Walker a current Area 5 roster.

Closing/Meeting Satisfaction Assessment – Bell indicated that this was a really active meeting. Woodard is gearing up to complete lots of work. Wright has plenty going on and making good progress on the issues he is working. Please let Delzer know about the Outreach opportunities you have had. The issue regarding Form 8109 is being addressed.

Meeting adjourned.

Next Conference Call is October 14, 2008, 9:30 am CT