APRIL 21, 2003
2:00 PM PDT

ATTENDEES:

• JAMES BANKS
• DARLENE BRAMON
• MARIO BURGOS
• RICHARD CORMIER
• JUSTIN DOUCETTE
• SKIP ESHELMAN
• CHRIS FORZANO
• GREGORY MACIULLA
• JOE REDER
• TOM SHERWOOD, DESIGNATED FEDERAL OFFICIAL
• SHARON STETZ
• VIRGINIA SYMONDS
• BRUCE TWOMLEY
• SHERRY WHAH

ABSENT:

• CLAYTON AGENA

STAFF:

• ANNE GRUBER
• JUDI NICHOLAS

VISITORS:

• NONE

OPENING:
Tom Sherwood, as the Designated Federal Official, called the meeting to order and handed it over to Justin Doucette as Chairperson to conduct business. Justin welcomed everyone and then Anne Gruber called the roll. Justin reviewed the Action Items from last month's meeting and briefly reported on the Joint Committee, which has its face-to-face meeting on May 1st and 2nd.

OFFICE REPORTS:
The face-to-face meeting for Area 6 is being held in Seattle, Washington. The first meeting will begin on Thursday, May 29, at 12:30 PM at the Jackson Federal Building at the South Auditorium on the 4th floor, which is on the 2nd Avenue street-level. Marla Ofilas is taking care of all travel arrangements. Anne commented that the hotel has offered to store suitcases if anyone wanted to go straight from the airport to the hotel to drop off the luggage, instead of directly to the federal building for the meeting. Luggage can be stored at the federal building too, but it must go through the X-ray machine.

REFERRALS:

Utah -- Library Computers # 1198

Sharon Stetz had another meeting and volunteered to go first with her state's issues. She reviewed the idea that many libraries offer free computers and have AARP volunteers readily available to answer questions. The trouble with public libraries is that the computer time per person is limited. So a taxpayer could be working on the tax return and run out of time. Senior citizen centers often have free computer usage and no time limit. TAP's goal is to help the low-income taxpayer. A list of where a taxpayer can use a computer at no cost would be beneficial. Tom mentioned the BPOL (banks, post offices, and libraries) program where the IRS gets help from the public's accessibility to those buildings, but that program is limited to paper forms distribution. ACTION ITEM: Anne will prepare a closing letter to the taxpayer listing the options available.

Utah - Hold Music #1199

Anne talked to employees at the Joint Operations Center and was told that the list of changes to the telephone system is already overloaded and changes are now being considered for the 2005-filing season. Nonetheless this issue was recently elevated.

Alaska - Taxpayer Rights #836

Bruce Twomley discussed possible changes to the final notice. He considered the alternatives presented to him and thought the timing for wording about the Taxpayer Advocate Service was critical. He really felt that the taxpayer needs the information when they might be suffering a hardship with a levy. He thought the inclusion of a Form 911 might also be beneficial. He asked if he could write up his proposal and email it to the group for discussion at the next meeting. Justin suggested that it might be a good topic to discuss at the face-to-face meeting in May. ACTION ITEM: Bruce will write his proposal and send it to the entire committee.

Alaska - OIC Mail Delay #1235
Oregon - OIC Mail Delay #1089

Tom explained what he found out about the OIC process for receipt and control of follow-up documents relating to an OIC investigation at the Memphis Service Center. The mailroom has access to the Automated OIC (AOIC) computers and when correspondence is received at the mail room, a mail room employee updates the account on the AOIC system with the date and time received. This alerts the case worker working the OIC account that the requested documents have been received by IRS and the case worker should keep the case open until the documents are in the case worker's possession. The Internal Revenue Manual (IRM) that governs this process calls for two notifications that must be sent to taxpayers by the COIC caseworkers when requesting additional documentation to complete the investigation. The IRM advises caseworkers to allow a minimum of 14 days for the first request and 14 days for the second request. The COIC unit gives taxpayers an additional 15 days for mailing time before closing and returning the case to the taxpayer as an unprocessable OIC. After these 43 days, then the taxpayer is delinquent and the OIC case is in default. Jim Banks asked if the paperwork was date-stamped. Tom didn't know, but pointed out that the updating of the AOIC system is like a date stamp. Joe Reder said that if the paperwork comes on the fax machine, then it is stamped with the date and the time it is received. Considering that the OIC unit gets 1200 new cases a week, it's not surprising that some cases fall through the cracks. The IRS already builds some extra time into the process and the case stays open until that time is up. When mistakes do happen, the Taxpayer Advocate Service is there to help. It is all or nothing when extra paperwork is requested. Ample time is provided. Sherry Whah wondered about the OIC proposal that Area 5 is working on. This seems to be a major ongoing topic that TAP will always be concerned with. ACTION ITEM: Anne will contact the analyst with Area 5 to find out what their topic is. Closing letters will be prepared for these two taxpayers.

Alaska - Day Care Providers #1237

Sherry explained that the suggestion was recently elevated to the Joint Committee. TAP suggests that the same form and PTIN be used for providers as is used for preparers.

Arizona - No Report

Colorado -- Capital Gains Forms #905

The sample merger statement was received and shared with national office. They said that taxpayers do not need to file if the only reason they were filing was to record the merger, a non-taxable event. All issues for this taxpayer were addressed. ACTION ITEM: Anne will prepare a closing letter.

Colorado - IRA Deduction #1060

Richard explained that this issue was legislative with many aspects to it. The state required the employees to be a part of the retirement system and TAP couldn't really do anything about that. Justin really felt that it was unfair for an employee to be forced to give up the IRA deduction that way and requested more research on why it happens. ACTION ITEM: Anne will find out what the states tell their employees when they start a new job.

Hawaii - No Report.

Idaho - CP-2000 #1374

Joe asked for an explanation of CP-2000. Darlene Bramon explained that it is a letter that is sent to a taxpayer to report un-reported income. It is a totally automated checking system. The letter says "If you agree. . . . " The practitioner said that he always can explain where the income was reported, it is just a hassle for the taxpayer to receive a scary letter from the IRS for no real reason and time-consuming for him. Sherry explained that the IRS was looking for self-employment income because the employer was using the Form 1099-MISC, probably in error. Darlene thought that this was probably the case and wanted to go back to the practitioner and ask. ACTION ITEM: Darlene will contact the practitioner to review this suggestion.

Idaho - W-4 Withholding #635

Everyone agreed that the W-4 was complex and misleading. It is an old problem and to get it changed would not be simple. Possibly statements like "Check the amount that you are having withheld several times during the year." Or "If you owed money last year, make sure you change your withholding." Or "If you change jobs or start a second job, check your withholding." could be added to the instructions. It was decided that education is the key and it needs to start in the high schools. ACTION ITEM: Anne will prepare this issue for the Joint Committee.

Montana - Capital Gain Loss Limit #669

Jim Banks elevated this issue to the Joint Committee. Area 4 did take the lead on this legislative issue.

Nevada - No Report.

New Mexico - Fax Number on Letters #587

Mario is playing phone tag with Bob Curran, the owner of CP-161. Mario thinks the same process that allows regular mail to be routed to the right person could be applied to faxes.

Oregon - Publication 535 #1246

Anne has made contact with the owner of Pub 535 and asked her to find out what mistakes the taxpayer could make if the health insurance is purchased under a name other than the business. She promised to call back tomorrow.

Washington - OIC and Technology #620

Joe reported on his findings about fax machines. His research showed him that Cannon offered the features that the IRS needs to have for security reasons. All brochures were sent to Anne. Tom commented that he felt that the problem might not be a lack of fax machines but a problem with the manner in which the COIC unit is required to communicate with taxpayers. In other words, what we need to do is review the COIC unit's policy on follow-up contact. It would seem that if COIC required more fax machines to fulfill its mission, they could order new fax machines. Nonetheless, the committee wishes to elevate the material that Joe accumulated to the Joint Committee. ACTION ITEM: Anne will prepare the information for the Joint Committee. Tom will get the unit's policy on follow-up contact.

Washington - IRS Software #638

Chris Forzano said that although the IRS is not in the business to create software, the tax paying public would like to know if a tax software company that offers the tax program is certified by the IRS. The IRS should approve and endorse a program if it passes for use for filing taxes. Jim pointed out that Publication 1345, Handbook for Authorized e-file Providers of Individual Income Tax Returns, explains the certification process (page 71). A list of supporting online filing companies is posted on the IRS website at www.irs.gov, under "Electronic Services." ACTION ITEM: Anne will prepare a closing letter to the taxpayer explaining the rules to being certified.

Wyoming - No Reports

Mario wanted to point out that many taxpayers are frustrated today with the complexity of the tax system. A request for a Flat Tax is often heard during outreach efforts. Justin felt that this was important information to pass on to Nina Olson. ACTION ITEM: Everyone will report all contacts and ideas after outreach activities no matter what the suggestion.

CLOSING:
Tom adjourned the meeting at 3:34 PM PDT.