Area 7 Committee Meeting Minutes

Area 7 Committee
April 28, 2005

Committee Members Present (These attendees count for quorum)

• Larry Combs, Yuba City, CA
• Bob Forst, Encino, CA
• Cheyanna, Jaffke, Placentia, CA
• Tom Karwin, Area 7 Chair, Santa Cruz, CA
• Allena Lu, Area 7 Vice-Chair, Anaheim, CA
• Howard Perkins, Suisun City, CA
• Dave Robinson, San Francisco, CA
• Iris Sosa, Fontana, CA
• Dave Terrazas, Santa Cruz, CA
• Bruce Twomely, Juneau, AK
• Doug Wilhelm, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA
• Sherry Whah, Anchorage, AK
• Gil Yanuck, Carson City, NV

Committee Members Absent

• Mary O’Brien, Program Analyst, Seattle, WA
• Margaret Balcomb, Concord, CA

TAP Staff

• Judi Nicholas, TAP Manager, Seattle, WA
• Laurie Keleman, DFO, Los Angeles, CA
• Dave Coffman, Program Analyst, Seattle, WA
• LaVerne Walker, Secretary, Washington DC

Other Attendees

• None

Welcome
Tom welcomed everyone and Allena reviewed the agenda.

Chair Report
Tom discussed the letter that Gwen sent to the Commissioner. All members were encouraged to read the letter. Some members wished that they had an opportunity to offer input to the letter. It was later stated that there was not a lot of time to solicit input due to the fact that Commissioner Everson was rolling out the closures of seven centers on April 29th.

Tom asked Judi how Nina felt about the closures. Judi stated that Nina was on record as stating that the IRS had not researched the issue of closing centers very well before going through with it. Nina also talks about the issue in her Report to Congress on Earned Income Tax Credit.

Judi stated that some of the proposed closings were for 2006 and that there is room for TAP to provide comments. Tom stated that as individuals they could approach their perspective members of Congress with the issue. Lori wanted to send letters to Treasury regarding the issue. Judi asked if they wanted to take this issue on as something Area 7 could work, but cautioned that other areas are already working on similar issues.

Agenda Items

• #3280, TAS Authority to Release Levies – Bruce Twomley
  Bruce stated that he had sent everyone a copy for the forum he wrote on this issue. He apologized for sending it to everyone so late. Most committee members had not reviewed the document. Bruce stated that he was open to comments on this issue. He also stated that there were still automated levies but they have been taken out of TAS and have to go through centers to get them released. LTA has had problems finding someone to release levies. New procedures have done irrevocable to taxpayers. If automated levies can be brought back it would lessen harm to taxpayers.

  Dave Robinson had a question regarding page 4, last paragraph of the document. Bruce stated that he received that information from the Alaska LTA that the Commissioner was the decision maker for this issue.

  Laurie stated that she has employees in Los Angeles that have not had problems getting levies released.

  Action: Bruce stated that he would make edits to the document before sending it forward. A decision was made that committee members would have a chance to review it.

• #3363, Mail procedures at Taxpayer Walk-In Offices – Sherry Whah
  Walk-In Offices falls in line with customer service issue. She would like to combine this issue with other issues. Allena will work with Sherry on this issue. Judi stated the Margaret may also be interested in this issue. The will all three co-chair this issue.

• #3268, IRS Refund Website - Larry Combs
  Larry asked that this issue be placed on hold until the Area 7 TAP analyst could also be on the call.

• #3444, Automated Refund Toll-free Line – Margaret Balcomb
  #3492, 2005 Budget and effect on TAC customer service and locations – Margaret Balcomb

  Action: Since Margaret is not available to be on the call, Issue #3444 and #2492 will be placed on the agenda for the next meeting.

Outreach – Tom Karwin
Tom asked committee members to make sure they completed and turned in Outreach forms.

San Francisco Face-to-Face Meeting – Tom Karwin
The Area 7 Face-to-Face meeting will be in San Francisco.
Tap Analyst is working on getting the Deputy National Tax Advocate (DNTA) to speak at the meeting. At that time he may be able to provide an update regarding IRS services. The TAP Staff will also fine a subject matter expert to speak to the group about IRS walk-in offices. Allena asked that “Challenges During Outreach and Solutions” be added to the Face-to-Face agenda. Tom stated that he would be working with TAP Analyst on the agenda when she returned to the office.

Outreach
Panel members report out on outreach activities. Chairs and analyst should use to this to reconcile with speaker report.

Joint Committee Report
Tom will submit the Joint Committee assignments by e-mail to all Area 7 Committee members.

Closing/Assessment
Laurie adjourned the meeting.