Area 7 Committee Meeting Minutes

Area 7 Committee Meeting
December 15, 2005

Designated Federal Official

• John Tam, Oakland Local Taxpayer Advocate

Committee Members Present

• Margaret Ferguson, CA
• David Jones, CA
• Allena Kaplan, CA (Vice-Chair)
• Tom Karwin, CA (Chair)
• Mavis Smith, CA
• Iris Sosa, CA
• Wayne Tanna, HI
• Wayne Whitehead, CA
• Doug Wilhelm, CA
• Gil Yanuck, NV

Committee Members Absent

• Margaret Balcom, CA
• Larry Combs, CA
• Greg Gursey, AK

Staff

• Dave Coffman, Analyst
• Jeff Stern, Analyst
• Judi Nicholas, Program Manager

Other Attendees

• None

Opening/Welcome
John Tam opened the meeting and Tom welcomed the members. Allena reviewed the agenda. Jeff performed the roll call and a quorum was met. The new and returning members introduced themselves to one another.

Joint Committee Report Out
Tom advised that there was no new news from the Joint Committee. He suggested that the members review the November minutes from the Joint Committee.

Issues

• Mail Procedures at TAC Offices #3363
  Tom asked if the committee was ready to give final approval to the Joint Committee referral. The proposal was for each taxpayer assistance center (TAC) that is co-located with another IRS office to assign a “duty officer” each day. This duty officer would be available to accept documentation submitted by taxpayers for IRS employees (such as Revenue Agents and Revenue Officers) who were unavailable that day.

  Gil raised an objection, based on his conversations with IRS employees at TAC offices. Employees have expressed concerns both over safety issues and the availability of employees to serve as duty officers.

  Decision: It was decided to table the referral, and reassign the issue to Tom for further research.

• IRS Refund Website #3268
  Judi announced that the issue is being rewritten and reevaluated by the Joint Committee.

  Decision: The committee will table this issue until the rewrite is complete.

• Electronic Tax Law Assistance Website #3483
  Tom announced that there have not been any updates on this issue.

  Decision: It was decided to carry this issue forward to the January meeting.

• EITC—Enclosure with Utility Bills #3708
  This is a new issue developed by Doug Wilhelm. It involves enclosing informational “stuffers” about the earned income tax credit (EITC) inside utility bills.

  Judi reported that she had shared Doug’s proposal with the EITC office. They are drafting a publication similar to the stuffer Doug proposes for EITC. The EITC office discussed with Judi the need to target a specific audience rather than using a “shotgun” approach. Gil added that the Stakeholder, Partnership, Education & Communication (SPEC) office also prefers targeting a specific audience.

  Action: Jeff will review the draft publication to determine if it can be applied to this issue. Judi will talk with Stakeholder Partnership Education & Communication, which has experience communicating with low income groups that may be entitled to the EITC, to get their views on this proposal.

Town Hall Meetings
Allena reported that the Area 7 town hall meeting will be held on February 1st in San Diego, California, on the campus of the University of San Diego.

Decision: A working team will be established to attend and work at the town hall meeting. Judi will e-mail information on the meeting to all committee members. Members interested in joining the working team should express their interest in an e-mail to Allena. Allena will then randomly select the participants for the working team by December 22, 2005.

Mentoring
New members have been paired with returning members. Members have been notified of their mentor/new member pairs.

Annual Meeting
Pre-read materials for the annual meeting should arrive by the end of next week.

Tom reminded everyone that the Area 7 Committee dinner will be held on Thursday, January 12th.

Other Business
Judi advised the new members that meeting minutes, draft agendas, and other materials are posted on TAPSpeak. She encouraged the new members to log on to TAPSpeak and become familiar with using it. Judi informed the new members that they should call Dave or Jeff if they encounter any problems or have any questions.

Action: Dave will e-mail TAPSpeak registration instructions to the new members. He will also include e-mail addresses for Tom and Allena.

Closing
John Tam closed the meeting.