Taxpayer Advocacy Panel
Area 7 Committee
Face-to-face Meeting Minutes
April 24 – 26 2008
Las Vegas, Nevada

Thursday, April 24, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
Saturday, April 26, 2008

Designated Federal Official
John Tam

Attendance
Charles Davidson, Chair
MJ Lee
Sabby Jonathan
Sandy Finestone
Greg Gursey
Dave Jones
Margaret Ferguson
Richard Coonradt
Wayne Tanna
Julia Ling
Wayne Whitehead
Richard Waterman

Staff
Judi Nicholas, TAP Program Manager
Marla Ofilas, TAP Secretary
Janice Spinks, TAP Program Analyst

Absent
Richard Waterman

Opening
John opened the meeting with a few announcements. The Area Director, Joe Benton was invited to attend the meeting however he has since announced his retirement.  John indicated had he been present he would have undoubtedly thanked everyone (members and staff) for their hard work and dedication to the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP).

Welcome/Announcements
Charles welcomed the members and thanked the staff for all of their hard work in preparing for the meeting.

Review Agenda/Facilitation of Meeting
Charles briefly reviewed the outline of the agenda. Day one would be spent sharing information and hearing an overview of issues from the sub-committee chairs.  Day two would be a full working day for each sub-committee where issues would be addressed in depth.  Day three would be a report/review of all the issues that were worked in the respective sub-committees.

Member Introductions
Everyone took the time to introduce themselves.

Debra Grant, Las Vegas LTA was present and took a moment to introduce herself to the committee.  Richard Coonradt (Nevada panel member) scheduled time to meet with her individually.

Meeting Purpose/TAP Mission – Judi Nicholas
Judi discussed the intention of the meeting and encouraged new members to ask questions to ensure they had a clear understanding of the TAP.

Judi provided the following information as it relates to the mission of TAP;

• Area committees are charged with elevating issues to the IRS (products/services) how to make it easier for the general public
• Sub-committees report what issues their committee is working on so that everyone is informed and to prevent duplication of issues

During the sub-committee breakout sessions members are charged with looking at each issue (does it affect a lot of people etc.) and make a determination, which would then be brought before the full committee for consensus on any recommendations

Joint Committee (JC) Report – Charles Davidson
Election of new chairs – Hank would like to see TAP move toward electing committee chairs prior to the annual meeting. This will be discussed further within the JC.  One of the JC chairs has been asked to lead a sub-committee for the chair election process.

Wayne Whitehead has been asked to lead a sub-committee to work on the TAP Annual Report. The 2007 report is in final edit stage and should be sent to the printer within the next couple of weeks.

Town Hall Meetings- It has been reported that all of the meetings have gone well. The last one will be held in Springfield, Ill.  For the sake of new members, Judi provided a brief overview of what generally takes place at Town Hall meetings. Nina generally attends which is a good draw for public participation. The Area hosting the Town Hall will generally hold a focus group meeting, which is a good opportunity for gathering new issues.  For instance, there were 35 new issues documented from the Birmingham Town Hall.

The location of the Town Halls is random and is generally based on areas where Nina has not visited.

Sabby asked about outreach in relation to Town Halls and suggested a scaled down version with LTA’s.  Judi thought this was a good idea and indicated she would forward the information.

Charles indicated that the TAP Charter has been approved, which allows TAP to continue operating.

Budget issues – Judi indicated TAP’s budget projections vs. what funds we actually have is about $60K.  As a result, staff is looking at areas where we can cut expenses, for instance meeting space, travel expenses, events (i.e. Bernie will not attend area meetings) etc.

Approval of March Meeting Minutes
Judi reiterated the intent is not to go over the meeting minutes rather to approve them given everyone has reviewed them on TAPSpace.

Greg moved that the minutes be approved as submitted on TAPSpace.

There were no objections and the minutes were approved.

The Issue Process

• Forms/Pubs Issues – Judi provided an overview of this sub-committee and explained that they have requested that the TAP Area Committees refer any issues related to forms/pubs be sent through this sub-committee. Prior to referring, the Area Committee will do preliminary research about the issue and if any recommendations are in order, the Area Committee will then refer the issue to the forms/pubs committee.  If an issue warrants being elevated, a referral will be prepared, routed to the Quality Review Committee (QRC) and once approved the referral will be forwarded to the Forms/Pubs committee for further review.   

• Setting target date for elevated issues- Hank is interested in each area setting a target date for issues to be elevated. This date will then be input on the database.  Judi asked each sub-committee to set target dates for any issues they deem appropriate for elevating to the JC.

Judi will discuss with staff the possibility of capturing dropped issues and the most common reason for them being dropped.

Filtering process – This should take place within the sub-committee. Issues will then be brought to the full committee for consensus as to whether they should be dropped or sent forward to the NTA…all agreed this would be a good process to follow

• Quality Review Process – Major changes have been made in the Quality Review (QR) structure and procedures.  Due to Barbara Foley’s new job, staff support has moved to Area 7, Judi will provide managerial support and Janice will serve as the analyst.  Members of QR consist of Wayne Whitehead, Hank Mosler, Kelly Wingard, and Ken Wright.  There was a 5th member who has unfortunately resigned.  An e-mail has gone out soliciting a new member.

Issue referral form – Wayne reviewed the referral form and indicated the information has to be in the format as laid out in the handout.

Issue referral guide – This provides guidelines for writing the referral and is a very useful tool.

Once the referral is done it will be sent to Janice who will post the referral on TAPSpace for all JC members to review.  The QRC is not charged with reviewing the merits of the issue, rather they review the referral for grammatical errors and to ensure it is in the proper format.  Once all components are complete and a new referral is prepared, the issue will be sent to Susan Gilbert for placement on the JC meeting agenda.

Issue Sub-committee A – Issue Report – Dave Jones

• Members of the sub-committee are Charles, Richard C., MJ, Julia and Greg.  Dave provided an overview of the sub-committee’s issues. They currently have seven active issues, five new issues and about 7 issues where he needs to verify the status.

Issue Sub-committee B – Issue Report – Sandy Finestone

• Members of the sub-committee are Margaret, Wayne W, Richard W., Wayne T, and Howard. Sandy provided an overview of the sub-committee’s issues and a brief overview of issues that have been dropped since the annual meeting.  Sandy indicated she would also like to pursue locating the originator of issues in order to provide feedback.

ACTION: Judi will discuss with the staff ways to encourage taxpayers to leave contact information.

Internal Communication within Area 7 – Judi and Charles
What is working vs. what is not working?

• E-mail – The amount of e-mail is overwhelming for some, albeit the information is beneficial. In some instances “reply all” is creating an influx of e-mails that are not applicable to everyone.  When on TAPSpace do not reply to messages via TAPSpace because the information will go out to everyone. Charles asked members to ensure to distinguish “TAP” as part of the subject line. Overall the information from this committee is reasonable and beneficial.
• Communicating via telephone – Judi asked if we could also have cell phone numbers in case of emergency situations. She assured everyone that we will use cell phone numbers judiciously.
• TAPSpace – Judi advised members to let staff know if they are having intermittent problems with the system.  Meeting minutes are being posted there each month and the process to follow is; when minutes are posted on TAPSpace, each member is to review them and provide feedback (if any) within the timeframe given. Negative replies are not necessary. Final approval of meeting minutes will be done at the Area 7 full committee meeting.
• Sub-committees - Communicating meeting schedules – Attendance overall has been pretty good. Judi reiterated attendance at sub-committee meetings is not optional.  Members were asked to please notify staff if unable to attend any meeting.

Outreach

• Review 2008 Outreach to date – A chart was prepared in an attempt to compare 2007 to 2008.  It appears the same numbers of members are participating in outreach. Some contributing factors are the number of VITA and tax preparers, which affects the filing season months. Members were reminded that outreach consists of media articles/interviews, chatting with people, one on one discussion, speeches, etc…
• Outreach Tool Kit Review/Reminders – TAPSpace has a folder titled “Outreach Toolkit”, which has a variety of documents, one being guidelines for LTA’s working with TAP.  It also contains templates for news releases, talking points, etc.  Members were advised to let Judi know if there is any other information that may be useful
• Reporting Process – Continue to use the document that is sent each month from Janice
• Jr. Analyst Role – Nina Pang is our new Jr. Analyst and she will be charged with looking for outreach opportunities and inform the members. She will communicate the information (dates, location etc.) to members and if anyone is unable to attend that is fine. The Jr. Analyst will also be a liaison for the LTA outreach staff person
• Sharing – Best Practices

Advanced Outreach Workshops – This document contains great ideas that have been used by others…this information is posted on TAPSpace and includes the
            LTA’s Outreach Plans

Day 1 Wrap up
           
Instructions for Friday’s work – Sabby provided a brief overview of what to expect for the day.  We would split into sub-committees to review respective issues and determine whether issues would be parked, recommended for dropping, or recommended for elevation to the JC.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Opening – John officially opened the meeting and there was a brief overview of what the day would entail. 

Absent:
Julia Ling
Howard Stahl

Sub-committee Beak out sessions – The members used the remainder of the day to meet in their respective sub-committee to discuss assigned issues. The full committee will meet on day three to allow the sub-committees to provide reports of issues discussed.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Absent:
Julia Ling
Howard Stahl

Opening – John officially opened the meeting.

Review Agenda- The day was primarily spent going over what was discussed in the sub-committees as it relates to their assigned issues.

Questions /follow up from previous day – Kudos to Wayne W. for a wonderful and entertaining restaurant for dinner.  Both the food and entertainment were excellent.

Sub-committee B will present a referral which will be used in reviewing the Issue Referral Process.

Issue Sub-committee Reports

Sub-committee A – Dave Jones

Dave provided an overview of each of the following issues.

#4276 VITA/TCE Site Location via IRS Web-site (IRS web-site lacks information concerning VITA/TCE sites)  

• DECISION: Consensus was reached in the sub-committee to move forward with this issue.

#4370 F. 990 PF – Richard provided a draft referral which will go directly to the Forms/Pubs (Sue Sotile & Bob Erickson)…the full committee reviewed the referral and after discussing the proposals there was a suggestion to incorporate creation of some sort of EZ form for private foundations into the recommendations also add minimum threshold that has a material impact based on assets and not income

Judi will discuss this with Bernie to determine the exact process for this particular type of forms/pubs recommendation.

• DECISION: Consensus was reached to add proposal #3, to design an EZ form…and modify the threshold to include assets based on FMV and to send a postcard

• ACTION: Richard will send the referral to Janice and she will post it on TAPSpace for review/feedback and indicate it is not going to the JC. The target date for completion of the referral is May 30, 2008.

#4486 E-Filing for free (Taxpayer feels e-file should be free for everyone)
The sub-committee reached consensus to recommend this issue be dropped.   The issue is not valid, is complex and partially legislative.  IRS/TAP has no control over private industries and what they charge for e-file services. 

• DECISION: Consensus was reached within the full committee to drop this issue.

#4497 IRS Phone Service (Service received on toll-free line is unsatisfactory) The sub-committee reached consensus to recommend this issue be dropped.  It appears the IRS is looking at this and making substantive improvements. The sub-committee agreed they do not have anything to add to the process.

• DECISION: Consensus was reached within the full committee to drop this issue.

#4500- E- Services/Password changes (Procedures relating to password changes on e-services are unclear)

• DECISION: Consensus was reached in the sub-committee to move forward with this issue.

#4503 IRS Outreach – (Need additional options for education purposes)
There is a process in place for requesting IRS speakers. Additionally, there is not enough information to determine the actual issue.  The sub-committee reached consensus to recommend this issue be dropped.

• DECISION: Consensus was reached within the full committee to drop this issue.

#4506 1040 EZ – (1040 EZ is not user friendly)
The sub-committee agreed the information is clearly stated in the instructions as to who can use the form 1040-EZ.  Consensus was reached to recommend this issue be dropped. 

• DECISION: Consensus was reached within the full committee to drop this issue.

#4509 Estimated Tax Payments (Estimated tax payment instructions are not clear/specific)
The sub-committee agreed the ES instructions clearly state the reason and the requirements for the estimated tax package.  

• DECISION: Consensus was reached within the full committee to drop this issue.

#4511 CP 2000 Request for Documents – (The process is time consuming)

• DECISION: The sub-committee agreed to work this issue.

#4545 Customer Service Complaints – (no convenient avenue for taxpayers to make complaints)

• DECISION:  The sub-committee agreed to work this issue.

#4661 Stimulus Payment web-page (there is no mechanism on irs.gov to post feedback about the web-site)

• DECISION: The sub-committee agreed to work this issue.  They also agreed to change the title of the issue to “Feedback on IRS Web site”.

#4670 The Tax System – (The current tax system is confusing, unfair and complex)

The sub-committee agreed to recommend this issue be dropped.  This is a legislative matter.

• DECISION: Consensus was reached within the full committee to drop this issue.

#4678 Tax Refunds (Tax refund going though a clearing house before being refunded to clients)

The sub-committee agreed to recommend this issue be dropped.  Upon review of the issue, it was agreed a mistake was made on the part of the taxpayer and he was not aware the refund transfers go through the Santa Barbara Bank.

• DECISION: Consensus was reached within the full committee to drop this issue.

Sub-Committee B – Sandy Finestone
Sandy provided an overview of the following issues;

#4639 Downloading F-1099 (Unable to download F. 1099 & 1096)

• DECISION: The sub-committee agreed to work this Issue.

#4558 Form 1099-B(1099-B only shows one SSN for joint accounts)

• DECISION: The sub-committee agreed to work this issue.

#4680 1099 Misc. Procedures (No protest procedures for F. 1099 MISC)

• DECISION:  The sub-committee agreed to work this issue.

#4714 IRS/TAS Customer Service (Poor customer service received on toll-free)

• DECISION: The sub-committee agreed to work this issue.

#4192 1099-INT Instructions(Different localities are treating/reporting 1099-INT income differently)

• DECISION: The sub-committee agreed to work this Issue.

#4337 Practitioner Hotline – (level of employee knowledge is inadequate)

• DECISION: The sub-committee agreed to place this issue in the parking lot and follow-up periodically.

#4510 3rd Party “check a box on tax returns” – (Third party authorization time frame should coincide with the return statute timeframe)

The sub-committee agreed to recommend this issue be dropped.  However, they will look at creating a new issue out of this one.

• DECISION: Consensus was reached among the full committee to drop this issue and allow the sub-committee to create a new issue.

#4505 Free Filing Software – (E-file trouble shooting should be easier)

• DECISION: This issue was tabled until the next sub-committee meeting.

#4553 Form 982 – (Form 982 does not have a link on the info page for Q & A)

• DECISION:  This issue was tabled until the next sub-committee meeting.

#4367 California Tax Education Council (CTEC) Info on IRS web-site – (IRS web-site lacks key information concerning tax preparers)

The sub-committee completed a draft referral which was used in going over the referral checklist process.

• DECISION: Consensus was reached to forward the issue referral to the Joint Committee. Target date for the referral is May 30, 2008.

2008 Tax Forums - Judi Nicholas
TAP customarily participates in nationwide Tax Forums sponsored by the IRS and has a table outside the Exhibition Hall. The table is staffed with TAP members and staff.  Last year we held a focus group at the end of the session, which proved to be beneficial and resulted in a number of new issues.  This year due to budget restrictions we will reduce the number of forums we will participate in. In light of this, we will staff the Las Vegas forum (the largest forum) with Area 6 & 7 panel members. Judi will solicit interest and the main factor in deciding who attends will be based on travel cost.

It was indicated that a vast majority of the issues from the tax forums did not have any contact information. Judi would like members to be diligent in obtaining contact information.

Charles indicated the mailer that was created by communications would be a good form to use during tax forums as it is a “self mailer” and captures contact information.

Sabby asked if it was permissible to attend a tax forum in your area even if TAP was not officially involved. Judi indicated it is fine and we could request to have a table if a member wanted to hand out TAP Materials.  Judi will include the San Diego Tax Forum, which would be no cost to TAP.

TAP Junior Analyst – This is a new position for each of the TAP Offices. Our Jr. Analyst (Nina) will be used to manage outreach and look for other activities. She will also do the monthly outreach reporting and will assist with some of the research requested of Janice and Dave.

Recruitment

Update/Interview Assistance – The application period closed 4-30-08.  The applications are to be loaded to member database. TAP staff will then pull the applications and rank them according to state. The interviews will be based on the number of vacancies per state. The interview panel will consist of Panel Members, TAP Manager and an LTA.  The interviews will be conducted during the first three weeks in June, via teleconference.  The goal is to have all interviews completed by the end of June for Bernie’s recommendations. Judi will solicit member participation via e-mail. The final schedule will be completed in June at which time she will send applications and scoring documents to those on the interview panel.

Miscellaneous        
Dave Jones indicated he is on a sub-committee to test IRS forms (tax forms/ instructions) and publications. He asked members if they would be willing to participate in the process.  There were seven individuals who said they would be willing to participate in such a process.  Members are asked to send Dave an e-mail expressing interest in working on this project.

Charles indicated this was the last time we would see our retiring members (Wayne Whitehead, Margaret Ferguson, Dave Jones, Greg Gursey, and Wayne Tanna). He expressed thanks and appreciation to each of them for the work they have done over the past three years.

Meeting Closure: 
John thanked everyone for taking time from their busy schedules to attend the meeting and stated it was a productive 2 ½ days.