Taxpayer Advocacy Panel
Area 7 Committee
Meeting Minutes
March 19, 2008

Designated Federal Official
John Tam

Attendance
Charles Davidson, Chair
Richard Coonradt
Sabby Jonathan
Dave Jones
MJ Lee
Julia Ling
Howard Stahl
Wayne Tanna
Richard Waterman
Wayne Whitehead

Guest
Gil Yanuck, former TAP Member

Absent
Greg Gursey
Sandy Finestone
Margaret Ferguson

Staff
Judi Nicholas, TAP Program Manager
Janice Spinks, TAP Analyst

Opening/Welcome/Announcements
John opened the meeting and Charles welcomed the members. Janice took roll and a quorum was met.

John informed everyone of the newly appointed IRS Commissioner, Douglas Shulman.

John indicated there is a calculator on the web-site that can be used to figure the amount of stimulus payments and encouraged members to pass this information on to individuals that may be seeking assistance.

Judi announced the new Junior Analyst position for each TAP Office.  The Seattle office Junior Analyst will be staring April 14th. Her name is Nina Pang and she will attend the Area 7 Face-to-Face meeting as well.

Joint Committee Report – Charles Davidson
Charles reported the following:

• The TAP Charter was approved and allows the TAP to continue operating through March 2010
• TAP Recruitment started 3-17-08 and will run through the end of April
• The TAP Annual report is expected to be released by the end of March
• The Town Hall in Birmingham on 2-21-08 was successful – there were at least 35 taxpayers in attendance and a focus group was held, where approximately 20 new issues were documented
• The last Town Hall will be in Springfield, IL on May  6th
• Hank participated in the IRS Oversight Board, which proved to be a good outreach event for the TAP and the recommendations were well received

Wayne W. reported that the Quality Review Committee (QRC) has been formed and consists of Hank, Ken & Wayne.  It is recommended that Area committees look for those with good writing and editing skills and form their own QR team to review issues before they go to the JC/QRC for review.

Issue Sub-Committee A – Dave Jones
Dave reported the sub-committee currently has 4-5 issues they are actively working and will be prepared to provide updates during the face-to-face meeting.

Issue Sub-Committee B
In Sandy’s absence, Judi and Sabby reviewed the recommendations as outlined in the respective research reports. Following is the outcome of each issue recommendation.

#4505 –The recommendation is to suggest having a feedback form/avenue for providing good and bad comments on the free file site, which in turn can be submitted to the IRS. 

Richard indicated Nina Olsen’s comments refer to this issue and Judi indicated she recalls one of the other areas working on “providing IRS input of marketing products”.  
ACTION: Janice will conduct research to see if this issue exists in another Area Committee.
DECISION: After the research has been completed, if warranted the sub-committee may proceed with the recommendation to prepare a referral.

#4510 3rd Party Authorizations – Sabby would like to broaden the scope of the issue and provided the following information. The issue is with 3rd party authorizations and POA forms for paid prepares. Specifically, the box on the 1040 authorizes a preparer to discuss the form and is limited; Sabby would like to see IRS broaden the power given to 3rd parties.
ACTION: Janice will conduct research to see if this issue exists in another Area Committee.
DECISION: Consensus was reached to proceed with the recommendation (if warranted after research has been completed).

#4192 1099 INT Instructions – The sub-committee will contact the individual for more information about this issue. The issue will remain active while additional information is obtained.  

#4367 California Tax Ed. Council - Consensus was reached to proceed with the recommendation to write a proposal to suggest the inclusion of a sentence under “Tips for Choosing a Tax Preparer” on the web-site.

#4377 Erroneous Payoff Figures – Consensus was reached to drop the issue with a letter being sent to the taxpayer clarifying the process.

Recruitment – Judi Nicholas
Judi reported the following in relation to recruitment:

• The recruitment period opened March 17th  and will run through the end of April
• Recruiting in Nevada for an alternate, so far there is one complete application
• Applications in draft status include, 1 for Alaska, 27 for California, 2 for Hawaii and 3 for Nevada
• An e-mail was sent to members from Patti Robb on behalf of the TAP Director with recruiting materials that can be used during outreach and/or given to individuals who may be interested in TAP.  Judi stressed  that we are looking for diversity (all aspects) on the panel
• A Press Release was sent out 2-18-08 and is posted on the IRS web-site They are also looking at having the release posted in the Wall Street Journal and will be working with local field media specialists...Judi will also send everyone a copy of the press release which can be taken to local papers for possible publication
• Interviews will be conducted June 9th – 27th Judi will solicit assistance via e-mail in early May… there will be about 30-40 applicants to interview and the interviews will be spread out over the three weeks and will not run the entire day…Judi will schedule members to interview in half day increments
• We will be sending recruitment letters to major employers in the various states letting them know of the recruitment period

A question was raised as to whether members can forward the information to potential employers. Judi indicated this is permissible and asked members to be mindful of diversity if forwarding the materials.

Face-to-Face Meeting – Judi Nicholas
The Face-to-Face meeting is being held in Las Vegas April 24 – 26. We will be staying at the Golden Nugget and will meet in the Federal Building on Thursday and Friday and at the hotel on Saturday.  Judi would like to know by the end of the month if anyone will not be able to attend the meeting.  Please respond to Marla regarding travel preferences so that she can finalize all arrangements.

Charles provided a brief overview of the meeting agenda, which was modeled after last year’s agenda.  The first day will consist of an overview of the TAP Program and a brief review of issues of each sub-committee.  The full day will consist of sub-committee meetings and the last day will be to provide reports of the work completed by the sub-committees and discuss goals and objectives to the year.

Wayne W. will be in charge of locating a place for the committee dinner.

Charles informed members of a best practice from last year where new members were invited to attend a session at the end of the final day to discuss their TAP experience.   This will give new members an opportunity to ask questions and get clarification of any matters about TAP that may not be clear.

Wayne suggested going over the 2007 Annual Report during the face-to-face meeting.
ACTION: This topic will be added to the agenda.

Dave suggested we prepare a summary description of where each issue stands so that all members can review.

Outreach – Sabby Jonathan
Janice indicated there were 10 events and 5 members reported
ACTION: Janice to complete a report comparing 2007 (month by month) to 2008.

The committee would also like a current month report and a cumulative report that compares data to the prior year.

Sabby encouraged members to continue looking for additional outreach opportunities where the IRS is holding any kind of public forum where members of TAP could have a presence.

Charles indicated time will be spent discussing how to interface with the IRS during the face-to-face.

Member Comments/Other Business
Returning Member Surveys – Charles reminded members to complete their surveys and return them to Janice.
ACTION: Janice will prepare a list of issues for each sub-committee noting the status and sub-committee assignments. This information will be included as pre-read material for future meetings.

Next Meeting: The next meeting will be the face-to-face in Las Vegas.