Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP)
Joint Committee Teleconference Minutes
Wednesday, October 11-13, 2007

Hotel Blake - Chicage, IL

Thursday, October 11, 2007
Friday, October 12, 2007
Saturday, October 13, 2007

Members Present
J. T. Wright, TAP Chair
Bill Bly, Chair, Burden Reduction
Paul Duquette, Chair, VITA
Jerald Fireman, Chair, TAC Committee
Dorothy Havey, Chair, Area 1
Tom Karwin, Chair, Communication
Merijane (MJ) Lee, Chair, AdHoc
Robert Meyers, TAP Vice-chair
Maryann Motza, Chair, Area 6
Hank Mosler, Chair, Area 3
Ferd Schneider, Chair, Area 4
Lynwood Sinnamon, Chair, Area 2
Max Scott, Chair, Notices Committee
Stanley Wernz, Chair, EITC
Wayne Whitehead, Chair, Area 7
Ken Wright, Chair, Area 5

Staff Present
Sandy McQuin, TAP Manager
Judi Nicholas, TAP Manager
Nancy Ferree, TAP Manager
Gloria Goldberg, TAP Manager
Steve Berkey, National Office Program Analyst
Mary Ann Delzer, Program Analyst
Patti Robb, Note Taker

J.T. Wright welcomed everyone to the call.  He noted the main purpose for this meeting is to prepare for a great annual meeting in December.  See Chair Report.

ACTION:  Ferd Schneider will check the final August minutes to ensure the changes were made regarding Schedule D. 

Consensus to approve September minutes with one grammatical change.

See National Office Update. 
Coston said we are looking to make the chair and vice-chair election process a permanent process.  If this is successful this year, we will add it to the TAP Member Handbook.  He made three announcements:

• TAP will be sponsoring the Town Halls with the National Taxpayer Advocate in 2008
• TAP will be attending the 2008 Tax Forums
• Outgoing chairs will be asked to assist at the annual meeting, and in writing the 2007 annual report.

To have a true statistical sample, we need almost all members to respond.  The information received validates what TAP is doing.  There is more satisfaction with area committees than with issue committees.  Coston pointed out that it is imperative that everyone respond to this survey when they rotate off the panel.  He added that we are going to better define the roles and responsibilities of the operating divisions and program owners.  We are also looking at ways to improve training; member training, operating divisions, local taxpayer advocates (LTA), as well as staff training.  We are looking to improve the annual meeting.  We are also looking at working better with TAS as far as outreach.  We have utilized the members’ knowledge, skills and abilities more this year.  McQuin asked that if members feel they have a valuable skill, please let the staff know.  What affect does outreach and committee participation have?  TAP results are very difficult to measure in a monetary way.  That is why the chair reports are so important and should bring up successes.  Suggested changes to the results report of the Member Exit Survey included adding the medians, show the number surveyed/responses and please be cautious of acronyms.   

The area committee chair reports can be found at the end of these minutes.  Area Committee Chair Reports

The issue committee chair reports can be found at the end of the minutes.  Issue Committee Chair Reports

The area and issue committees need to do their part so far as their reports are concerned.  The annual report goes to all panel members, the National Taxpayer Advocate, the IRS Commissioner, Treasury, Local Taxpayer Advocates, Executives of IRS Operating Divisions, and IRS program owners.  It can also be found at improveirs.org, but we really can not measure this audience.

It is imperative that the chairs use the proper format for their portion of the annual report; otherwise a great deal of time is spent to ensure the document is consistent. 

A completed sample report will be sent out for the chairs to use, to share correct font and style.

McQuin handed out an annual report from the Oversight Board for review. 

An annual report subcommittee was formed:  Maryann Motza (lead), Bernie Coston, Judi Nicholas, Bill Bly, Steve Berkey, Lyn Sinnamon, and JT Wright. 

The subcommittee will develop a template/outline for the annual report; the purpose will be to flow right into the annual report.

Motza said it would be better to separate the self assessment from the annual accomplishments reports.
ACTION:  Motza will develop a first draft for the annual report template and post it on TAPSpace for the rest of the subcommittees input.
ACTION: The new annual report format will be presented at the November Joint Committee meeting.

Recommendation Process
DECISION:  Recommendations should be sent to the Joint Committee program analyst who will forward to the Quality Review (QR) team.  The QR team will review the recommendations for improvement.  Recommendations needing changes will be returned to each area for additional work.   The area will then elevate the corrected recommendations to the Joint Committee program analyst.  Referrals need to be forwarded at least one week before the next Joint Committee meeting to be added to the agenda.  Coston said that one thing that has happened is that the Joint Committee has gotten bogged down in administrative things that the staff could handle. 

Friday, October 12, 2007

• Area 1, # 4287, Third Party Designee on Form 1040X

Consensus to elevate

• Area 1, #4245, Self-Select Personal Identification Number (PIN) Elimination

The self-select PIN is needed for the average person who files their own taxes.  More information is needed.  Some member expressed discomfort in taking this away from paid professionals.   
Consensus to return to the Area 1 for more research.

• Area 2, #4011, Education Credits

Consensus to elevate

• Area 3, #3671, Social Security Number (SSN) Not Matching Names

Duquette said this is a good recommendation; however it is a huge undertaking for the IRS.  Sinnamon said this is actually a Social Security Administration (SSA) problem.  It is caused by the social security card issued by the SSA.  We need to let the IRS know there is a problem.
Consensus to elevate

• Area 2, #3944, Litigation Settlements

There is no guidance on how to treat or report this income. 
Consensus to elevate

• Area 1, #4186, Updating Regulation Section 1.1012-1©(3)

Consensus to return this issue to Area 1 Committee.

Success Story
Area 4, #4208, Form 1099-R Codes Conflict in Transcripts  
The Transcript Delivery System (TDS) does not provide the distribution codes (number and /or letter) for  the Forms 1099-R,  Distributions From Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, etc.  The distribution codes lead taxpayers to different filing requirements and are required for tax preparation software to complete the tax return. The IRS should include the distribution code, both numbers and/or letters, on TDS.
Several changes will be made to the Form 1099-R in the TDS Wage and Income Mapping document for 2008:

• The literals for the Form 1099-R need to be changed from "Premature Payment" to: 'Early Distribution' for code 1 and from "Premature Distribution" to 'Early Distribution--Exception Applies' for code 2.  These literal changes mirror the Form 1099-R.  This change needs to be included in the next build.
• There is an additional code for 2007: 'B - Designated Roth Account Distribution'.

• Taxpayer Assistance Centers. 
• Acting Commissioner Brown indicated that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) needs data to support any changes in Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs).  Currently, the TACs are a very contentious issue both within and outside of the IRS.  Commissioner Brown stated that the issue is currently handled politically and emotionally, not rationally.  He looks forward to seeing the results of the TAC Surveys to help the IRS make better business decisions regarding TACs.
• Nina Olson made very favorable comments about the TAP’s TAC Committee’s work, especially the TAC Surveys.  She mentioned it is one of the most important initiatives to explore the demand side of IRS services, rather than the supply side.  She also stated that the report from the TAC Committee “will be an extraordinary contribution to tax administration.”
• Public Information Campaign.
• Nina Olson mentioned a project that would be good for TAP to take on.  The American Bar Association is currently working on a public information campaign related to what taxes do and what the civic obligations of the public are related to paying taxes.   She indicated TAP should export this issue and investigate what resonates with taxpayers.  TAP should explore explaining to the public what the tax gap does to everyone and why taxpayers should be shamed in being part of the problem.  She suggested this information be used during future Town Hall meetings to help get the message out.
• Joint Work with Taxpayer Assistance Service (TAS) Task Forces.
• Nina Olson mentioned that Taxpayer Assistance Service (TAS) has created five new task forces that TAP can join with to help brain storm ideas, such as identifying the correct measures and business processes.
  
• Regulation of Return Errors.
• Commissioner Brown indicated that return errors are a big problem within the IRS.  He asked TAP to explore how much IRS should hold preparers responsible for errors on returns?
  
• Nina Olson mentioned that the ideas explored last year by the  Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Committee could be used as a starting point to identify alternatives, such as Treasury regulations governing due diligence of preparers and enforcing penalties for failing to verify information and holding the preparers jointly and severally liable, etc.  She stated that TAP’s recommendations were shared with David Williams within the IRS.
• Should Government Benefits Be Discontinued For Failure to Pay Taxes?
• Commissioner Brown mentioned a recent Wall Street Journal article that mentioned in the rush to get passports, there’s been an increase in child support payments because passports will not be issued if child support payments haven’t been made.   The Commissioner mentioned that the states seem to be much more proactive than the federal government in the area of cutting off benefits for failing to pay taxes or other obligations.  Nina Olson asked if the article addressed the constitutional questions related to cutting off benefits for nonpayment.  Commissioner Brown indicated that the legal issue had apparently been successfully litigated. 

Note:  While TAP appreciates the opportunity to weigh in on a variety of issues, the TAP Charter is very specific in stating that the primary focus of TAP is to address issues impacting customer service and satisfaction, not issues related to compliance.  Thus, TAP will explore this issue solely from the customer service and satisfaction perspective.

• Private Debt Collection.
• Commissioner Brown indicated he thinks debt collection is an inherently governmental issue and he would never have permitted private debt collection if he had been given the choice.

ACTION:  Bob Meyers, Mary Ann Motza, MJ Lee, Hank Mosler, JT Wright, and Bernie Coston will prepare a response to the Commissioner prior to December 1, 2007.  JT will take the responsibility to get the final draft completed.  The document will be posted on TAPSpace. 

The Joint Committee members reached consensus that the election process will work as follows for the 2008 Chair and Vice-chair:

• Anyone who is a returning member of TAP can run for the position of Joint Committee Chair or Vice Chair.  You can self nominate yourself, or someone can nominate you.  If you go with the latter, please talk to the nominee and they are in agreement.  Send all nominations to Bob Meyers at rl_meyers@yahoo.com by October 19, 2007.  Please be sure and specify the position you are running for.
• In the event that ample candidates are not identified, Bob and a small team will convene as a "Nominating Committee".  Their role will be to solicit potential candidates, and address any deficiencies.
• Once ballots are established, returning members and members who are finishing their term will be allowed to vote.
• Once elections are completed (in November), the results will be communicated to all TAP members, and the Chair and Vice will take over responsibilities at the Annual Meeting. 

The above process will alleviate:

• New members not knowing enough about the candidates or the TAP process to make an informed decision
• Freeing up more valuable time for issue and area committee meetings
• Earlier identification of area and issue chairs, with no conflicts

The JC members also came to consensus that voting would take place via email.  Steve Berkey will prepare ballots and send them out in an email message.  He will ask members to ‘reply’ with their choice.  He will track those who vote to ensure no one votes more than once.  The vote will be decided by plurality.  The candidate who gets the most votes will be the TAP Chair. 

The following timeline was reached by consensus:

• 10/9 - Coston to send email to all TAP members to recruit members for TAP leadership
• 10/19 - TAP members to email Meyers of their interest in leadership
• 10/22 - Meyers to contact nominating committee as to whether they will need to recruit candidates
• 11/9 - Meyers to prepare/share the slate of candidates and “e-voting” method with Joint Committee/Coston
• 11/12 - “e-ballots” to be sent to all TAP members 
• 11/23 - voting to be completed
• 12/3 - election results announced

Mary Ann Delzer provided the chairs with reports showing the issues recently closed and those which need review by TAP.  Delzer asked the chairs to complete their reviews as soon as possible to facilitate the timely writing of the annul report.    

The TAB Report can be found on TAPSpace.  Dorothy Havey said the TAB subcommittee should continue their work.  Tom Karwin thought one or two of them should keep in contact and report back to TAP.  JT Wright said we need to document a plan.  Sinnamon suggested writing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the TAB members.  Karwin motioned to adopt all four of the recommendations.  Part of the action item should be to pursue a MOU in connection with Havey’s suggestion.  See TAB Strategic Plan - Preliminary Recommendations Consensus to approve the motion.

Karwin reported that there are three actions assigned solely to the JC.  High priority is communication with the Commissioner of Internal Revenue Service; communication with the Operating Divisions; and communication with other Organizations.  Medium priority is to monitor effectiveness and accuracy of improveirs.org; effectiveness of the Town Hall meetings; and the number of IRS initiatives identified for TAP to provide input to the IRS. 
TAP should be in dialog with National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson as far as the Town Hall agendas are concerned.  The JC should ask the Communication Committee to work on the future Town Hall meetings. 
Schneider thought the JC should look at the above on a quarterly basis.  He feels the number of initiatives identified for TAP to provide input to the IRS is a staff action item.  Motza pointed out that the Communication Committee is a subcommittee of the JC and these are already action items for them. 
ACTION:  Communication Committee Chair to update the status of the strategic plan on a quarterly basis.

JT Wright asked everyone to start thinking about issues to talk to Commissioner Stiff at the annual meeting as we are hoping to meet with her.  We are also hoping to meet with Olson. 
ACTION:  Coston will forward the agenda for the annual meeting to Commissioner Stiff.  He will also set up a meeting with her and the new TAP Chair, Vice-chair, and additional TAP members identified.
ACTION:  Karwin will write up a report with issues to discuss at the meeting with the Commissioner and NTA. 

Monday will be a travel day for returning members.  Orientation for new members will begin at 1 pm on Monday.  Staff will greet new members on Sunday evening.  The draft agenda was discussed and slightly modified.  Several issues were suggested for workshops: debt forgiveness, TAX Gap – new information, and the TAB Report.  The non-returning chairs were asked to instruct during Orientation and both Outreach sessions. 

The issues for the issue committees have not been finalized yet.  Coston is still working with the operating divisions to identify them. 
Awards were discussed.  Three were suggested; members can write up and nominate a colleague; staff can write up and nominate a panel member; and an award for a program owner.  The TAP Chair may also acknowledge a member of the JC for their work.  Guest speakers will get the TAP Lucite paperweight.  Nearly everyone agreed that Writing an Issue Referral would be a meaningful workshop.
ACTION:  Motza and Nicholas will discuss updating the TAPSpace materials to be included with the annual meeting pre-read.

The IRS forms and publications are written in a manner that is confusing and not easily understood.  Taxpayers spend numerous hours trying to interpret “IRS” language.  IRS personnel charged with the writing of forms and publications do not have educational backgrounds in the areas of English and Journalism

Part of the response to the IRS:  “An example of the value of writing IRS forms and publications in plain language is the Federal-State Reference Guide for State and Local Government Employers (IRS Pub. 963), first published jointly by the IRS, the Social Security Administration (SSA), and the State of Colorado in 1995.  In 2002, the IRS Director of Federal-State-Local Governments documented an increase in FICA,  Federal Insurance Contributions Act, withholdings, which represents both Social Security and Medicare taxes and/or Medicare-only taxes paid to the U.S. Treasury from 1997 through 2000 by public employers and employees of $12 billion due solely to the outreach and education intervention that occurred nationwide with the publication and distribution of the Guide for state and local government employers.  Written in a plain-language style, the Guide clarified the coverage and tax withholding obligations for many public employers who began voluntarily paying the additional monies they owed the U.S. Treasury.”
Consensus to elevate response to IRS with minor grammatical and format changes. 

Karwin proposed doing a press release regarding an issue where the IRS responded they could not do what was asked.  He was in favor of mass media – they can get the word out immediately and garner attention.  The motive is to put pressure on the IRS as well as get information out there that TAP exists.  The question is, is TAP a pressure group or an advisory to the IRS?  Media grabs onto criticism.  Scott said we should not criticize the IRS; it is argumentative and in essence, biting the hand that feeds you.  Motza pointed out that the charter says TAP should be looking at grassroots issues.  We identify a problem and recommend a possible solution.  

Nicholas said TAP does outreach.  Mass media is more a result of name recognition.  There was a discussion during a TAC Committee

Mass Media Message (ranked by JC members)

• Taxpayer Issue (time, cost, happiness)
• TAP Achievement (success story with documented impact)
• TAP’s Mission
• TAP History (origins and/or annual report)

Steve Berkey will work with TAS Communications to get the TAP name out there.  The external communication committee needs to keep working on this too.  Getting the word out is working though.  TAP has come a long way.  IRS indicated they will mention TAP in four or five of their publications.  The benefit of mass media is that it is free, whereas tri-folds and posters are very expensive.  We should try to work in conjunction with other organizations – we could add a link to our website on their website.  We will be sending out a mass release about the new members and the annual meeting.  We will also send out an individual message that can be used by each member.  We need to find a way to get our accomplishments out there. Wayne Whitehead noted we have key messages, but no strategies.

In some cases, the mentoring process has worked and in some it was not as successful.  It is a two-way process, give and take, and there has to be buy-in.  We need a “formal” process.  The mentor must really be committed.  The manager and committee chair should identify mentors and there should be a call between all three.  A protégé should be assigned to a mentor and should be able to call the committee chair if problems are experienced. 

Consensus that this is a worthy TAP project.
Mentoring and TAP – there are two documents; one “working” document for the staff and one for formal presentation.
In the case where there aren’t enough returning members in a committee, someone could take on more than one protégé if they choose.  It was strongly advised to use current members, but in the case there aren’t enough available or willing to mentor, a retiring member can be asked as a last resort.  Cross mentoring between committees is allowed. 
Consensus that the mentors will be chosen by area chairs in conjunction with staff input.  The staff will share the names of the new members as soon as they are known. 

Staff frustrations:

• Chairs do not always report on what happened during the JC meeting.  If they have an alternate attend in their place, that alternate should do the report.  It should be a standing agenda item for each committee.
• Some chairs do not submit monthly committee reports or do not submit them in a timely manner.  Some are not on the calls and do not bother to have a stand-in.
• This will be covered at the chair training

ACTION:  Coston, JT Wright, Meyers, and chair candidates will have a conference call to discuss chair responsibilities.

• Members making or changing their own travel plans. 
• Members not submitting travel expenses in a timely manner after traveling.

• Sub committee structure
• Standing vs. ad hoc
• Parking lot issues
• Member access to ALL parking lot
• Participation of candidates in last quarters area meetings as members of public
• Exit Surveys – appoint member of subcommittee to refine
• Get results early in ‘08
• Early notification of non-returning chairs about annual meeting attendance
• Chairs only group for how to improve JC
• Issue chair teleconference
• Area chair teleconference
• Document methodology to screen area issues
• Survey OD Program Owners evaluate usefulness of TAP
• TAP till free calls (sources) – IRS toll free
• Communication Committee open subcommittees projects/topics to all TAP members
• Use experience/history/knowledge of out going members to help with continuity

TAP 101

• TAP marketing document – fewer TAP Annual reports – 3 people
• Identify TAP’s ’08 objectives
• Revise chair monthly reports

Hank Mosler suggested having a TAP member look at the surveys.  There may be additions or deletions or changes.  It would be nice to see the results early in ’08.  Coston said he will let everyone know at the annual meeting that these surveys will be coming out and there will be a response date.  He also asked the chairs to let their non-returning members know exit surveys would be coming and they need to complete and return them. 

Area Chairs should invite their applicants to call in to their area conference calls as a member of the public. 
ACTION:  Coston will send an email message to the applicants to let them know the process is still ongoing as far as the final selections are concerned.  He will also invite them to join their area November conference call.