Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP)
Joint Committee Teleconference Minutes
Wednesday, November 7, 2007

National Office Update
Chair Report

Designated Federal Official:
Bernie Coston, TAP Director

Members Present:
J. T. Wright, TAP Chair
Bill Bly, Chair, Burden Reduction
Paul Duquette, Chair, VITA
Harvey Epstein, for Area 1
Jerald Fireman, Chair, TAC Committee
Dorothy Havey, Chair, Area 1
Merijane (M J) 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
Lee Stieger, Vice-chair, Area 5
Stanley Wernz, Chair, EITC
Wayne Whitehead, Chair, Area 7

Members Absent:
Tom Karwin, Chair, Communication
Ken Wright, Chair, Area 5

Staff Present:
Mary Ann Delzer, Program Analyst
Sandy McQuin, TAP Manager
Nancy Ferree, TAP Manager
Sallie Chavez, Program Analyst
Inez DeJesus, Program Analyst
Audrey Jenkins, Program Analyst

Guests:
Milissa Bensen, Panel Member, Area 6
Ben Chapman, Panel Member, Area 2
Kimberly Brown, Panel Member, Area 2
Maureen Amos, Panel Member, Area 4
Laura Criel, Panel Member, Area 6

J.T. Wright welcomed everyone to the final Joint Committee call of the year. 

Quorum met.

Recruitment is almost complete.  The list of potential names is with Treasury at the moment and hopefully they will be approved by Friday, November 16.  Coston has been in contact with IRS Operating Divisions to identify issue committees and hopes to have them finalized by November 16 also.  Coston thanked the non-returning committee chairs.  He told them he appreciates their time, effort, hard work, and contributions. (Attachment #1)

Chair Report-Wright
Discussion ensued and the decision was made to not send “thank you” letters to non-returning members.  Coston noted that he will be sending out a thank you letter at the end of the term. (Attachment #2)

Change - Page 3 Referral   (Area 3 recommendation). 
Decision:  minutes approved with above change. 

The chair election is taking place right now.  Senior Analyst Steve Berkey sent out an email message with candidate and voting information.  He has been sending an acknowledgement for each vote received.  He will send a reminder soon to those who have not voted.
McQuin thinks this is an excellent system and seems to be working well.  About 50% of the members have voted to date.

• Agenda

A few of the returning chairs will be asked to help with Orientation during the annual meeting.

Registration will occur on Monday morning – 8 am to Noon.  Based on feedback from last year, we are going to have a room close to the registration table for a meet and greet.  This will make it easier for new members to identify returning members.  Motza suggested that new members have a ribbon or some other way to identify them.  Everyone will receive a welcome letter when they check into the hotel and that will identify the meeting room. 

There will not be a formal social this year.  Members can meet in the lounge around 5 p.m. on Monday, December 10, but there will not be a dedicated room.  This will also be in the welcome letter.

It was decided that the committee chair elections will be done during the individual committee meetings rather than the combined meetings.

Workshops topics are very close to being finalized.  Taxpayer Advocate Service Communication and Liaison will be addressing Emerging Issues at one workshop. 

There will be some free time this year for members to do other things they need to do.  We are hoping to have some laptops set up so we can help new members sign into TAPSpace. 

Sinnamon suggested locating a hotel that is close to moderately priced restaurants in the future.  There are some very pricy ones very close to the Fairmont Hotel.  McQuin suggested members get together and share cabs to restaurants nearby. 

As previously discussed, the managers are going to contact returning members to see if they are interested and willing to mentor a new member.  It is helpful to establish that contact early.

Internal Revenue Service payments and forms submitted by mail now go to multiple addresses.  Due to the continuing IRS reorganization, in many instances these addresses are confusing and counterintuitive to taxpayers. Consensus to elevate recommendation. 

Delzer thanked the Area chairs for the hard work they did regarding all the responses received.  The issue statuses have been updated; a very few are still in process.

Coston said he talked to the operating divisions as it relates to the overall responses especially in the customer service responses. 

Motza asked about working with Taxpayer Services Program Management Office (TSPMO) regarding the continuing Taxpayer Blueprint (TAB) process.  Coston said he talked to them and they indicated they would continue their dialog with TAP to get input.  They know there are still issues out there.  A new steering committee was formed made up of IRS executives.  We need to let the process work as far as TAB is concerned.  This committee is dealing with enforcement too. 

This will also be addressed in the TAC report.  Concern was express as to TAPs’ role in this endeavor.  We should be more involved and should provide them with our input more often. 

McQuin said there was someone from TAB at every town hall meeting last year and they did capture information.  She will speak to Patty Wagner to see if there is anything in the works as far as our role.    Coston noted that TAB is a very small part of what is happening in W&I. 

The annual report format and annual report timeline drafts were posted to TAPSpace.  We also revised the committee self-assessment format and committee annual report format.  This information will feed directly into the annual report.  A more positive spin was taken on all the reports.  Guidelines for each report were also created. 

MJ Lee suggested having different due dates as some chairs may change their issue committee.  It is incumbent upon the chair to get the necessary information before they rotate off.  Pieces of the monthly reports can be used to complete the annual committee report.

Sinnamon plans to circulate the self-assessment within the committee for member input and comments.  He expects that to be done by the end of November.  Motza agreed but thinks the annual report should also be circulated through the committees.

Hank Mosler suggested adding members’ area and issue committee assignments after their individual names on the list in the annual report.
ACTION:  The monthly reports will be discussed at the chair training. 
ACTION:  Forms were approved and will be posted in TAPSpace for the chairs to use. 

Both reports (Committee Annual Report and Committee Self Assessment Report) will be due on January 15 to the Joint Committee. 
ACTION:  Monthly committee reports are not required for November and December this year. 

This was a very productive meeting.  A special thanks to Motza for all her hard work on the report formats.