Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP) Joint Committee Teleconference Minutes
Wednesday, February 6, 2008 2 p.m. ET

Designated Federal Official
Bernie Coston, TAP Director

Members Present
Hank Mosler, TAP Chair
MJ Lee, TAP Vice Chair
Shaun Barry, Chair, Area 1
Ben Chapman, Chair, Area 2
Dale Cooper, Chair, Area 3
Stan Wernz, Chair, Area 4
Kenneth Wright, Chair, Area 5
Joe Shields, Chair, Area 6
Mark Paris, Chair, Communication
Al Rodriguez, Chair, Forms and Pubs
Lee Stieger, Chair, Notices
Wayne Whitehead, Chair, TAC

Members Absent
Charles Davidson, Chair, Area 7
John Verwiel, Chair, EITC
Bruce Zgoda, Chair, Burden Reduction

Staff Present
Barbara Foley, Program Analyst
Patti Robb, Note Taker
Trish DeTimmerman, Acting TAP Manager
Nancy Ferree, TAP Manager
Judi Nicholas, TAP Manager
Steve Berkey, National Office Program Analyst
Inez DeJesus, Program Analyst
Sallie Chavez, Program Analyst

Visitors:
Kay Bell, Area 4 Panel Member
Kimberly Brown, Area 2 Panel Member
Mike Bryant, Area 2 Panel Member
Hillary Goehausen, Commerce Clearing House
Gil Yanuck, Former Panel Member

Hank Mosler welcomed everyone. 

Quorum met.

See Attachment 1 for report.  This report will be posted to TAPSpace.  The North Carolina Town Hall will be held in the North Carolina Central Law Center on March 13 in Durham.

Minutes were approved as submitted. 

• Make handouts available before meetings
• Make decisions as a group
• Value time to make decisions. 

TAP Recruitment is set for March 17 through April 30.  The application will be available on improveirs.org on the 17th.  

Applications for vacancies as well as replacements will only be accepted in the states where they are openings.  This year, the goal is to increase depth in the replacement pool, as well as increase diversity.  Senior Analyst Steve Berkey will head the recruitment this year.  Berkey will be soliciting other staff and TAP members to assist in the recruitment process.   

July 25 is the target date for the names to go to Nina Olson, National Taxpayer Advocate, to start the approval process.  The final approval should be back from Treasury by September or October at the latest.  TAP is looking to hold the annual meeting the first week of December; however the dates are based on hotel availability. 

At the end of February, there should be talking points; news releases and other recruitment handouts available for members to distribute.  Prior to the application going “live,” Berkey will be asking for members to volunteer to test the site to identify bugs. 

The Measures Subcommittee, MJ Lee, Mark Paris, Mike Bryant, Bernie Coston and Louis Morizio, met.  The PowerPoint slide show will be posted to TAPSpace. 

The subcommittee reviewed TAP effectiveness as measured by outreach, issue generation, and member surveys.  The subcommittee would like the Joint Committee to take immediate action on setting goals and outreach activity reporting.

The TAP Mission is to listen to taxpayers and make recommendations therefore TAP’s effectiveness should be measured by its outreach activity and the issues worked and elevated.  Outreach activity through the number of outreaches, type, and number of member-hours and the number of contacts member, web, toll-free, etc.  Issues should be tracked by the number worked, elevated, and accepted or rejected. 

The key findings of the subcommittee is that outreach activity needs better tracking; not all members report or perform outreach; a standard report form is not utilized and/or the data is not stored in the database by analysts.   The subcommittee also found that outreach and outreach reporting improved with the use of the toolkit.  From 2006 to 2007, the new member rating for outreach went from Fair to Good (3.1 to 2.5) which was two times more improvement over any other category; returning members rated Outreach fair (3.2).

The subcommittee would like the Joint Committee to ask each Area to establish member goals and to mandate reporting of outreach. 

Another proposed measure is to track incoming issues, how many are worked, how many elevated, and how many accepted. 

The subcommittee will take a look at what information is being collected, part of the problem is we are asking for more information that needed for measuring effectiveness.  Morizio volunteered to rework the issue of what should be collected and what should be reported.  The measurements are only as good as the data input into the databases.

The subcommittee asked the Joint Committee to ask each Area to set goals mandate reporting.  It was pointed out that if TAP wants uniformity, it should be established at the Joint Committee level.  Some chairs felt each individual should set their own goal since this is a volunteer organization and then to emphasize the reporting.  Other areas did set goals and set time on their monthly call agendas to report the outreach.  Area 6 did not did not set absolute individual goals this year because they felt having a set goal the year before was not motivating and didn’t improve.  Area 2 had the opposite experience but first there was a discussion on what constituted outreach to offset the misconception that performing outreach had to some type of meeting so there was outreach being done but not being reported. 

Most of the committee felt the setting of goals should flow from the bottom up.  Outreach is a commitment each person makes when they join TAP.  But, if a member is not doing outreach but is active elsewhere – it’s ok.  It’s when they are not doing anything that it becomes a problem. 
ACTION:  All Chairs send an email to MJ Lee with your thoughts and comments regarding outreach and setting goals.
It was asked what information is available during recruiting is outreach mentioned as an expectation?  Berkey replied that the application process is tailored toward it and it is discussed and stressed during the interview.

Mark Paris talked about the member surveys and the subcommittee’s findings that there is no consistency in the questions asked from year to year.  Or, the question is not asked in the same format as the year before which can skew the results.  The subcommittee talked about setting a baseline without going overboard.  The survey returning members will have some different questions that new and exiting members but there still needs to be some consistency. 

Survey results will be reported and placed on TAPSpace.  The committee felt a scorecard on TAPSpace would serve as a motivating factor to do outreach and reinforce the need to report it.  (See attachment 2) recommend that they be laid out with an executive summary and a graph, then the full report behind that. 

The subcommittee also felt there a many issues in the parking lot not being worked.  To be more effective, TAP needs to find ways to have positive numbers.  The subcommittee is looking at ways that if one area drops or puts an issue in the parking lots, the issue is sent to other areas to review to see if they want to work them.  They also want to develop a score card to track number of issues worked, number of issues elevated, and number of solutions accepted. 
ACTION:  Mark Paris will send out the survey comment report.

Kay Bell reported that the Communication Committee is recommending the use of this version of the feedback form used during outreach.  It is a more user-friendly form and a vast improvement over the original form.  The committee is asking for the Joint Committee to approval the use of this version of the feedback form.  The upcoming Town Hall in Birmingham would be a great test of the new form.  Wernz thought it was too much to ask the participant to remember the name of the TAP member and suggested removing it.  Bell clarified that the Committee intending the panel member to complete that portion of the form prior to handing it out at the outreach.   Wernz also suggested asking for a name, address and phone number in case the panel needed clarification on the issue being raised.  Lee suggested more space for people to write. 
Dale Cooper suggested informing panel members participating in the Town Hall conference call about using this newly revised form.  It was also noted that the address on the back of the flyer is the area office’s address. 
ACTION:  Chairs with additional suggestions for improving the form should send them to directly Kay Bell.
ACTION:  The Outreach Feedback Form will be updated with the suggestions made and Kay Bell will send the revised form out to all Joint Committee members.

There are no recommendations for approval at this time.

The area/issue committee monthly reports are due to your manager and analyst by the 10th of each month.  They will be reviewed for accuracy before they get sent to Barbara Foley and Mosler by the 15th of the month.  Keep it to one page – hit the highlights.
DECISION:  Monthly Committee Reports should be completed by each chair and sent to their committee program manager and analyst for review by the 10th of the month.  The reports are due to the Joint Committee Analyst and the TAP Chair by the 15th of each month. 

Ben Chapman reported that Area 2 had an issue, # 4549, Social Security Benefits Misstated on 1099-SSA, taken by IRS for immediate intervention.  The Social Security Administration had supplied the wrong tax information to about 2.7 million Americans on the Form 1099-SSA sent out earlier this month.  The Forms are sent to people receiving Social Security benefits, reporting the amount of benefits that were due and the net amount of benefits paid. It also shows the amount of any payments (such as Medicare premiums) that were made.  The form is used to report the amount of benefits received and for those itemizing the amount of medical insurance premiums paid on their tax return.  The incorrect forms over-reported the amount of benefits received by some Social Security beneficiaries who purchase Medicare Advantage or prescription drug plans under Social Security parts C and D.  The incorrect information is in Box 3 of the form.  In some cases, Social Security computers preparing the 1099s included premiums for plans paid in 2006 as part of benefits received in 2007.  Corrected forms will be sent to all affected Social Security recipients, and to the IRS, by the end of the month.  Area 2 felt the IRS needed to let people know what to do if they had the wrong form.  IRS is making plans to develop and distribute the appropriate message for the public.

Cooper reported that a team of members from Areas 2, 3 and 5 worked issue #3910, Delay in Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs).  The team compiled a report on all the TAC issues reported to TAP.  The report was sent to the IRS.  The IRS responded and took action to correct some of the reported problems very timely. 
The EITC activities are not over yet as there are a couple more coming up.

No comments. 

Lee asked that all attendees fill out the Joint Committee meeting survey and send them to her. 
ACTION:  All should complete the Joint Committee meeting survey and send to Ken Wright.

Meeting Adjourned

Next Meeting:  March 5, 2008, 2 p.m. ET
DECISIONS: Monthly Committee Reports should be completed by each chair and sent to their committee program manager and analyst for review by the 10th of the month.  The reports are due to the Joint Committee Analyst and the TAP Chair by the 15th of each month.

ACTIONS:
All:

• Complete the Joint Committee meeting survey and send to Ken Wright.

• Send an email to MJ Lee with your thoughts and comments regarding outreach and setting goals.
• Chairs with additional suggestions for improving the form should send them to directly Kay Bell.

Mark Paris:

• Send out the survey comment report.

Kay Bell:

• The Outreach Feedback Form will be updated with the suggestions made and Kay Bell will send the revised form out to all Joint Committee members.