TAP Director
National Office Update
April 2, 2008

Following is a summary of issues from the TAP Director for the TAP Joint Committee Meeting scheduled for April 2, 2008.   

Budget
The TAP 2008 fiscal year continues with travel expenditures above 2007 allocations. Management is currently reviewing expenditures to determine cost savings actions to take. The Director has taken action by eliminating his travel to the remaining face to face meetings.   The highest priority is on all area and issue face to face meetings, all other travel will be reviewed and prioritized. Current member travel expenditures for the month of March include:  

• TAP Town Hall meeting, Durham, NC,  March 13, 2008
• Area 3 Face to Face Meeting, Orlando, FL February 28 – March 1, 2008

Travel for April:

• EITC Face to face, Atlanta, GA, April 17 – 19, 2008
• Notices Face to face, Salt Lake City, UT, April 16-18, 2008
• Area 2 Face to Face ,  Baltimore, MD, April 22-24, 2008
• Area 7 Face to face, Las Vegas, NV, April 24-26, 2008
• Area 5 Face to face, San Antonio, TX, April 27-29, 2008

TAP Staff
Congratulations to Barbara Foley of the Milwaukee staff on her selection as a senior analyst in the EITC Project Office.  Barb has been a mainstay in the TAP program in support of the Milwaukee Office, TAP database and Joint Committee activities.  We wish her the best in her new endeavor. 

We bid a fond farewell to Inez DeJesus of our Plantation office. After 16 years
of service Inez  has exercised her option to retire the end of May 2008. Inez leaves us as one of our stellar performers in the Florida office, we thank her for the dedication and commitment.   

Recruitment
The recruitment has kicked off with IRS press releases, newspaper stories, distribution of materials to members, and numerous hits on the website.  The first week of recruitment resulted in almost 100 finished applications.  To date 234 finished applications reside on the website, and 397 applications are in draft status.  We still have 28 days left in the application period and already we are at 59% of last year’s application total.  Let’s keep encouraging others to be part of this valuable organization. 

TAP Annual Report 
The TAP annual report continues on target for the release to occur soon. The team led be Maryann Motza continues to work on the report and by all indications will produce a document that all of TAP will be proud of.  

TAP Town Halls
The TAP conducted the second of three Town hall meetings on March 13, 2008 at the Durham Public Library in Durham, North Carolina.  Approximately 10 taxpayers were in attendance to hear from TAP members and the National Taxpayer Advocate. While the numbers were lower than normal, representation of taxpayers was at a premium.  Representatives of numerous coalitions groups voiced concern on issues ranging from Refund Anticipation Loans, EITC, financially educating the low income, low income representation and the economic stimulus package.  Final town hall location:

• Springfield, IL, May 1, 2008