February 14, 2003
1:00pm-2:00pm EST
Teleconference

Opening of the Meeting
Acting Chair Lassar opened the meeting at 1:02 p.m. Eastern Time by welcoming all members. She announced the resignation of Mary Lou Beyreis and Carl Hansen.

Roll Call -taken by TAP Analyst Marisa Knispel; quorum was reached.

• Quorum= 6
• Total Members Present= 7

Panel Members Attending

• Linda Bader, Chesterfield, MO
• Mary Balmer, Chapel Hill, NC
• Elizabeth Brodbine-Ghoniem, MA
• Inez E. DeJesus, Fort Lauderdale, DFO,FL
• Sharon Lassar, Miami, FL
• Joseph Meissner, Cleveland, OH
• Bruce Twomley, Juneau, AK

Absent

• Abigail Alicea, Nashua, NH
• Yvonne Gallegos-Bodle, Oxnard, CA
• Kenneth Logan, Blue Springs, MO
• Sharon Stetz, Salt Lake City, UT

TAP Staff and IRS Staff Attending

• Marilyn Correa, MLI Program Owner
• Toni Cross, MLI Program Owner
• Nancy L. Ferree, Program Manager
• Marisa Knispel, TAP Analyst (Note Taker)

Guests

• Dan Rinke, Commercial Clearing House

Review and Approval of Minutes (January 10, 2003)
Acting Committee Chair Lassar led discussion on the minutes of the January 10, 2003 teleconference meeting. Member Ghoniem made motion to accept and Member Bader seconded the motion. The minutes were approved.

Re-election of Permanent Chair and Vice Chair
Designated Federal Official (DFO) DeJesus indicated due to former Chair's departure, members had nominated Sharon Lassar to become permanent Chair via email. Consensus was reached in accepting Member Lassar as Chair of the MLI Committee. At the same time, DFO suggested to the group to elect a vice-chair. She asked for volunteers and nominations. Elizabeth Brodbine-Ghoniem volunteered for the position and consensus to accept was reached.

Face-to-Face Meeting
Chair Lassar reminded members that April 25th and 26th were chosen as the dates to hold a face-to-face meeting. DFO DeJesus indicated that the most feasible locations are: Miami, Indianapolis and Dallas. Miami would be the most cost effective for the committee. Member Balmer raised the question of why is a face-to-face meeting necessary to work issues and Member Meissner expressed that this type of meeting allows for more personal relationships among the members and a more comfortable working environment. Member Bader added that her recent Area Committee's face-to-face meeting proved to be very productive.

After some deliberating, Miami was chosen as the location for the first face-to-face meeting of the MLI Committee on April 25 and 26, 2003. Meeting to conclude on Saturday, the 26th at noon.

DFO DeJesus asked the members if they would like to visit the IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center (TAC) office in Miami. Member Meissner responded that he'd like to visit a Low Income Tax Clinic in the area, instead. Chair Lassar asked if it would be possible to have a speaker at the meeting. She understands that Miami has a good outreach program for EITC and for low- income taxpayers.

Review of Action Items
DFO DeJesus summarized the purpose of the three established MLI subcommittees and reminded all members to select their participation in one. She asked Member Meissner to reply to this request.

Member Meissner asked if there was a list of IRS materials, forms and publications written in languages other than English to assist low-income taxpayers.

Member Lassar said that there are 256 publications and documents that IRS has translated into Spanish but there is no source in other languages. Meissner expressed his concern of how readable these translated versions might be for the Limited English Proficient (LEP) taxpayers when the English versions have been proven difficult to understand for the English-speaking population.

Next Steps for Subcommittees
Following the previous comments, Program Owner Toni Cross joined the call and stated that the MLI office felt very comfortable with the problem statements chosen by the subcommittees. She continued by identifying the process of the MLI office to work a recommendation. The process, she said, involves: 1) identifying the problem, 2) validating the problem, 3) developing a recommendation, 4) approval of the recommendation, 5) development/rolling out the recommendation and finally, 6) evaluating the results.

Program Owner Cross asked each subcommittee lead to identify at which step in this process they found their subcommittee to be.

Problem Statement #1 (Subcommittee #1)- "Recommendations on how the IRS Can Better Assist Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Taxpayers in navigating the IRS system and understanding its processes"- led by Ken Logan. (Members: Balmer, Ghoniem, Logan & Stetz) In Member Logan's absence, Member Ghoniem responded that she had no opinion or nothing to contribute at this time for she just joined the committee. She has not met Member Logan and is unaware of the plans for the subcommittee. Program Owner Cross advised the members present in the call to propose a recommendation to the problem. Member Balmer commented that this would be a challenging process considering the difficulties met in navigating the IRS even for those taxpayers who are English speaking.

Problem Statement #2 (Subcommittee #2)- Recommend Ways to Externally Identify and Validate Vital Documents" - led by Sharon Lassar. (Members: Lassar, Twomley, & Gallegos-Bodle) Chair Lassar made a reference to the 2002 Report to Congress where the National Taxpayer Advocate refers to this problem and that of navigating the IRS. She asked the Program Owners if the IRS relied on census data to analyze the language concentration and the necessity of its products to be translated. Program Owner Cross explained that IRS relies on the census data as well as external sources to validate the vital documents and the selection of language. These external sources are surveys conducted among the public.

Problem Statement #3 (Subcommittee #3)- "Recommend Cost Effective Ways to Address the Needs of Recently Migrated Immigrant Groups" - led by Linda Bader. (Members: Bader, Alicea & Meissner) Program Owner Cross suggested that the subcommittee recommend the improvement and usage of kiosks. Member Bader indicated that she has two contacts to liaison with to assist in translation of IRS materials. She shared with the group some research on companies like Walgreens that provide services in other languages to customers. Walgreens, Bader explained, provides prescription directions in seven languages in all their stores.

To achieve a proposal for the improvement of kiosks, Program Owner Cross is willing to have the subcommittee meet the person responsible for the maintenance of kiosks. Working in collaboration, a recommendation could be made.

Following this comment, Chair Lassar asked if the subcommittees could request specific information and assistance to accomplish their working process. Program Owner Cross asked that any request for information or need of assistance be emailed to her. She added that information and education are part of the validation step #2. To this, DFO DeJesus added that when needed, the subcommittees may hold their own private teleconferences to discuss their issues. Member Balmer provided the toll-free number for members to call and schedule a teleconference. (1-888-543-8027).

When asked the difference between the IRS's bilingual vs. multilingual initiatives, Program Owner Cross explained that all translation efforts are part of the Multilingual Initiative Program. When asked about the possible addition of forty-nine kiosks across the country, Cross explained that immediate expectations are to add five kiosks whose locations have not been identified.

Public Participation/Input
Chair Lassar requested members and guests' comments on the meeting.

Closing Remarks
Chair thanked all members for their participation.

Meeting Close
Committee Chair Lassar closed the meeting at 2:06 PM.

Next Meeting(s):

• Teleconference Meeting: Friday, April 11, 2003, 1:00-2:00pm EST (Dial-in and participants code will remain the same until further notice)
• Face-to-Face Meeting: Friday/Saturday, April 25/26, 2003, in Miami, Florida (Specific information will be forthcoming.)

April 11, 2003