June 13, 2003
1:00pm-2:00pm ET

Welcome/Announcements/Review Agenda
Chair Sharon Lassar opened meeting timely followed by the roll call.

Roll Call -taken by TAP Program Analyst Inez E. De Jesus
Quorum= 6
Total Members Present=7

Panel Members Present

• Linda Bader, Chesterfield, MO
• Mary Balmer, Chapel Hill, NC
• Nancy L. Ferree, FL, Designated Federal Official
• Sharon Lassar, FL, Chair
• Joseph Meissner, Cleveland, OH
• Sharon Stetz, Salt Lake City, UT
• Bruce Twomley, Juneau, AK

Members Not Present

• Abigail Alicea, Nashua, NH (Excused)
• Elizabeth Brodbine-Ghoniem, Winchester, MA (Vice-Chair) (Excused)
• Yvonne Gallegos-Bodle, Oxnard, CA- (Excused)
• Delford Jones, IN
• Kenneth Logan, Blue Springs, MO (Excused)

MLI Program Owner

• Nikki Oyefeso

TAP Staff Present

• Inez E. De Jesus, Program Analyst/Recorder

Review and Approval of Minutes (April 25-26, 2003)
Minutes were approved by consensus.

Review and Approval of Minutes (May 16, 2003)
Minutes were approved by consensus.

Chair Lassar asked "Where are we?" & "Are we making any progress?"

The Chair inquired if everyone present had a printout of the most recent "Action Plan". She summarized that this committee now has 2 basic tasks instead of 3, which are "Education of Limited English Proficient (LEP)" individuals & "Vital Documents".

The Chair also emphasized the committee's interest in the "English as a Second Language (ESOL)" program, and surveys within communities. The "Action Plan" lists those the committee is going to survey.

Feedback on How Limited English Proficient (LEP) Persons are Educated about IRS
Chair Lassar shared the following findings with the committee:

INS does nothing tax-wise; copies of tax returns are required prior to applying for citizenship, but there is no educational component.

"English Center" in Miami- no tax education there either, but there is a VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) site there.

During the week of June 16th, the Chair has a scheduled meeting in Broward County with the Hispanic League, and will keep the committee informed of what she learns. She has also had preliminary talks with an employee at the Opa Locka community center that serves the Haitian community in Miami.

Chair feels that perhaps the idea of concentrating on the creation of a little brochure with basic information is the way to go in order to educate LEP persons on their tax obligations. Currently this is what the community centers are doing on their own.

"Work to Welfare" type of program- participants do get training since most likely they will be eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

Feedback on Services Provided by Organizations In Various Communities
Committee Member Linda Bader referenced IRS grant programs and News Release IR-2003-57, May 1, 2003, "IRS Accepting Grant Applications for Low Income Taxpayer Clinics". IRS is to fund programs, specifically with non-profit organizations. The news release mentions that funds are available for programs that inform LEP taxpayers of their rights and responsibilities. It is not clear if such a program has to be sponsored by a LITC. Bader would like to know what kind of organizations can obtain such funding and how to go about it.

Committee Member Joe Meissner reminded all of the committee's recent face-to-face meeting in Miami, on April 25th, whereby Guest Ms. Ryan represented a non-exempt organization that represented the Vietnamese community. Meissner stated that the welfare to work programs in Cleveland do not educate participants on tax matters.

Designated Federal Official (DFO) Nancy Ferree shared with the committee that she had recently contacted SPEC Territory Manager from Area 1 about partnering with the Core Planning groups and other coalition members a.k.a. "SPEC Coalition 2003". This listing may be able to identify a group for a specific LEP population. This is a means to partnership with citizens and community groups as an outreach effort in getting the word out of TAP's existence. Ferree is waiting to hear from the SPEC Territory Manager Sheldon Schwartz, and will keep the committee informed.

Other organizations mentioned: YMCA, and Consumer Credit Counseling.

Committee member Bader mentioned working with local ESOL teachers; writing a grant proposal.

ACTION ITEM: DFO Ferree is to obtain a copy of a successful Grant Application, winners from a previous year, e.g. from Randy Swartz, Director, Low Income Tax Clinics (LITC) and to inquire about the funding possibilities/restrictions for the LEP outreach programs.

Also, Committee Member Bruce Twomley will ask an organization of which he is aware how it obtains funding. Twomley asked if it would be possible to obtain a listing of organizations that have been funded by IRS grant programs for the areas that are represented on our committee. DFO Nancy Ferree will ask Randy Swartz.

Publication 3319, "Low Income Tax Clinics Grant Applications Package" was mentioned. Committee is interested in other grant recipients, for e.g. for EOSL.

An option may be to ask IRS for guidance. TCE (Tax Counseling for the Elderly) might be another option.

Mention was made of egrant@irs.gov/ telephone number 404-338-7006.

Feedback on Benchmarking Survey Created by Program Owner
No feedback received from team on the call. Written feedback from Lassar was submitted by email.

Chair asked Program Owner what is the purpose of the benchmarking survey. Where will it be administered? What did she hope to accomplish? What will be done with the information? What decisions could the information influence? It is important for the survey to be structured in a way that the intended outcome can be realized. Program Owner does not know the intended use of the information. The IRS is interested in what practitioners are doing. It plans on administering the survey during the practitioner forums. It has not yet been decided whether the survey will be part of a packet that all practitioners receive or simply administered at the booth. Revisions can still be made. Program Owner has a deadline by the end of this month.

Feedback on Survey Re: Vital Documents Created by MLI Chair
Chair is working on developing a survey that would not be too burdensome for respondents. It is a difficult task because so many documents are on the preliminary list of vital documents.

Committee discussed that even if we were to translate some of the IRS terms do not translate well and sometimes the individual may not be literate even in his or her own language.

Chair asked Program Owners for an electronic version of the vital documents list. Chair would like to liaison with someone within the IRS on trying to characterize the list of vital documents into a small number of groups of related documents.

MLI's Planned Activities for Tax Practitioner Forums and Whether a Survey May be Administered
The Chair asked the Program Owner if it would be possible to have computers at the forum in order to conduct on-line surveys. Chair asked how many had experience with on-line surveys. Also, to encourage participation in a survey, could respondents be entered into a drawing for a prize? For example, respondents could be entered into a drawing for a cruise and the drawing could be administered at the last forum so that only one prize would be needed. Chair could ask a Miami cruise company to donate the prize. Oyefeso stated that logistically, not possible, due to traffic and that IRS policy states that only something of nominal value can be distributed. In essence, there are no plans for this year to have computers available to conduct surveys.

To distribute surveys at the booth is not included in the package.

Committee Member Bader shared that she will be participating at the Tax forum in St. Louis on August 19-20, 2003, and Sharon Stetz will be participating at the Tax forum in Las Vegas on September 16-17, 2003.

Chair asked Program Owner if there would be focus groups at the tax forums, and if so, she suggests that a MLI committee member be present to observe. Goal would be to get engaged with one or two focus groups. Oyefeso responded as follows:

No focus group in St. Louis. (information seminar only)
Atlantic City (July 8-9, 2003) Yes, afternoon of the 8th
Orlando (July 22-23, 2003)- Yes
Atlanta (August 5-6, 2003) - Yes (Panel Members George Sullivan & Tim Jarrell)-not MLI members.

San Antonio (September 2-3, 2003) Yes
Las Vegas (September 16-17, 2003) Yes

Chair would attempt to attend either Orlando or Atlanta tax forum.

Chair asked the committee to think of ideas on how to conduct surveys.

Public Participation/Input
None

Overview of "New Operating Procedures"
As a result of the Joint Committee's face-to-face meeting, one of the primary changes made to the operating procedures is that in the past, if a member missed 3 consecutive meetings, the entire TAP committee would have to vote and agree on removal of the member, but now:

"A member, who fails to attend three consecutive regular business meetings of the panel without good cause, as determined by the Chair, may be recommended for removal to the Joint Committee. Prior to the recommendation to the Joint Committee, the Issue Committee chair should have a discussion with the chair for that member's Area Committee."

Other minor changes discussed briefly were the incorporation of the "ground rules" under "Members' Responsibilities" and the staff's procedure for the processing of meeting minutes.

Closing Remarks Chair emphasized that committee needs to keep on plugging along, and feels it is imperative that members attempt to attend the upcoming tax forums. There was no "New Business". Chair concluded meeting by stating that committee members should continue to work within their communities.

Meeting Adjourned- by Chair timely.

Next Meeting:
The committee agreed to change the next scheduled meeting from June 19th to June 26th due to staffing issues and the fact that various panel members are not available.

Next MLI Teleconference meeting will be held on: Thursday, June 26, 2003, 1:00 pm EDT- Dial-in number will be the same. DFO Ferree will amend the Federal Register Notice.

June 26, 2003