April 23, 2003
Noon-ET

Dial-in telephone # 1-800-516-9896
Participant's Pass Code: 4237979

Participants (Panel Members):

• Phil Bryant
• C. Morgan Edwards
• Nancy L. Ferree (Designated Federal Official)
• Anthony DiMartino
• Charles (Skip) Eshelman
• Curtis Feese
• Robin Gausebeck
• Glenn Hall
• William (Dick) Murphy
• David Robinson
• Eileen Shuman
• George Sullivan
• Virginia Symonds

Not Present:

• Ivan Cotman
• Thomas Seuntjens
• R. Jeana Warren

Guests/Program Owner:

• James (Jim) A. Cesarano, Program Analyst, Wage & Investment, Single Point of Contact

Staff Members:

• Sallie Chavez (Recorder)

Welcome and Announcements/Roll Call
Committee vice-chair, C. Morgan Edwards started the meeting since panel chair Bryant was not available as this time. He will join in a few minutes.

Program Analyst/Recorder Sallie Chavez took the roll call and quorum of 11 was met.

Review/Approve Minutes of March 26, 2003
The minutes were accepted by consensus.

Old Business

Vice-chair Morgan Edwards stated he would like to have more information on the Refund Anticipation Loans (RAL). He has obtained a contract from H & L Block for a RAL. After 29 or 30 days, if the bank has not received the IRS Refund, the bank starts "bothering/harassing" the taxpayer about repaying the loan. The IRS pays the bank directly. He will send a copy of the contract to Analyst Chavez to distribute to the entire committee.

Committee chair Phil Bryant (who joined the call during the discussion) asked Designated Federal Official (DFO) Nancy Ferree if this was a Notice Committee Issue. She said this would be an area issue and should be brought up in the area meeting.

Committee chair Phil Bryant discussed the Matrix that was discussed during the Joint Committee meeting. DFO Ferree will distribute the Matrix to the entire committee for their information.

Report on meeting in Washington, DC - April 9, 2003
Committee member Eileen Shuman attended with TAP Program Analyst Sallie Chavez, the Wage & Investment Notice Strategy Quarterly Meeting held in IRS New Carrollton office in Lanham, MD on April 9, 2003. (The program owners made this invitation to the committee.) This was a follow-up meeting to the original meeting held on March 6, 2003.

Committee member Eileen Shuman was not on the call so TAP Program Analyst shared some information with the committee. The participants at the meeting discussed about 35 notices that needed to be rewritten. Each notice was reviewed using criteria such as "required time to resolve", "delay will cost taxpayer interest and penalty", "employee frustration", "dollars involved", "number of notices sent", etc. Committee member Shuman created a matrix that took a 64-page document down to 3 pages. This matrix will be sent to all committee members when it is completed. Committee member Shuman updated the matrix as we were working so that all the information would be there and not have to be transcribed at a later date. Program Owner Ann Gelineau will now take this information to her superiors and request that Dynamic Project Teams (DPT) be developed to rewrite the top 10 - 15 notices. Program Owner Jim Cesarano states that Program Owner Gelineau has not had this meeting yet.

Comments from Program Owners
Program Owner Jim Cesarano stated that Dynamic Project Teams (DPT) were proceeding however he has no information on them. The formations of the teams should start soon. It has not been determined if external stakeholders would be involved in the DPTs. Program Owner Ann Gelineau is in favor of using external stakeholders. They are waiting to see exactly how the external stakeholders will be used.

Committee chair Bryant asked if the committee needed to do anything? Program Owner Cesarano stated that they were looking at were the resistance was and were it was coming from as well as disclosure issues. There are many internal documents used in the process of redesigning notices including "live" notices. The Dynamic Project Team (DPT) is a 2-week project for team members but team leaders spend months working on the charter and selecting members. They are looking into doing some of the work by telephone/conference calls.

Committee chair Bryant asked if we should poll the committee to see if someone is interested. Program Owner Cesarano said that would not be necessary at this point. We should wait until it is determined that the DPT will use external stakeholders.

Committee chair Bryant stated that a "Matrix" was completed for all the committees showing what issues each committee was working on. He indicated that the only issue this committee is charged with is "Standardize format of notices and create a 'Notice Template'". He wanted to know what a "Notice Template" was? DFO Ferree said she was not sure but would check and find out. Program Owner Cesarano said he thinks is comes from the Austin meeting and deals with the style and language of the notices.

Committee chair Bryant asked Program Owner Cesarano to let the committee know when, where and how to deliver the message of how to improve the notices. He asked for a copy of his report from the Austin meeting. Program Owner Cesarano said he emailed the report to Analyst Chavez. Analyst Chavez will make sure the committee members receive a copy of this report.

Program Owner Cesarano stated that the notice CP2000 from the Underreporter Program was rewritten more than a year ago but there have been problems with it. The Program Owners would like the committee to look at this new version of the notice. Program Owner Cesarano will discuss this in more detail with Program Owner Gelineau and see if it can be sent out.

New Business
Vice-chair Edwards reported that he would be attending the Joint Committee Face-to-Face Meeting in Washington, DC at the St. Gregory Hotel on May 2 and 3. They will be reviewing where all the committees stand. If anyone on the committee wants anything address at this meeting, please contact the vice-chair or Analyst Toy.

Committee chair Bryant stated that the face-to-face meeting scheduled for June is on hold because of budget constraints.

Program Owner Cesarano stated that Committee member Shuman's participation in the Wage and Investment Strategy meeting would go a long way in the acceptance of external stakeholders. Committee chair Bryant also thanks Committee member Shuman for her work at the meeting. He wants to make sure that all the members are able to participate in meeting such as the one that Committee member Shuman attended. Committee member Murphy asked if the external members of the DPT could be rotated with multiple members participating. Program Owner Cesarano stated that he would explore this issue but his first impression would be "no" since there is a great deal to learn before going into a DPT.

Meeting Closing Remarks
Committee chair Bryant mentioned a Survey that was being used in several of the committees. It was discussed at the Joint Committee meeting and he wanted to know what the committee thought about it. Analyst will email out the all committee members the Survey. Please respond to it as soon as possible.

Next meeting date: Wednesday, May 28, 2003, Noon ET, 11:00am CT. Dial-in number and pass code remain the same.

Meeting adjourned.