May 28, 2003
Noon-ET

Participants (Panel Members):

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

Not Present:

• Ivan Cotman
• Charles Eshelman

Staff Members:

• Sallie Chavez (Recorder)

Guests/Program Owner:

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

Welcome and Announcements/Roll Call
Committee chair Phil Bryant welcomed everyone to the conference call.

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

Review/Approve Minutes of April 23, 2003
The minutes were accepted by consensus.

Old Business

Report from Joint Committee Meeting
Committee Vice-chair C. Morgan Edwards attended the two (2) day Joint Committee meeting in Washington, DC on May 2 & 3, 2003. He reviewed some of the highlights with the committee.

Program Director Deryle Temple discussed the structure of the panel. She explained that she was in the process of hiring key personnel in each of the areas. Also, Analyst Martha Curry of her staff will be the Designated Federal Official for the Joint Committee.

Next, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson discussed her view of the committee and the role of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel and her office. She stated that it was not the role of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel to make legislative recommendation. However, if a committee member feels strongly about an issue, they can send a recommendation directly to her.

There was a discussion about Systemic Advocacy. Their system will be on-line and available for everyone to view and use. Systemic Advocacy will partner with the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel.

The next issue discussed was about face-to-face meetings. Each area committee will have two (2) face-to-face meetings while the issue committee will only have one (1). We have already had our one face-to-face meeting. The next face-to-face meeting will be the annual meeting in either September or October.

The committee chairs where introduced to TAP Speak and given a demonstration on how it works. This is an Internet system that will allow communication between all TAP members. It should cut down on the amount of email message received and the size of the messages.

All chairs reported on their committee's activities. The issue committees went first and then the area committees. Chairs need to prepare and annual report and have it ready by the annual meeting in October.

Matrix
Committee member Eileen Shuman explained that this was the matrix that she and TAP Program Analyst Chavez helped to design during the meetings in New Carrollton in March and April. It indicates which notices appear to need to be re-written.

Program Owner Jim Cesarano stated that the report was self-explanatory. It will be used to create the Notice Process Improvement Initiative Team (NPIIT) and then the Dynamic Project Team (DPT).

Survey Results
Committee chair Phil Bryant discussed the survey that he asked everyone to complete after the last meeting. He said that "Focus" received the lowest score. There was also a concern about "Participation of committee members". If you have an issue you want to discuss, please bring it up and the committee will take time to discuss it. He wants to continue to use this survey but not after every meeting. It will help him keep focus on meeting.

Committee member Eileen Shuman stated that the committee needs a task. We need to get work to provide input. Committee chair Phil Bryant requested Program Owner Jim Cesarano to comment on this.

Program Owner Jim Cesarano stated that he has several tasks for the committee. The notice CP2000 is used by the underreporter program to match W-2s and Form 1099s to tax returns. He is going to need comments on this notice as it has been rewritten twice in the last couple of years. It is a "monster" notice that is used for many purposes. It is due to be released in June and as soon as he gets it he would like to have the committee's comments about it.

Committee member Thomas Seuntjens said he has a concern about asking the committee for their comments when the notice has already been rewritten. Program Owner Jim Cesarano stated that this revision was done last summer before the committee was created. The testing was done on the previous version and the results were not good so it was rewritten again. This version is not due to be released for public use until January 2004.

Program Owner Jim Cesarano discussed the use of the committee members as members of the Dynamic Project Team (DPT). He stated it may be difficult but they will push ahead if there is interest in having external stakeholders as members. The next step after the memo that was discussed earlier is to create a Notice Process Improvement Initiative Team (NPIIT). This team works for a few months and requests requirements for the notice from various areas. The next step is the Dynamic Project Team (DPT). This team works for a two (2) week duration but not necessarily all at one time. This team redesigns and rewrites the notices.

As far as the timeframe goes, he is going to start by creating a charter for a NPIIT for the elimination of notices and another to address corrspondex letters. He would like to get the committee's comments as soon as possible to be included in the NPIITs. Committee chair Phil Byrant asked if Program Owner Jim Cesarano could provide a memo to the committee requesting exactly what he wants. He will send out an email with the requested information.

Program Owner Jim Cesarano would like to know if any of the committee members would like to participate on the DPT by the next meeting. The DPT should begin in either August or September.

Program Owner Jim Cesarano stated that Program Owner Anne Gelineau wanted him to express her thanks to Committee member Eileen Shuman for all the work she did on the report.

Face-to-Face Meeting
Committee chair Phil Bryant again reminded everyone that as was mentioned before, there will be NO second face-to-face meeting for this committee.

Operating Procedures TAP Program Analyst Sallie Chavez asked if everyone had received the "Revised" Operating Procedures. Several members had not received them. These "Revised" Procedures will be sent out again to committee members and we will review them at the next meeting so everyone will have the information.

Comments from Program Owners
Program Owner Jim Cesarano stated he has no other comments.

New Business
None.

Meeting Closing Remarks
Committee chair Phil Bryant thanked Committee member Eileen Shuman for the work she did with the Program Owners to create the matrix. He also thanked Committee Vice-chair C. Morgan Edwards for attending the Joint Committee Meeting and reporting on the meeting for him.

Next meeting date: Wednesday, June 25, 2003, Noon ET, 11:00am CT. Dial-in number and pass code remain the same.

Meeting adjourned.