Wage & Investment Reduce Taxpayer Burden (Notices) Meeting Minutes

January 28, 2004
Noon-ET

Participants (Panel Members):

• Mary Balmer
• Anthony DiMartino
• Charles (Skip) Eshelman
• Robin Gausebeck
• John Hollingsworth
• William Murphy
• Thomas Seuntjens
• Eileen Shuman
• Virginia Symonds
• Jeana Warren
• Sandy McQuin - Acting DFO

Staff Members:

• Sallie Chavez (Recorder)

Not Present:

• Phil Bryant
• C. Morgan Edwards
• Curtis Feese
• David Robinson
• George Sullivan

Guests/SPOC Representative:

• James (Jim) A. Cesarano, Program Analyst, Wage & Investment, Single Point of Contact
• Amelia Dalton, Notice Elimination, Notice Process Improvement Initiative Team (NPIIT) Member
• Linda Lightner, Notice Elimination, Notice Process Improvement Initiative Team (NPIIT) Member
• Tammy Mitchell, Notice Standardization, Notice Process Improvement Initiative Team (NPIIT) Member
• Jim Gunter, Notice Standardization, Notice Process Improvement Initiative Team (NPIIT) Member

Welcome and Announcements/Roll Call
Acting Designated Federal Official (DFO) Sandy McQuin announced the passing of Designated Federal Official (DFO) Nancy Ferree's son. She asked that Committee Member and TAP Chair Tom Seuntjens forward a message to all TAP Members. He will do this and send it to Management Assistant Patti Robb to forward to all members.

Committee Chair Skip Eshelman asked that the committee's condolences be sent to Nancy and her family.

Committee Chair Skip Eshelman welcomed everyone.

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

Review/Approve Minutes of December 17, 2003
The minutes were approved by consensus.

Old Business

Face-to-Face Meeting in Atlanta
Vice-Chair Eileen Shuman went over the DRAFT Agenda for the Face-to-Face meeting. TAP Program Analyst Sallie Chavez is in Washington, DC for meetings and was unable to get the DRAFT Agenda to everyone. It will be forwarded as soon as she gets back into the office.

NPIIT Notice Elimination Meeting Report
Committee Chair Skip Eshelman attended part of the morning session of this conference call. He said that SPOC Representative Jim Cesarano has his hands full. It appears there are many obstacles in obtaining the goals of this team. SPOC Representative Jim Cesarano stated that during the call there was “spirited discussions”.

Comments from SPOC Representative
SPOC Representative Jim Cesarano stated that the DRAFT Report from his Notice Elimination NPIIT was sent to all members of the Notice Committee. He discussed a little about the report and what was going to happen now. He said that this type of information is not seen by many internal organizations in the Internal Revenue Service.

SPOC Representative Cesarano said that the team ran into a lot of concerns. The service currently uses CP numbers. The team would like to change this to a more user-friendly system.

Vice-Chair Eileen Shuman asked if a manager worked over more than one area. SPOC Representative Cesarano stated that there was a reorganization process. In this process the Single Point of Contact (SPOC) would answer to the Commissioner on notices. Employees are used to the old system. Different organizations want different changes. They have been getting some very good comments. It's a very large undertaking and they are not even close to reviewing the notices to be rewritten.

Committee Member John Hollingsworth stated that he was a new member of the committee and would just like some clarification. The committee deals with the language in the notices. Is the committee now expanding to the process? SPOC Representative Cesarano stated that part of Notice Simplification is to rewrite. The NPIIT structure and process is to discuss the merging of notices.

Committee Member Tony DiMartino said that there was a new issue from Area 2, which consists of an overlapping of timing. Committee Member John Hollingsworth wanted to know is this expanded or just the process? SPOC Representative Cesarano stated that the committee could work deeper with notices. He said the committee could work legal, organizational and program issues. He said it's not just a matter of rewriting notices. It's much more complicated. The idea is to improve the structure.

Committee Member Dick Murphy stated that nothing is as easy as it looks. SPOC Representative Cesarano stated it is very complicated. Committee Member Murphy wanted to know if committee members should bring a copy of the report to the face-to-face meeting in Atlanta. SPOC Representative Cesarano stated that he is going to be teaching the Data Assessment Tool and that the committee might want to talk about the report.

Vice-Chair Eileen Shuman asked SPOC Representative Cesarano to introduce his quests. He introduced Amelia Dalton and Linda Lightner who were a part of his NPIIT.

Vice-Chair Shuman asked SPOC Representative Cesarano to talk about the face-to-face meeting. SPOC Representative Cesarano said he has been busy with his NPIIT and hasn't had time to work on the face-to-face but that next week he will start to put things together. He will be sending out the training information to TAP Program Analyst Sallie Chavez who will make sure it gets to the face-to-face meeting in Atlanta. He said the group should enjoy the training.

Vice-Chair Shuman asked if there would be any “homework” – things the committee would need to do before the meeting. SPOC Representative Cesarano stated he did not think so. He will send everything to TAP Program Analyst Chavez to get out.

Sub-Committee Report
Sub-Committee Chair Hollingsworth said that the sub-committee would review and present at the next meeting in Atlanta.

New Business
Committee Member Tony DiMartino stated that Contact #2590 is very similar to Contact #1727. TAP Program Analyst Sallie Chavez is not in the office today. She will check and see if they have the same merits.

TAP Program Analyst Sallie Chavez stated that everyone (except 1) has contacted the TAP office to make their travel arrangements. If you have not received your flight information, please contact the office as soon as possible. Vice-Chair Eileen Shuman stated she did not receive her flight information. TAP Program Analyst Chavez will forward as soon as she gets back to the office.

TAP Program Analyst Chavez stated that the hotel was asking for a rooming list and that as soon as everyone was contacted the rooming list would be send and the hotel would send back confirmation numbers. As soon as the confirmation numbers are received they will be sent to committee members.

Meeting Close
Committee Chair Skip Eshelman asked for any other comments. There were none. He said he would see everyone in Atlanta next month.

Meeting was adjourned.