Wage & Investment Reduce Taxpayer Burden (Notices) Meeting Minutes

February 3, 2005
Noon ET

Participants (Panel Members):

• Anthony DiMartino
• Richard Greenberg
• Michael Guthman
• John Hollingsworth
• Srinivasan Kasturi
• Allena Lu
• Robert Meyers
• Donald Miller
• Maryann Motza
• Joyce Natter
• Martin Romeril
• Ferd Scheider
• Sanford Searleman
• Eileen Shuman
• Virginia Symonds
• Elizabeth Warnecki
• R. Jeana Warren
• Douglas Wilhelm
• James Wright
• Gilbert Yanuck

Not Present:

• David Robinson

Staff Members:

• Sallie Chavez (Recorder)
• Nancy Ferree (DFO)

Guests

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

Welcome
Committee Chair Mike Guthman welcomed everyone to the 2nd meeting of the issue committee. He thanked TAP Program Analyst Sallie Chavez for the DAT Training. It seems everyone but a couple of members have been trained and is ready to go with it.

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

Review/Approval of Prior Meeting Minutes
There was one change to the minutes. This change will be corrected. The minutes were approved by consensus with the one change.

Joint Committee Report
Committee Chair Mike Guthman reported on the January Joint Committee Meeting Call. As everyone should know by now, TAS realigned its areas and TAP has matched that realignment. Every area except Area 1 was affected. There is now a new Issue Committee that will work on internal communications such as the Annual Report, Annual Meeting and communications within TAP. Members will be moved from their current committees however, the staff will be looking to balance the committee.

The charter has been rewritten. It gave the committees limited ability. It has been submitted for approval.

DFO Nancy Ferree said an email was sent out about the new issue committee and it did not go out properly so some members did not get it. It has been reissued and the response time has been extended. Some of the Issue Committees were too large. The plan is to take 1 – 3 members from the existing committees to form the new committee. The decision on the new committee will be completed in the next week. She asked that everyone response, even with a negative, as soon as possible.

DAT Training
TAP Program Analyst Sallie Chavez reported that the two (2) training session went well. There were lots of questions and interest and everyone seems to be anxious to start working on the notice scoring. All but three (3) members have been trained to score the notices. She will set up a make-up session within the next month. It should only take about an hour.

Face-to-Face Meeting
Committee Chair Mike Guthman asked TAP Program Analyst Sallie Chavez to report on the face-to-face meeting. She stated that there is no time period where everyone is available. There are three (3) dates where there is only one (1) person who is not available for the meeting. They are April 28 – 30, May 19 – 21 and July 28 – 30. Committee Chair Guthman asked Committee Member Sandy Searleman if there was any possibility he could make the May 19 – 21 meeting. He is getting back from a long vacation on May 19 and thinks he would be able to turn around and make the trip. It was decided to hold the meeting May 19 – 21.

The next issue is where to hold the meeting. Committee Chair Mike Guthman stated that Atlanta and Dallas were the least expensive. TAP Program Analyst Sallie Chavez said the Issue Committee previously held a meeting in Atlanta and she has a contact with a hotel there. Returning members stated it was a good location. It was agreed to hold the meeting in Atlanta. TAP Program Analyst Chavez will start making arrangements.

Comments from SPOC Representative
SPOC Representative Jim Cesarano said he is going to be in the TAP Plantation office next week for a meeting to work on a limited rewrite of math error notices and appeals rights. If someone would like to participate in the meeting (by telephone), they would be welcomed. It is not going to be a formal meeting.

He is going to be working on implementing tests on outside collectors. He will be working on letters for this activity. He spoke to the lead about the TAP. They will share the draft with the committee. There are no timeframes or definite details about the team at this time.

There is going to be a Penalty and Interest Dynamic Project Team (DPT) created. They are planning to get into rewriting the Penalty and Interest attachment that goes with the notices. He will get additional information. This is congressionally mandated.

He is beginning the Phase II of the Notice Elimination NPIIT. There is a teleconference on February 15. He would like to invite someone from the committee to participate as a stakeholder. It is a requirements and expectations meeting that will last about 1 1/2 hours.

Discussion about Sub-committees
Committee Vice-Chair Maryann Motza stated she and Committee Member Eileen Shuman had a conference call and discussed the Sub-committees. She discussed the various committees.

Document Assessment Tool (DAT) will work with Jim Cesarano and will be responsible for the “norming” of the notices.

Quarterly Strategy Team will participate in any meetings set up by the Program Owner.

Referrals will work on referrals that are submitted to the committee from taxpayer or other areas. It was discussed that maybe this should not exist, as areas should submit recommendations to the Joint Committee. This committee will remain until this is confirmed.

NPIIT Report (Protocol Testing) will be expanded to include ALL NPIIT activities.

DPT will include ALL DPT activities.

These were the subcommittees from the last two (2) years. She would like to propose two (2) additional subcommittees.

New Issues would include emergent issues that come up such as the Good Government Act and Usability Testing. Because of budgetary issues, Usability Testing may be rotated or be within the area of the testing.

Communication would be a resource to the area committees and advise them of issues that come up within the area that are notice related.

Committee Vice-Chair Maryann Motza will send out an email with the subcommittee information requirements. Please email back to her your preferences of subcommittee.

Open Action Item
This will be moved to next month.

Other Questions
Committee Member Sonny Kasturi had some questions but agreed to hold them until next month since time was short.

Meeting Close
Next meeting is scheduled for March 3, 2005 at noon ET.