Wage & Investment Reduce Taxpayer Burden (Notices) Meeting Minutes

March 3, 2005
Noon ET

Participants (Panel Members):

• Anthony DiMartino
• Michael Guthman
• Sonny Kasturi
• Allena Lu
• Don Miller
• Joyce Natter
• David Robinson
• Martin Romeril
• Ferd Scheider
• Sanford Searleman
• Virginia Symonds
• R. Jeana Warren
• Douglas Wilhelm
• Warren Wong
• James Wright

Not Present:

• Dick Greenberg
• John Hollingsworth

Staff Members:

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

Guests

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

Welcome
Committee Chair Mike Guthman welcomed everyone.

Roll Call
Program Analyst/Recorder Sallie Chavez took the roll call and quorum of eight (8) was met.

Review/Approval of Prior Meeting Minutes
The meeting minutes were approved by consensus. One suggestion was made that if there is a change to the minutes, the change is noted in the minutes.

Joint Committee Report
Committee Chair Mike Guthman reported on the January Joint Committee Meeting Call. The Joint Committee conference call will now be two (2) hours long. Business cards have been ordered. The new Communications Committee will be working on how to measure the success of TAP. If anyone has any suggestions, please forward them to your Area TAP Manger. Meeting Surveys will be distributed after each meeting. These surveys provide staff and chairs information about the process of the meeting. The TAP Program Analyst will compile the results of the surveys. The results will be forwarded to the chair and entered into TAPSpeak for everyone to review.

ACTION ITEM: TAP Program Analyst Sallie Chavez will forward surveys to all members after every conference call.

Committee Member Virginia Symonds also stated the Joint Committee address the issue of Legislative Issues. A form has been developed and will be used to raise these issues to the National Taxpayer Advocate through the Joint Committee.

Face-to-Face Meeting
TAP Program Analyst Sallie Chavez reported arrangements have been made to hold the face-to-face meeting at the Best Western Inn of the Peachtrees in downtown Atlanta. TAP Director Bernie Coston recommended it.
Information about travel will be sent out to committee member the end of March or the beginning of April. The dates of the face-to-face is May 19 – 21, 2005 with travel on the 19th and 21st.

Committee Reports

Limited Scope Redesign of Appeals Rights in Math Error Notices DPT
Committee Chair Mike Guthman worked with SPOC Representative Jim Cesarano (via conference call) when Jim was in Florida working on a DPT editing a paragraph on Appeals Rights. Committee Chair Guthman stated that some of the information he provided was used.

Notice Elimination NPIIT, ASFR Notices Review, Balance Due Notices, Delinquency Notices
Committee Member Doug Wilhelm said he would comment on all four (4) of his assignments together. He said he felt very welcomed by IRS staffers. At first, he was a little intimidated. The participants were very focused on their expertise while he was focused on the taxpayer. He stated his comments were well received. By the 4th call, he felt more comfortable.

IA Notice Review
Committee Member J T Wright said he had a similar experience. He was looking at it from the “eye of the taxpayer” who is the customer. The general idea was to simplify the process so taxpayers understand. SPOC Ann Gelineau stated there are many stakeholders with many views. They are going to try a new approach with review workshops. They will have all the stakeholders and provide their input. TAP is the voice of the taxpayers.

Discussion about Sub-Committees
Committee Chair Mike Guthman said that Committee Vice-Chair MaryAnn Motza worked on the Sub-Committees and sent out the list before she left to go onto the Communications Issue Committee. Committee Member Eileen Shuman assisted her with the list and now Eileen has resigned from TAP. He would like each Sub-Committee to select a chair. He would like the first person listed on the Sub-Committee to set up a conference call to select a chair for their Sub-Committee. Several members stated they had not received the list. TAP Program Analyst will send out the list as well as instructions on how to set up a conference call using the calling card.

ACTION ITEM: TAP Program Analyst Sallie Chavez will email the Sub-Committee list and instructions on how to make a conference call with the calling card.

Discussion about Vice-Chair
Committee Chair Mike Guthman said he had sent out an email requesting a volunteer to act as Vice-Chair and got no response. He would again like to ask for a volunteer. Committee Member Sonny Kasturi volunteered. It was agreed by consensus that he would be Vice-Chair.

Comments from SPOC Representative
SPOC Ann Gelineau asked to speak first. She said the job TAP has to do is very important. The job is not easy. She would like them to speak up. She wants them to get her involved if they are not welcomed at a meeting.

She then addressed the scoring of notices. The IRS printing system can’t handle reverse font (which is white font in a black box). The IRS doesn’t have this in their system. The IRS has to go through the process of procurement to obtain the funds ($15,000) to purchase the equipment. During testing, this reverse font on notices was well received by taxpayers. At this time, it is not known if the printers can handle this reverse font. It may bog down the cycle time. It may only be used on some notices such as the CP2000. She would like the committee to score these “ideal notices”.

SPOC Representative Jim Cesarano said Committee Member Dave Robinson was working on Penalty and Interest with Liz Williams. There is now going to be a DPT on Penalty and Interest. Debra Maxwell will be the lead. Congress has not passed the legislation yet so council has decided the IRS needs to include the penalty and interest statements on ALL notices. They will want a DAT score on this as well as how taxpayers feel about this attachment.

He conducted the first meeting on the Phase II of the Notice Elimination NPIIT. He is going back and rescoping it in the next couple of weeks.

While he was in Florida last month, he reviewed notices that need to be scored with TAP Program Analyst Sallie Chavez. While he was working on the DPT, one of the members learned about TAP and asked if the TAP would score some of his EIC notices. They will be put on the list to score.

He discussed the work done on his Appeals Rights paragraph. He said he received “loads” of suggestions.

He discussed stakeholders. There were more than 50 on his NPIIT project. He would like stakeholder to suggest solutions not point out problems.

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.

Open Action Item
This will be moved to next month.

Meeting Close
Committee Vice-Chair Sonny Kasturi said if reports were sent to members in advance of the meeting it would help everyone understand more about what they did.

Next meeting is scheduled for April 7, 2005 at noon ET.