Wage & Investment Reduce Taxpayer Burden (Notices) Meeting Minutes

May 20-21, 2005
Atlanta, Georgia

Participants (Panel Members):

• Dick Greenberg
• Michael Guthman
• John Hollingsworth
• Sonny Kasturi
• Allena Lu
• Don Miller
• Joyce Natter
• David Robinson
• Martin Romeril
• Ferd Scheider
• Sanford Searleman
• R. Jeana Warren
• Douglas Wilhelm
• Warren Wong
• James Wright

Not Present:

• Anthony DiMartino
• Virginia Symonds

Staff Members:

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

Guests

• James (Jim) A. Cesarano, Program Analyst, Wage & Investment, Single Point of Contact (SPOC) Representative
• Betty Allen, LTA, Atlanta, GA
• Lois Bailey, EITC Redesign Team
• Beverly Mobley, EITC Redesign Team
• Jay Duffy, Program Analyst, Wage & Investment, Single Point of Contact (SPOC) Representative (via conference call)
• Deborah Maxwell, Dynamic Project Team Leader, Penalty and Interest (via conference call)

May 20, 2005
8:30 am - 4:30 pm

Welcome and Announcements/Roll Call
Committee Chair Mike Guthman welcomed everyone. It has been a while since the committee has met face-to-face. It should be a productive meeting.

Committee Chair Mike Guthman had a few additional items. He would like to discuss the workload. There does not seem to be enough work. Some committee members are not participating because the IRS is not giving enough time. SBSE committee chair contacted him because the SBSE program owners are asking SBSE committee members to review and work on notices. DFO Nancy Ferree said she had contacted Helene Bayder of SBSE about some SBSE notices. Helene has plans for SBSE to work on these notices.

The Annual Meeting is scheduled for November 2 – 5, 2005 at the Hyatt Capitol Hill. The Joint Committee is setting up a subcommittee to work on the agenda for the meeting.

Local Taxpayer Advocate Betty Allen welcomed everyone.

Committee Chair Mike Guthman thanked everyone for making the meeting arrangements.

Introductions
Everyone introduced themselves.

National Office Report
TAP Director Bernie Coston reported that he and his staff had a staff meeting last week in Chicago before the Joint Committee Meeting. This type of meeting will aid the staff in doing a better job in serving committee members.

The Annual Report was well received.

TAP Director Bernie Coston said the staff would look into taking the committee members to the print site in Detroit next year. This will give the members a better idea of what is involved in sending notices.

The week of May 23, all of TAP Director Bernie Coston’s director report staff will be reviewing the 400+ applications received during the recruiting period. There are 35 – 40 vacancies.

May 20th, four (4) members of TAP are meeting with the Commissioner at 1:00pm to discuss the TAC closures.

TAP Director Bernie Coston discussed the Measures of Success of TAP. This will be broken down by staff and members.

TAP Director Bernie Coston discussed the new Communications Committee and how they are working to get the word out about the TAP.

Committee Chair Mike Guthman reviewed the Tax Forums. He said if there is a forum in a location close to you and you have the time to work at the forum, to contact their area staff.

Review/Approve Minutes of May 5, 2005
They were several corrections to the minutes. The minutes are approved, after corrections, by consensus.

Comments from SPOC Representative
SPOC Representative Jim Cesarano gave updates on the ongoing item. The CP500 series notices will be updated during a conference call later today. He is not sure if the final notices are ready to be scored. The Dynamic Project Team (DPT) on Penalty and Interest is also scheduled to be discussed later today during a conference call. There has been some usability testing and additional testing is scheduled.

The privatization of collection letters have gone through a number of revisions. They are not available to be released. They will be going through usability testing. He also stated that he could release it for the committee only when the program owners permit him to do so.

The Notice Elimination Charter was discussed at the last Notices Communication and Advisory Group (NCAG) meeting. They didn’t finalize the charter. They made significant changes to the charter.

Single Point of Contact Ann Gelineau would like a member of this committee to work on a panel at the Plain Language Forum scheduled for sometime in November. He will get additional information closer to the event. It may coincide with the TAP Annual Meeting.

The Document Assessment Tool is very important. It provides the IRS with before and after scores for notices. It gives a diagnostic indicator of the notices.

SPOC Representative Jim Cesarano gave background on Form 872 and requested input from the group. Committee Member Mike Guthman led the discussion about the form language “Your Rights as a Taxpayer”.

CP500 Series Notices Updates
IRS Analyst Jay Duffy (via conference call) reviewed the status of the Dynamic Project Team (DPT) who is updating the CP500 Series notices. These collection notices were revised last summer. They also conducted usability testing. The original revised notices did not get approval. The DPT reconvened to look at other Automated Substitute for Return (ASFR) notices in October. The DPT held conference calls in February to get input from stakeholder before going to the executives. The goal is to have these notices available for January 2006. The programmers may not be able to get them ready by then. The notices are longer than before (at six (6) pages). The tone of the notices is a concern. The executives want stronger language. The team wanted consequences if the taxpayer didn’t reply. There was discussion about the delinquency notices as to whether there should be detailed information or summary information about the income received. For the CP503 (2nd notice), they were originally pushing to eliminate this notice however the next notice is sent certified and would cost more. They are no longer pushing for that.

What they are trying to obtain is a better look, better formatted, frequently asked questions (FAQ) and information about payments. In addition, they are adding how to go to tax court on the ASFR notices. Language is not a problem. The problem is with the programming. Now they are providing input to the executives so they can obtain the approval from the executives.

The one part of the notice that was not changed is the payment stub. There are plans to form a team to work just on the payment stub.

Hold off DAT scoring the final notices since they are still receiving corrections to the notices. Jay will provide the final notices to TAP Analyst Sallie Chavez as soon as they received approval.

Morning Wrap-up
Committee Chair Mike Guthman asked if the committee members had any suggested changes in the way the meeting is going. There was no response.

He asked if there were any other comments. Area 4 has some issues concerning notices. It was asked if they should come to our committee. They also asked about notices concerning EITC. They would like to know the process for these types of issues. DFO Nancy Ferree said that if it fits within the rewriting of a notice it would be sent to SPOC Representative Jim Cesarano to see if it’s something the committee should handle.

EITC Exam Team
Beverly Mobley and Lois Bailey provided copies of four (4) notices that they wanted the committee to review. There was discussion about the notices and the comments about these notices were recorded. Highlights of the comments given include the following:

• If the IRS has information on the specifics, they should provide them to the taxpayer instead of having them guessing what the IRS has, e.g., on the income verification notice, state the problem identified by the IRS concerning qualifying child in the notice confirming qualifying child, since this is an account-specific notice.
• Consistency in terminologies should be followed, e.g., “maintaining your household” in lieu of “keeping up your home” on the filing status notice.
• Review and correct the notice on Schedule C, Business income to eliminate the confusion about profit reported in Schedule C deemed as unearned income.

Penalty & Interest DPT
Deborah Maxwell, Team Leader for the Penalty & Interest DPT addressed the committee (via conference call). The purpose of the DPT is to rewrite the Penalty and Interest statement that goes with notices. They want the statement to be easily understood by taxpayer. She will send the evolution of this document to TAP Program Analyst Sallie Chavez to be distributed to the committee members.

The revised form went through preliminary testing last week. The results were not what they expected.

Deborah reviewed the RRA98 requirements that Penalty and Interest statements had to be sent with notices. She would like help from taxpayers in determining what does the taxpayer want.

They are planning to test again in a couple of week. They are also planning a stakeholder meeting in a couple of weeks. TAP will be invited.

Spreadsheet Tool for DAT
Committee Member John Hollingsworth presented his spreadsheet to the committee that he has updated since he first introduced it to the committee. The original format was several pages long. This spreadsheet automatically takes the numbers and inputs them into the cover page.

This spreadsheet will be forwarded to the Program Owner as a suggestion.

TAP Program Analyst Sallie Chavez will forward the Excel Spreadsheet to all committee members.

Subcommittee Reports
Committee Chair Mike Guthman said that since there has not been very much activity within the subcommittee, he would like TAP Program Analyst Sallie Chavez to conduct a discussion about the subcommittees.

During the discussion, it was decided to provide a “job description” for each of the subcommittees. The Emergent Issues Subcommittee, NPIIT Subcommittee and Quarterly Strategy Subcommittee will be eliminated. The Referral Subcommittee will be renamed Incoming Referral Subcommittee and the Usability Testing Subcommittee will be eliminated and members will be assigned as needed by the Chair. Committee Chair Mike Guthman will ask for volunteers when usability testing is available for members to attend.

Closing Remarks/Adjourn for the Day
Committee Chair Mike Guthman advised everyone that the committee would meet at the Best Western Inn of the Peachtrees in the Peachtree Room tomorrow at 8:30am.

Meeting was adjourned.

May 21, 2005
8:30 am - 12:00 noon

Participants (Panel Members)

• Dick Greenberg
• Michael Guthman
• John Hollingsworth
• Sonny Kasturi
• Allena Lu
• Don Miller
• Joyce Natter
• David Robinson
• Martin Romeril
• Ferd Scheider
• Sanford Searleman
• R. Jeana Warren
• Douglas Wilhelm
• Warren Wong
• James Wright

Not Present

• Anthony DiMartino
• Virginia Symonds

Staff Members

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

Guests

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

Welcome/Announcements
Committee Chair Mike Guthman welcomed everyone back. SPOC Representative Jim Cesarano showed information about the Plain Language Forum he discussed yesterday. TAP Program Analyst Sallie Chavez will make copies and send to all members.

Breakout to work on DAT (Notice Scoring)
SPOC Representative Jim Cesarano gave a brief overview for the DAT. He reminded committee members that they need work on it and take it seriously.

TAP Program Analyst Sallie Chavez distributed notices for each of the DAT teams to score. She advised them if they were not able to complete the scoring and norming by the end of today to please complete and return by the end of June.

Report Out
DAT Leads discussed their reactions to scoring and norming their notices.

Closing Remarks/Survey/Adjournment
Several members discussed what this committee was doing and the need for performance goals. It was determined their was no measurement for success. An Ad Hoc Subcommittee led by JT Wright was created to work on creating goals for the committee.

Meeting was adjourned.