Wage & Investment Reduce Taxpayer Burden (Notices) Meeting Minutes

August 11, 2005

Participants (Panel Members):

• Anthony DiMartino
• Dick Greenberg
• Michael Guthman
• Sonny Kasturi
• Allena Kaplan
• Don Miller
• Neil Mitchell
• Joyce Natter
• Ferd Scheider
• Sanford Searleman
• Douglas Wilhelm
• Virginia Symonds
• James Wright

Not Present:

• John Hollingsworth
• Martin Romeril
• R. Jeana Warren
• Warren Wong

Staff Members:

• Sallie Chavez
• Nancy Ferree (DFO)
• Jenny Reyes (Note taker)

Program Owner

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

Welcome
Committee Chair Mike Guthman welcomed everyone.

Roll Call
Program Analyst Sallie Chavez took the roll call and quorum was met.

Review/Approval of Prior Meeting Minutes
The meeting minutes of July 7, 2005 were approved by consensus.

Sub-Committee Reports

• Notice testing
  Ferd observed three testings in Cincinnati, Ohio. (CP 161 notice and simple notice) – No one from IRS in attendance. Money well spent.

  Allena – Observed testing in Los Angeles. She rec’d copies of notices to review. IRS staff was present. (only one day) - three interviews, very impressive, the three interviews went well. What needs work—What needs work?–calculating interest. Process is very complicated. The interviewers were very professional.

  Jim Cesarano stated DPT P & I Team is forming soon.

• NPITT Notice Elimination Meeting
  Douglas Wilhelm reported.

• Notice Focus Group Report (Atlanta Tax Forum)
  J.T. Wright reported. Presentation of notices CP501,CP504. Three sessions, his session had 20 people present.

• Notice Focus Group Report (NY Tax Forum)
  Sonny Kasturi reported. Session was well conducted. 3 people in his group.

• Notice Committee Goals and Objectives
  J. T. Wright sent draft of goals and objectives. Allena and Don participated in creation. Allena states goals are practical and can be met. Sandy stated well done – Vision and Mission paragraphs may be too long. Be sure to run spell check. Sonny stated – On Vision – Suggest adding easy to understand and act on.

  Remove “all Taxpayers” from mission. Give one week to respond in writing to sub-committee by August 18, 2005.

  Sonny – Asked where do we go from here?

  J.T. stated that certain IRS staff would be identified to collaborate with us. Mike stated TAP Director is creating a performance measures document for all of TAP. A copy should go to him. Allena suggested a copy be sent to Jim Cesarano (Program owner). J.T. suggested Mike take to Joint Cmte and eventually to Nina Olson. Mike G. Said this could be focus of Annual Report. Tony stated this is a very good job! Keep recommendation as simple as possible. J.T.’s objective was to have this as a living document.

  DAT Scoring (Sonny’s group)- Don reported a flaw in DAT scoring – some questions have serious deficiencies – Sub Committee discussed at length. Recommendation is to write comments in section to explain serious deficiency and notice may need to be revised.

  Sallie advised all returning members about the Detroit Print Site Tour August 17, 18, 2005- Mike, Ferd, Allena, Sandy, Jim, and Sallie would attend. Ferd invited all attendees to meet in the hotel lobby at 6:30pm on Wednesday for dinner outing.

• Detroit Print Site Tour August 24, 25, 2005
  Sonny, Don, J.T. Martin, Douglas, Neil and Nancy will attend. John Kilcoin is the tour leader, picture I.D. needed.

  The tours will begin at 8:30am and end at approximately 11:30am. Members will have time to transport to the airport for the travel home.

• Jim Cesarano
  No new assignments at this time.

• Writing Standards
  Mike Guthman will complete and send to Jim Cesarano/Sallie /Nancy.

  IRS employees Mobley and Bailey (EITC letters at Face-to-Face Mtg in Atlanta) – Sonny had one comment about a section that was not clear. Ms. Mobley and Ms. Bailey will use whatever feedback they can.

• Notice NPIIT
  Jim C. advised about meeting in Washington, DC. Next week meeting in Austin, TX (2 weeks) will have phone meeting due to budget – Will send invites when possible.

  Merge of W&I and SB/SE will affect panel. Sidney Gardner is SB/SE SPOC. Further details are not final yet.

  Sallie – Mentioned usability testing next week in Towson, MD and Atlanta, GA. She asked that whoever could attend should let her know.

  Sandy – Incoming referrals committee. No current referrals.

  A short discussion on TAPSPEAK by all members was held. Some members indicate they still have problems accessing and using TAPSPEAK.

Meeting Close
The meeting was adjourned at 1:07pm.

Next meeting is scheduled for September 1, 2005, Noon EDT by teleconference.