SB/SE Payroll Tax Issue Committee Meeting Minutes

September 2, 2004
3PM EST

Attendance

• Jim Abraham
• Charlotte Cassady
• Judi Nicholas, Designated Federal Official
• Charles Silva
• Leonard Steinberg

Program Owner

• Margie Kinney

Guest

• Teresa Smedley, TAP Member

TAP Staff

• Marla Ofilas, Note Taker

Welcome/Announcements/Review Agenda
Leonard welcomed the committee and Marla did the roll call.

Roll Call
Only 4 committee members were present therefore a quorum was not met. Judi explained that the committee could still have a meeting but no decisions could be made.

Issue Committee Report
W4 Employee Referral:
The committee members have reviewed the draft referral and agreed that is was ready to be elevated

W4 Employer Referral:
Charles suggested that the W4 form include a citizenship checkbox and to add the word exempt in the boxes for social security tax and Medicare tax. Charles routinely hires non-resident employees and has experienced the challenges that employers face when reporting income tax, social security tax and Medicare for this group of employees. The committee concurred with the addition.

Action: Judi will edit the recommendation and will fax it to Charles for approval.

The two recommendations will be elevated to the issue program owner. An information copy of the referrals will be provided to the Joint Committee. The operating division will provide feedback about the recommendations in the form of a letter to the TAP Director.

Self Assessment/Annual Report
A request was made for committee members to complete the self assessment to help with writing the annual report.
Action: Judi will also send the self assessment template to all members after the call.

Action: Jim volunteered to consolidate the assessment; all comments should be emailed to him by 9/17/2004. Jim will send the consolidation to Leonard by 9/27/2004.

Updates from the Program Owner
Margie expressed her appreciation for the hard work the members put into the committee. She had not yet received feed back from the taskforce on previous committee recommendations. The taskforce is moving forward but implementing changes will depend on IRS resources. Margie explained that the W4 recommendation will go to a new taskforce to review.

It was suggested that TAP be used as a sound board to the new taskforce. TAP is available to the IRS to get public input on IRS products and services. Margie will forward the recommendation.

Next Steps
Judi explained there will be no meetings in October. The staff will be preparing for the TAP Annual meeting which will be held on November 4th, 5th, and 6th. Judi also acknowledged the members who will not be returning to TAP.

Leonard asked if there were any public comments. No public comments were given. Leonard concluded the meeting by reviewing the list of action items.