SB/SE Burden Reduction Issue Committee Meeting Minutes
January 23, 2007 12:30 P.M. ET
Teleconference

Program Owner

• Bayder, Helene

Designated Federal Official

• Ramirez, Sandra – Brooklyn, NY – Manager

Committee Members Present (These attendees count for quorum)

• Barry, Shaun – Franklin Square, NY – Member
• Behnkendorf, Larry – Waterford, MI – Member
• Bensen, Milissa – Hermiston, OR – Member
• Bly, Bill – Wayne, PA – Chair
• Davidson, Charles – Redding, CA – Member
• Edwards, Byron – Roswell, GA – Member
• Guthmann, Howard – St. Paul, MN – Vice Chair
• Havey, Dorothy – Lincolnville, ME – Member
• Jason, Julie – Greenwich, CT – Member
• Maisch, Steven – Arlington, WA – Member
• Margulies, Howard – North Easton, MA – Member
• O’Donnell, Marie – Riverwoods, IL – Member

Committee Members Absent

• Cordeiro, Daryll – Mobile, AL – Member
• Gursey, Gregory – Anchorage, AK – Member
• Kasturi, Srinivasan – West Orange, NJ – Member
• Richardson, Lovella – Knoxville, TN – Member
• Shah, Rajiv – Columbia, MO – Member

TAP Staff

• Knispel, Marisa – Brooklyn, NY – Analyst
• Odom, Meredith – Brooklyn, NY – Secretary

Other Attendees

• Coston, Bernie – Atlanta, GA – Director
• Davis, Judy – OTBR Analyst
• Garner, Ruth – OPERA Analyst
• James, Russell – OPERA Analyst

Welcome
Bly welcomed members and guests to the call.

Roll Call (quorum was met)

Review Agenda

Program Owner Presentation

OPERA Survey and the top Five Burden Reduction issues
Garner shared with the results of the Environmental Scan, a list of twenty-four categories of issues considered to be a burden to taxpayers, with the Committee. She wants the members to review this list and select what they would consider to be the top five most “burdensome” issues. The OPERA (Office of Program Evaluation & Risk Analysis) team will then compare the Committee’s five issues selected to those of other organizations also surveyed and consolidate all responses onto a spread sheet that will show the final result. The result of the five most burdensome issues to the taxpayers will then be referred to the Office of Taxpayer Burden Reduction (OTBR) for further action.

Garner thanked the members for their participation in the survey taken during the December meeting. She explained that OPERA’s collected research on this Environmental Scan is provided to OTBR which will create their organization’s short and long term strategies based on this information. She also indicated that the OPERA team is willing to meet with the members again to discuss the results of the Scan and suggest further input.

Bayder reiterated her information and said that the Environmental Scan is to gain third party opinion of organizations like the TAP, H&R Block, etc for the OTBR to formulate a plan to use their resources in resolving these issues of taxpayer burden.

Form 2678, Request for Authorization of Agent
Judy Davis thanked all the members for their previous recommendations on the 94X project. Today, she introduces a new project of the OTBR dealing with Form 2678, Request for Authorization of Agent and Schedule R, Allocation Schedule for Aggregate 941 Filers.

The Form 2678 has been revised. It is used when an employer wants to request approval for an agent to pay wages, file returns and make deposits for employment or backup withholding taxes on his behalf. The Form is also use to revoke agreements made with other agents in the past. In the past, Judy indicated, the employer had to send the IRS a letter requesting approval of the agent selected for representation and indicate the type of forms to be represented by the agent. The letter was only signed by the employer and this caused problems with lack of communication between parties involved. The new Form 2678 must be signed by both the employer and the agent.

Davis also indicated that as of tax year 2009 Schedule R will be attached to 941. Currently, an agent filed a 941, 945 etc. under their own employer identification number, so that when an individual taxpayer calls in asking if their taxes were paid, the IRS can’t tell them anything. When the identification allocation is sent in, internally you will be able to see who the agent included in the form and who he included in making deposits for the liability. This will help the individual common law taxpayer. The service requested that this information be kept at the office of the agent and available when asked for. When the service does ask for it, it’s 2 or 3 yrs down the road and the information is no longer available, now the taxpayer must be asked for the information because the agent didn’t turn over the information. This is the purpose of the Schedule R. Davis asked the committee to look at these forms and determine if there is anything else that would protect the individual common law employer that the service may have forgotten to include on these forms. Davis would like this information prior to the next committee’s teleconference call.

Formation of Subcommittees
Subcommittee 1 – Will work on the information from OPERA.
Barry, Behnkendorf, Bensen, Edwards (Chair), Guthmann, Havey, Jason, Maisch, Margulies

Subcommittee 2 – Will review the Schedule R and the Form 2678.
Cordeiro, Davidson (Chair), Gursey, Kasturi, O’Donnell, Richardson, Shah

Bly will participate in both subcommittees.

Chair Training Report-Out
Bly stated this was a meeting for the chairs on how to lead their respective committees. Coston added that it was an excellent opportunity for the chairs to come together and look at their roles and responsibilities and that for the most part, the meeting was run by the committee chairs who attended.

Public Input
N/A

Comments
Behnkendorf reminded the committee to provide Marisa with OPERA comments.