SB/SE Burden Reduction Issue Committee Meeting Minutes
February 14, 2008
2:00 P.M. ET
Teleconference
Welcome
Zgoda welcomed all participants.
Roll Call
Quorum Met
Member Present
Barry, Shaun
Brock, James
Clapp, Marilynn
Gursey, Gregory
Jason, Julie
Lee, MJ
Maisch, Steven
Margulies, Howard
Marker, Patrice
McQuiston, Robert
Mull, Robert
Shah, Rajiv
Zgoda, Bruce
Staff Present
Morizio, Louis
Knispel, Marisa
Odom, Meredith
Quorum met
Program Owners
Jones, Allen
Welsh, Kathy
Review Agenda
Program Owner Presentation
Aging Issues
Analyst Kathy Welsh stated that the IRS would like to address the issues impacting the aging community. A small team, she explained, met on January 31st to work with the IRS research organization to sort through all of these issues.
The scope of the team was expanded to other IRS functions (other than research and the Office of Burden Reduction) including Counsel. They will look at items such as calculation tools, tax forms, tax worksheets and instructions. They will also consider what can be done legislatively as well as regulations with the aim of simplifying these issues.
These are 3 main areas that need improvement:
- Social Security calculations
- Required Minimum Distributions penalties
- Communication and Education on issues such as filing requirements when a spouse dies and income levels change
Welsh requested the TAP’s assistance in bringing ideas to ameliorate and improve these issues. The team will meet again in April, Welsh said, and suggested the start their work on the Social Security issue focusing on the worksheet to calculate taxability and its instructions.
Subcommittee 1 – Schedule C Issues of Burden
Clapp reported that this subcommittee will meet on the first Wednesday of each month at 1:00pm ET. Each member of the subcommittee was given the task of reporting their individual areas of concern on the Schedule C and the Schedule C EZ. This is what they reported:
- Expanding the use of the Schedule C EZ. One way would be by increasing the threshold which is currently $5,000.
- The TAP should know what the actual errors are on each line of the Schedule C in order to make better recommendations. Jones will provide the Committee with these statistics that are currently being identified by the IRS’ research organization.
- Allowing the change of a company’s name electronically.
- Education on the Schedule C is a major concern. Jones had expressed to the subcommittee the idea of presenting this issue to Phyllis Grimes of SPEC (Stakeholder Partnership Education and Communication).
Subcommittee 2 – Schedule C Issues of Burden
Margulies reported that this subcommittee discussed 1) raising the threshold on Schedule C-EZ, 2) simplifying depreciation by having a tool to calculate it or just by allowing one method such as the Straight Line Method to calculate it, 3) office-in-the-home deduction, 4) allowing the carryover of data on the Form 4797 from one year to the next. This would allow continuity from one tax professional to another who may be the new tax return preparer.
Formation of New Subcommittees
Schedule C Subcommittee – Blanchard, Brock, Clapp (Chair), Gursey, Lee, Shah
Aging Issues Subcommittee – Barry, Jason, Maisch, Margulies (Chair), Marker, McQuiston, Mull, Zgoda
Knispel will solicit dates for a teleconference for the Aging Issues Subcommittee.
Morizio suggested that those members who were on the Schedule C Subcommittee and are now in the Aging Committee continue to send their suggestions to Clapp.
Face to Face Meeting
Knispel informed the members that Denver, CO seems to be the best location to hold the face-to-face meeting on May 28 – 31, 2008.
Public Participation
None
Closing
Zgoda informed the committee that January 31st was EITC Day. Zgoda and Whiteside from Area 1 did an outreach in Buffalo, NY.
Jones is pleased the committee decided to work on some of the issues that were presented by Welsh. Jones will participate in subcommittee meetings if needed. If the committee needs any data, let Jones know. Jones will meet with the research team on February 28th in reference to the Schedule C. Jones will provide the committee with the data from the meeting as soon as he receives it. |
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