Taxpayer Advocacy Panel

Program Owner Presentation
Kieliszek informed the members that the IRS Commissioner has selected Office of Taxpayer Burden (OTBR) Director Jodi Patterson to lead an initiative to improve IRS written communications such as notices sent to taxpayers. While Patterson is on the detail, Kieliszek will act as Director of the OTBR and she will also continue to act as liaison for the TAP with this Office. Kieliszek also reported that as of October 1st the OTBR will no longer be part of the Small Business Self-Employed (SBSE) organization but will report directly to the IRS Deputy Commissioner Linda Stiff. When this takes occurs, the TAP will eventually have a new liaison from the SBSE. The reason for the re-organization is that the OTBR is an enterprise that affects both individual taxpayers and businesses and in order to obtain cooperation from all IRS business entities, it must be moved under the Office of the Commissioner.

Kieliszek also informed the members on some recent research: 2/3 of the population files the Schedule C EZ while 1/3 files the Schedule C.

She also reported that the examination division is working on a video on How to Prepare for an Audit and she will have the TAP act as a focus group on this project to provide feedback.

Lastly, Kieliszek indicated that at a symposium she recently attended she learned that aging Americans receive more IRS math error notices than any other group. The most common cause for these errors is caused in the computation of capital gains. She also learned that 95% of these seniors do not prepare their tax returns electronically (this includes computer software) but they file paper tax returns. The volume of these math error notices caused by miscalculating capital gains was 243,000 tax returns. The second most common error notices were sent to those with Earned Income Tax Credit miscalculations (242,000 tax returns) and the third most common dealt with the taxability of Social Security (200,000 tax returns). Most of these errors, Kieliszek pointed out, could be avoided with the use of electronic filing (including software).

Subcommittee Report-Out

Subcommittee on Schedule C Issues
Brock discussed the Check Sheet to be used for Schedule C losses. The Check Sheet is a simple list of 9 questions with a Yes or No format. McQuiston provided some suggestions to revise the list, (See attached)

Subcommittee on Aging Issues
Margulies informed the members that the Subcommittee decided to revise the context of the letter to NTA Nina Olson pending recent legislation (HR6242). The group discussed HR6242 that aims to repeal Social Security benefits. McQuiston volunteered to write the first draft of this letter.

The subcommittee also reviewed some IRS notices sent to senior citizens. One of these notices involved a reminder to pay estimated to avoid penalties. Another notice alerted a 70 year-old taxpayer of his upcoming Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) at 70 ½ and that he would incur penalties in the event of not following the required regulation.

Public Participation
None

Closing
Zgoda thanked everyone for their participation