Taxpayer Advocacy Panel

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)
VITA Committee Face-to-Face Minutes
May 1-2, 2006
Internal Revenue Service
401 West Peachtree Street NW
Atlanta, GA

Program Owner
Libby Blair, Chief, Oversight and Analysis, SPEC Field Operations, Communication, Assistance, Research, and Education (CARE)
Elaine Beck, Chief, Education and Product Development

Welcome and Introductions:
Paul Duquette welcomed panel members to the very first Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) face-to-face meeting. Bernie Coston announced that the recruitment period was finished as of Friday, April 28, 2006. There were over 600 applications submitted to fill 28 state vacancies. The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP) staff will be ranking the applications the last week in May and then start interviewing. TAP wants panel members involved in the interview process. The goal is to have selections sent to Treasury in August.

Representatives from the Joint Committee met with the Commissioner in April. Duquette was part of this group. They met for an hour and a half and the Commissioner has committed to meet with TAP on a regular basis. The Commissioner feels that VITA and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) sites are a valuable segment of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) customer service function. The sites grow with the community and are valuable to the community, particularly VITA. Many sponsors are financial institutions and in addition to preparing tax returns, they also help low-income persons learn how to handle their finances. The Commissioner asked for TAP’s opinion about the quality of returns prepared by VITA and TCE in view of the negative Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report. The representatives replied that the volunteer return preparation accuracy rate wasn’t as bad as the TIGTA audit showed, because it did not take into account the thousands of filings that do not fit into the mold. The third party use of taxpayer information was also discussed. The Commissioner asked TAP to provide its position on five issues:

Hopefully, more conversation will take place with the Commissioner and TAP and the VITA committee will be part of this discussion regarding the direction of the VITA/TCE program as it fits into the IRS’ planning on providing customer service through the Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TAC).

Mark Pursley, Director of Communication, Assistance, Research, and Education (CARE), thanked the committee members for working with the IRS on how to take advantage of its business model to assist those who are underserved and are a unique set of the community. He thanked and commended the committee members for being part of this effort. There is value in the partnerships between the IRS, other federal agencies, financial institutions, and community groups in providing resources to low-income and other underserved segments.

Executing a successful volunteer tax return preparation service is very complex. There are three major constituents – the Military, TCE, and other community-based organizations. The groups look to the IRS to support them. Each group has different needs and requires different types of training. The IRS needs to be responsive to all of its partners’ needs and sometimes IRS doesn’t do as well as it ought. VITA is the third largest tax preparer in the country, and the IRS is looking to the Committee to help identify where to place resources to have the greatest effect on this program. Return accuracy and improving the return preparation rate is important.

Ferd Schneider commented about the expense that IRS incurs by sending out computers every year to the VITA sites which have to be returned at the end of the filing season. Pursley replied that the concern is security: first, the computers are supposed to be completely wiped every year to remove taxpayer data, and IRS found breaches of security where it was not done properly; the second factor is the security of the computer itself. Elizabeth Colvin asked if there was a way the IRS could arrange for VITA/TCE to purchase computers at a more affordable price which the sites could then keep year round. Pursley liked this idea but cautioned that IRS cannot give preference to any one provider and cannot show preferential treatment; it would need to be negotiated. There is grant money available for purchasing computers but Congress has not allocated more money. Two years ago the IRS studied the ratio of partner to IRS supplied computers and it was two IRS to one. Now, the greater responsibility rests with the partners.

Hank Mosler asked about the difference in accuracy of paper and electronic returns and what types of errors were made—data entry, wrong data or computation errors. IRS had focused on math errors and believed using electronic software improved VITA/TCE accuracy when computation was used as the measure of accuracy. However, the right nexus for accurate returns is the collection of relevant information and the correct application of that information. The data input can be technically correct and the computations correct but given the provided facts, the return could be prepared incorrectly. For example, if a divorced person has a legal document that grants the other spouse the exemption rights but the volunteer does not ask the correct questions, the return could be prepared incorrectly. Software does not pick up that type of error. One challenge the IRS continues to confront in the preparation of returns by volunteers is the wide variations in the process of using the intake sheets and the quality review process. There is great strength in diversity, but also a great operational challenge in that diversity.

Wayne Tanna said in addition to a VITA program at his school, the school received a grant for a Low Income Tax Clinic (LITC). The LITC does return preparation after the filing due date but resources are limited. Allowing resources to be shifted between the two would be advantageous. Pursley replied that by statute under the grant program, the LITC should not be involved in return preparation unless it is necessary for becoming tax compliant. VITA sites unlike the TCE sites receive no funding.

The IRS supplied 10,000 computers to VITA sites this year. IRS has no intention to increase the number of computers but will keep the equipment up-to-date and will no longer provide refurbished equipment to the sites. Colvin said the IRS model is not sustainable for VITA partners. It is difficult raising funds from sponsors and IRS is asking the partners to provide a great deal of resources. Pursley replied that many partner organizations see the intrinsic value in tax preparation in reaching a broad goal such as financial independence. IRS believes it is cheaper to serve customers through a VITA volunteer return preparation program than by offering return preparation in the IRS’ TACs. It is not the intent to offer the broad array of services provided by TAC through VITA; VITA is return preparation. Only eight percent of the workload in a TAC is return preparation. VITA has a far greater capacity to do return preparation and IRS has no plans to close TACs and ask VITA to pick up the slack. VITA sites will not answer tax law questions or do account work. He agreed the partnership model is a very difficult model to sustain. Many sites pay full time staff, and money available in one fiscal year may not be available in another. Pursley agreed that securing funds is always resource intensive as is the process of obtaining grants. In addition to those difficulties, IRS partners that rely on the IRS budget have to factor in different administrations and politics.

Harvey Epstein noted that volunteers don’t like using the intake form. It has potential value as it directs the volunteers to ask the questions that need to be asked. It might be helpful to encourage volunteers to use the intake form if they are shown where errors occur and how using the form correctly would have prevented the errors. Some volunteers feel they are already asking the right questions and using the intake form is not necessary. Pursley said TIGTA anonymous shopping of VITA sites showed returns were not being prepared correctly; however Stakeholder Partnerships, Education and Communication’s (SPEC) review showed better results. The two reviews were dramatically different.

Marie Medeck, Director, Field Assistance, said this will be a great opportunity for SPEC to learn about the Committee’s sites and their use of the quality review process. How does your site determine that volunteers are asking the correct questions; what type of quality review process is in place; is it more than just the matching of data that points to math errors or are they geared to determine if volunteers are asking the right questions?

The Training Material subcommittee sent a questionnaire to all TAP members regarding the Publication 678, Volunteer Student Guide.
ACTION: Toy will send a compilation of the Pub 678 survey to all VITA Committee Members.

Chair and Staff Report:
The February 7, 2006, minutes are on TAPSpeak and www.improveirs.org The first thirteen pages (the executive summary) of the Taxpayer Assistance Blueprint (TAB) is also available. The whole report is over 100 pages so if you want a copy, let staff know. The Milwaukee office moved so please note the new address and phone numbers. (New rosters and travel expense sheets were handed out).

Goals and Expectations of the Meeting
Libby Blair said there will be several demonstrations on different methods of presenting training to volunteers. SPEC will be looking for comments and suggestions from the members on improving the process during these demonstrations.

Filing Season Statistics / Quality Program
Libby Blair provided the latest statistics for the Volunteer Return Preparation Program VRPP program (attached). This year showed the biggest increase in TCE e-file return preparation. There was an 11 percent increase in the number of software packages provided and more adherences to software licenses this year. Schneider asked how the 8,200 packages equated with the 10,000 computers. Blair replied that the packages are associated with Electronic Filing Identification Numbers (EFIN) and not the number of computers. The question was raised on whether IRS is starting to use the VRPP acronym. Blair replied that VRPP is only used in conjunction with the quality improvement program because the IRS does not want to loose either the VITA or TCE acronyms’ name recognition.

SPEC did not use shoppers whereas TIGTA did. Blair addressed the differing results and methods of the SPEC and TIGTA quality reviews. TIGTA did thirty-six reviews across the country and got a 39 percent accuracy rate. The TIGTA report will be shared with all committee members when it is released. SPEC sent out Quality alerts to all volunteers when the results were made known. Not using the Form 13614, Volunteer Return Preparation Program Intake Sheet, caused the majority of errors. Many of the errors would have been caught if the audited sites had a quality review process in place. The TIGTA report covers only VITA and not TCE sites. The IRS review had 96 percent accuracy rate.

Understanding Taxes On-line
Catherine Harvey and Janie Neal presented an overview of the IRS’s on-line Understanding Taxes Program and handed out Publication 2181, Understanding Taxes, Just a Point and Click Away. The website version was started in 2003 and was revised in March of 2005. The Understanding Taxes program is one of IRS’s oldest outreach programs and has been available for 37 years. There are over 1,100 pages designed for students and teachers from middle school to secondary students. The on-line program is located at the irs.gov site. In 2005, over 700,000 teachers and students used this program. Teachers can even custom build lessons. There is the how of taxes and the whys of taxes–the background and theory and history of taxes. The why version of Understanding Taxes is available in Spanish. Teachers can customize the lesson plans and order the tax forms on-line. There is also a link for teachers to use to check each state’s and the national standards of instruction. Each module has everything needed to teach the class: background, developing the lesson, concluding the lesson, key terms, etc. This can all be done on-line if students have computers available. There is a pdf version available for those that don’t have a computer available. Students can go through the lessons themselves for self development. There are no statistics available on how many schools require using this site; it is an optional class. Each state has a required curriculum and Understanding Taxes generally fulfills a history curriculum requirement. Each territory has an assigned person to go out and discuss this option with schools. Understanding Taxes is used by some teachers to prepare their students to participate in volunteer tax return preparation. Some of the most impressive VITA sites are run by high school students. IRS needs to let teachers know about Understanding Taxes and the VRPP, and that they are available on-line. This series of lessons is not available in a publication. Colvin noted that in Texas financial literacy is required to be taught as part of any workforce program; this is a natural link to financial literacy.

Link & Learn Taxes
IRS developed Link & Learn Taxes to enable volunteers who are not able to attend classes to self-study. Each student can take the parts they need; the parts are:

The returning student part is a look at what’s new for the upcoming tax year. There was a 25 percent increase in the use of Link & Learn from 2004 to 2005. Nearly 130,000 users were in the program for a substantial amount of time. Roughly 12,000 used Link & Learn as their certification vehicle. It is great for people who are crunched for time. This is used by practitioners, taxpayers, and many other people. Another advantage of Link & Learn over printed products is IRS’ ability to keep the program updated. SPEC is hoping to add fill-able forms to this site eventually. This website is owned by the IRS and is open to any user making it impossible to link to any one software provider; it cannot be linked to Taxwise and it would be virtually impossible to provide a link to all software vendors. SPEC may be able to add a link to all free-file providers. The plan is to have Link & Learn training mirror all the different VITA programs: overseas, military, embassies and regular VITA. These various programs require very different types of tax law and IRS needs to look at cost effectiveness when adding to this program.

Beck asked that VITA Committee members provide suggestions to her on how IRS could increase the use of the web based tool: What kind of marketing would be effective? What else is needs to be included? Does it have the ability to adequately test new students and returning students?

Process Based Training
Beck stated that VITA training materials had changed very little over the past 25 years except for updates made necessary by changes in tax law and other updating. The materials look much like the training materials provided to IRS employees. The training is solid tax law—teaching through immersion.

Last year, some volunteers liked using the Form 13614, SPEC Intake Sheet, because it gave them the questions to ask for the interview and to ensure a quality process is used to complete the tax return. Process Based Training (PBT) integrates the use of the Intake Form, researching Publication 4012, VITA/TCE Resource Guide, and the Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax (For Individuals), and then using a quality review process. It is a different approach to learning. During this past year, the IRS contracted with a vendor that helped formalize what Beck’s team had essentially cut and pasted from other publications and then tested in five locations last year. The PBT doesn’t cover the full scope of VITA, TCE nor Military VITA; it covers the basic curriculum. SPEC’s thought process was to test first and then if the tests were good further develop the training. SPEC has received excellent reviews on the PBT but is at the point where IRS cannot sustain two printed versions of the volunteer training. If IRS goes with the PBT, the Publication 678, Volunteer Student Guide, would have to be eliminated. SPEC feels PBT is worth another test; an expanded pilot. SPEC would need to continue to supplement the basic curriculum with the Publication 678. If the PBT approach is more useful to volunteers, SPEC will expand the training. It usually takes four weeks to place information on the IRS website. This should all be live by November and will be supplemented with paper products.

Cynthia McKinney said they are looking for the VITA Committee’s feedback to improve the product in general. Catherine Harvey noted the book is divided into sections–the student guide, the test, the re-test, a facilitator guide, an evaluation process, and forms. The training is laid out so each instructor can build a curriculum to fit their students’ needs. The package can be customized and the courses treated as stand alone courses. PBT differs from the Publication 678 because PBT does not just provide a knowledge base; it is the student actually going through the steps of completing the interview, the return and the quality review. Some VITA sites just do basic taxes, some only do intermediate. The process based training is evolving based on the flow of the Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return; SPEC is working with Counsel to ensure all the bases are covered to teach the exemptions and the filing statuses.

Subcommittee Discussion
SPEC is looking for feedback to improve our products in general and wants to know the committee members’ best practices. There was a discussion on what should be handled in the subcommittee meetings and what feedback the full committee should provide. The full committee will discuss the importance of evaluations on the training materials, how to increase awareness of on-line web methods, and best practices.

Facilitator Guide
The Facilitator Guide replaced the Instructor Guide. It is a very versatile book and contains chapters on basic, intermediate, advanced, and military VITA training. It can help the instructor build a curriculum that makes sense to the customers served. If your customers are low-income and can claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and do not own homes or itemize, you can teach just the lessons needed for those customers. The guide can be used both with Link & Learn and the Publication 678. The Guide talks about the importance of using role play to teach and demonstrate effective interview skills and the use of the intake sheet. The intake sheet is designed to be interactive and a dialogue is needed with the customer to ensure the form is completed properly. The first part of the guide covers how to teach tax law and the other sections cover using TaxWise and the PowerPoint slides.

Evaluations/Survey
The Committee provided feedback on how the IRS can convey to users the importance of returning the evaluations. The following suggestions were provided:

The IRS gets approximately one percent of the evaluations back. Paul McElroy said his site sent out evaluations at the end of the season asking the volunteers to fill it out and send back. Elizabeth Colvin site surveys the volunteers three times during the season–initially, mid season, and after the filing season.

ACTION: Elizabeth will email the surveys they use in Austin to Elaine Beck and Libby Blair.

Duquette asked if SPEC could directly mail or email the surveys to all volunteers. Harvey replied that SPEC is leaning toward the electronic format. SPEC surveyed the volunteers last year by email and received about 3,000 responses, a drop in the bucket from the 65,000 volunteers, but it helped improve the training materials for this year.

Web-based Products
SPEC would like feedback on how SPEC can better promote the web-based Link & Learn. Link & Learn is broken down into basic, advanced, and military. The IRS printing budget is declining every year. Last year the budget was 2.2 million, this year 1.8 million, next year 1.5 million. This is one reason IRS went to web-based products. It saves resources: printing, class room expenses, instructors, etc. The IRS budget is finite and declining but at the same time, the IRS wants to please partners and provide what they need. Epstein asked if there was thought about making material available on disks. Yes, two years ago a CD was created and they are easily reproduced. This year, SPEC had some difficulty in producing the CD. However, this year it should be available the week after Link & Learn is launched. The difficulty with the CD is that any changes made to Link & Learn would be difficult to get out to the field after the CD is produced. Harvey agreed that many volunteers would gladly trade pounds of paper for the CD version. McKinney added that volunteers would still get the Publication 4012, Volunteer Resource Guide, and the test on paper but the rest on CD. Hank Mosler commented that volunteers would still need to bring the Form 1040 Instructions and the Publication 17 along with the Publication 4012 for reference materials. The Process Based Training materials do not duplicate the information in the reference materials Publications 17 and 4012 but shows how to use these tools.

If Link & Learn cannot be integrated with use of Taxwise, classroom training will still be needed for full integration. Link & Learn works well for volunteers in rural areas, returning students, and for others not able to attend classroom training. Harvey then asked how SPEC can encourage more use of the product. Schneider suggested a separate document advertising Link & Learn because it may not be seen on the back cover of the publication. Sandy McQuin asked how the Subcommittee members learned about Link & Learn. Ferd Schneider heard about it last year on a mouse pad which is how Paul Duquette learned about it. Others heard about it through AARP and through their SPEC representative. Paul McElroy learned about it from TAP; AARP hadn’t mentioned it. Duquette asked if it is wrong to say that VITA uses Link & Learn more extensively than AARP. Epstein agreed that this was true especially in rural areas where instructors are not available. One incentive is to push that Link & Learn is available In November much earlier than the Publication 678 training. Blair emphasized again that e-learning is the way IRS has to move and the motivation is the publishing and delivery costs.

Another drawback of Link & learn is that it does not have Taxwise incorporated into it. This can not be done because it is available to anyone who desires to use it through IRS.gov and not just volunteers. Another problem is Link & Learn is available prior to the new tax forms, publications, and instructions. It is not as beneficial to learn using last year’s tax law and the volunteer can not be certified until the new materials are available. It was suggested that Link & Learn integrated with TaxWise be made available only to volunteers. Harvey said IRS could explore that in the future although not all of IRS’ partners use Taxwise and some have developed their own software. Colvin stated that the focus should be on the quality of volunteer return preparation. By catering to that small percentage who do not use TaxWise and learn to prepare returns using Link & Learn will not know how to apply that knowledge to the live preparation of tax returns. There should be instructions on Link & Learn on how to integrate it with tax preparation software.

The Committee brainstormed and provided the following responses to how IRS can increase the use of awareness of on-line web methods:

Committee Members VITA/TCE Experience
Epstein–1 year with TCE and VITA
Schneider–6 years with TCE
Mosler-4 years
Tanna–24 years
Maisch–none
Gadon–2 years VITA, 5 years TCE
Colvin–2 years VITA
McElroy–1 year
Iris Sosa–9 years
Rousseau–5 years
Duquette–5 years

Best Practices
Ferd Schneider’s site is not a permanent VITA site and is only open on Thursday and Friday. Each time the volunteers need to set everything up which takes about 45 minutes. Hank Mosler said each person at his site is responsible for their own equipment. Schneider said they spend one day at a nursing home doing returns. One counselor is responsible to do house visits for people who are no longer able to come to the VITA site. Epstein said his site coordinator does not believe in using computers so he gets all the paperwork in order, then hands them off to someone else to prepare. He also does the quality review after the return has been completed. Tanna said they go to homeless transition shelters, as well as the welfare-to-work site. They also provide information on financial literacy. Colvin said her VITA site is open seven days a week. They recruited 350 volunteers through targeted recruiting by visiting businesses, law schools, business schools, etc. They also created internship programs at some of the schools. She thinks the culture of Austin is volunteer driven. Gadon said they work closely with SPEC and do home visits. Rousseau said they track volunteer hours. There is an organization on post that provides child care for those that volunteer for VITA. Duquette said his site partnered with the county government and they sponsor space for TCE. They provide a minimum amount of funds for advertisement and postage. In addition, the University of Wisconsin has been very agreeable to helping the sites. Tanna said he got local politicians to announce the VITA sites this year.

Calendar/Time Line for Training Materials
Handout – Inside the Wage and Investment Homepage – Product PRO Training Student/Facilitator Materials.

If you get your order for VITA Materials in by the last Wednesday in October, SPEC’s goal is to send the materials before Thanksgiving. McKinney will send a list of email addresses for the Education and Product Development staff to Toy.

ACTION: Toy will distribute list of email addresses for the Education and Product Development staff to committee members.

VITA Committee members were given Publication 678, Volunteer Student Guide; Publication 678-W, Comprehensive Problems and Exercises Workbook; and Publication 1155, Facilitator’s Guide, to send home. SPEC wants the member’s feedback on the books. Beck said her staff is ready to work with the volunteers on improving the products.

ACTION: Committee members should review the Publication 678, Volunteer Student Guide; Publication 678-W, Comprehensive Problems and Exercises Workbook; and Publication 1155, Facilitators Guide and provide their comments to Harvey.

TaxWise Demonstration
Cindy Jones demonstrated how the on-line Taxwise program works.

Ferd Schneider chaired the subcommittee meeting for Paul Brubaker who could not attend. Brubaker’s biggest concern was to get as much feedback from SPEC on the following:

McElroy thinks Publication 678 is not worth the money spent to print it. No one uses it after training. Schneider said it is used for reference at the test, but no one takes it with them to the VITA sites. He thinks that AARP seems very bureaucratic and that VITA sites are much better organized as far as training.

Facilitator’s Guide
Facilitator guide – emphasis on interviewing – things to consider

Form 6744, Test – Student Testing Materials, is called a pre-test in Link & Learn Training. There is also a retest if you don’t pass the first test. All volunteers who are involved with the preparation of returns have to be certified. A three part segmented test, true/false questions, basic preparation and the quality review of a return, and the preparation of a second return is used under whatever level volunteer has chosen. Each test has set objectives and was designed to satisfy the objectives. SPEC would like the Subcommittee to help devise a better process. The test can be proctored but does not have to be.

Schneider suggested providing copies of Forms 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Income, and other information documents to familiarize the student on how to use. Colvin suggested having volunteers do more problems involving return preparation. There should be less true and false questions. The following was suggested:

Catherine Harvey said it’s important that the simplest form be prepared for the taxpayer. Even though it’s done electronically, it’s for the taxpayer’s understanding (comfort level) since they have to sign the return. Colvin noted that the volunteers in Austin just kind of blow through the true/false questions. Harvey said the true/false questions helps build confidence. Steve Maisch felt some people just need a mentor. They have the knowledge but not the confidence. Colvin said they had to teach the volunteers to do an override since Texas doesn’t have a state income tax. Can you take the part about state tax out?

Ferd Schneider asked if there was too much reliance on software. If you miss checking a box, the return could be prepared wrong and you do not realize you missed something. We teach our volunteers that the software does not ask you everything and you need to know how to prepare a return without using the software. The evaluation sheet should be put in with ethics agreement.

Link & Learn Taxes Evaluations
12,000 took training – 177 evaluations turned in

No statistics are available from VITA at this time. There are conduits at irs.gov to get email interaction, however sometimes it takes several days to get a response and sometimes by that time the person with the question has moved on. Every question is responded to; it just may not be immediate.

Frontline Use of Materials
Elaine Beck’s staff teaches the military VITA class. It would be interesting to see how the products are received and how they integrate with each other? How do you educate the instructors to use these materials? Schneider said you have to work through your partners. It has to be driven down through the organizations. Some will respond and some will say they don’t have the time.

Schneider said the packaging was changed last year. When that happens, you need to alert your partners that something new is coming out; otherwise. it can cause confusion. Duquette said you already have a vast network to notify them of other things; couldn’t you add: please note the following changes. Schneider noted it’s a matter of getting the information down to where it needs to go.

Harvey said there will probably be radical changes to the test. The VITA Committee will be asked to review the test before it is finalized.

Decision: The Subcommittee will meet the third Friday of each month at 3 p.m. ET, the first meeting is May 19, 2006.

SPEC asked the subcommittee to take a look at the processes currently used to train volunteers. How effective is the train the trainer classes? Does the subcommittee feel that part of the problem is that IRS withdrew some of the direct training? Are all trainers using the resources available to train volunteers? IRS is now revisiting what additional role IRS should take in training the volunteers.

Feedback on Current Training Process:

Recommend more IRS involvement
Not all IRS employees are good instructors–assess IRS employee’s instructor skills before assigning
Being a tax law expert doesn’t necessarily make some a good instructor
Instructors need to tune training to students’ needs
Good instructors may not be available where they are needed especially in rural areas
Teach volunteers that while it is important to get the numbers in the return correctly it is also important to interview the customer to make sure what needs to be put on the return
Trainers should not teach volunteers just to pass the certification test which covers only tax law but need to teach from start to finish, from interview to retaining records
IRS should provide site coordinator training (the Military does provide this training)
Increase the amount of training for preparing the state tax returns

IRS is trying to provide what is needed to the partners but it is assuming they are providing adequate training but it is not meeting the volunteers’ needs. The IRS should meet with partners and determine what each one needs.

Blair asked how SPEC can communicate effective practices. Rousseau replied that tax law is only one part of the needed training. Equally important is the administrative, electronic filing and the volunteer certification.
Epstein suggested that the certification test should test not only on tax law but some administrative topics, for example, what are the steps and what is needed to sign the tax return using the practitioner or self-select PIN? Volunteers should be certified as Administrators to do the quality review of tax returns not just for tax return preparation.

Certification should include topics such as what do you do after the return is finished–obtaining signatures, explaining the return to customer, explaining what records the customer should keep, what records the VITA/TCE site needs to retain, Electronic filing requirements and professional responsibilities.

Volunteer preparers need to know how to calculate taxes without using software and enough tax knowledge to know how the return should look to catch errors.

There should be a set of review questions for each module. Using the review questions, allows the instructor immediate feedback on what questions the class may have or what parts of the lesson they didn’t get. Rousseau added that this is similar to how tax law is taught for Military VITA. Each module is followed with a 30 to 45 minute review.

Have computers available so volunteers do not have to do calculations manually.

Continuing scenarios cause problems; some students fall behind or make errors and become more concerned about getting caught up rather than listening to next part of lesson. Each part of the lesson should have a fresh scenario. For example, if using tax preparation software, the instructor can have the students complete main information page for one lesson. Next the student enters information from a Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, then deletes the Form W-2 and enters pension information, deletes that information and enters dividend income, and so on. Or, a better idea would be to preload returns with certain data already entered.

Use the Intake and interview sheet to teach each lesson. As each section is introduced refer back to intake sheet and then show how to use for the quality review process.

The intake and interview form should mirror the main information sheet.

The page numbering system in the Publication 678W, Comprehensive Problems and Exercises Workbook, is bizarre.

The training material is voluminous and the sheer volume is overwhelming. A Summary sheet of what the packet includes and the purpose for each should be sent with the kit. This should be done with the instructor kit, the student kit, and for Process Based Training.

Back to Full Committee Meeting

Subcommittee Report Outs
Schneider and Mosler provided the full committee a summary of what their subcommittees discussed.

Program Owner Report Out / Next Steps
Blair thanked the panel members for their valuable input, for listening to them and for taking the issues so passionately. SPEC welcomes the input for improving the quality of returns prepared by volunteers. Committee members should feel free to contact SPEC staff to provide input anytime. Beck said the committee was provided a lot of information and provided a lot back to SPEC. Face-to-face meetings are the best sessions and she is hoping committee members are able to attend some of the upcoming team meetings to give input. McQuin said that Coston has committed to provide the resources if members are needed to give input on materials. Harvey leads the testing team so appreciates the input the committee members gave on improving the volunteer testing. She is looking forward to continue working with the committee members. She thanked everyone for all their valuable input.

Public Input
None in attendance.

Committee Members Concerns / Suggestions / Issues
Rousseau felt things went well and everyone had a chance to have their voices heard. This is a unique committee and everyone brings a tremendous wealth of experience. The Committee has a common goal; what can we do better? Gadon asked what was planned next regarding Process Based Training. Elaine Beck said now that she has the feedback from TAP, she needs to go to AARP and the national leadership of the armed forces tax council to get their input and support. SPEC would like to expand the pilot. Libby Blair said if the AARP/TCE volunteers are interested in this process based training; send your comments to your regional coordinator. Rousseau expressed surprise that the military hadn’t provided support because they have used integrated training since the late 1990’s. Beck said timing is everything. When we went to the military with this, it was just a concept.

Beck reiterated that if IRS and its partners decide to go with PBT, the IRS will no longer support or publish the Publication 678. Schneider said process based training is a new concept, a new way of looking at training and suggested that it might take volunteers a couple of years to be comfortable with not having the Publication 678.

The process based training book is also bulky. Size can be reduced by not repeating information found in the reference material and taking out the exercises. Harvey replied that mostly the PBT did not repeat information found in the reference material but the exercises are necessary and part of the integrated training process. Committee members should send any additional ideas to Beck and/or her staff.

Closing
Coston told the committee members that the feedback he received from the Program Owners is phenomenal because the members have been so engaged. All your suggestions will truly benefit the end-users, the VITA volunteers. TAP can bring sub groups or possibly the whole group to Atlanta as needed. The window of getting these products out is small so seize the opportunity to give input. He feels strongly about this issue committee and the impact it’s going to have. The committee has done a wealth of work in a very short amount of time and has gotten phenomenal executive support from the IRS. To know they are backing you like this is incredible. Thank you for your time.

Meeting Adjourned

*National total includes 2940 returns prepared with an invalid SIDN.
TCE includes AARP which is approximately 96.6% of total
VITA includes Military which represents approximately 30% of the total VITA returns
Annual Goal=96% met thru 4/23 for FY 06 return preparation
Annual Goal- E-file volume has already been met as of 4/23/06
Annual Goal- E-file % will continue to fluctuate for several more months while paper prepared returns are processed.
Total TaxWise software packages ordered- 8200 for FY 06
Noteworthy Items: TCE has the highest increases in all categories FY 06 E-file contributing factors:

Site Reviews: 574 SOI, 689 Discretionary
Return Reviews: 2108 SOI, 1509 Discretionary TIGTA findings: