Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Committee
Teleconference Meeting Minutes
April 3, 2007 12 PM – 1 PM ET

Designated Federal Official
Barbara Toy, Acting TAP Manager

Program Owner
Billy Hubbard, Territory Manager, Stakeholder Partnerships, Education and Communication (SPEC)

Committee Members Present
Paul Brubaker, Pennsylvania
Emilio Cecchi, Maryland
Elizabeth Colvin, Texas
Laura Criel, New Mexico
Paul Duquette, Chair, Wisconsin
Harvey Epstein, New Hampshire
Harold Gadon, Rhode Island
Hank Mosler, Florida
Richard Rousseau, Vice-chair, Texas
Ferd Schneider, Ohio
Donna Tremblay, Georgia

Members Absent
Sandra Bland, Minnesota
Patricia Bryant, Tennessee
Carolyn Hutchinson, North Carolina

TAP Staff
Patti Robb, Note Taker

Visitor
Gil Yanuck, Panel Member
Barbara DelBene, National Community Center for Progress
Steve Swartz, TAS, Lanham, MD

Welcome
Paul Duquette welcomed everyone to the meeting. 

Roll Call
Quorum met.

Review Agenda / Approve Minutes
Public Input will be moved to the end of the agenda.

Members did not have enough time to review the minutes.  If anyone has any changes to the March 6, 2007, minutes please let Barbara Toy know via email.  They have already been approved by the chair.
ACTION:  All members should review the March 6, 2007 minutes and email Toy with comments/changes by Friday, April 6, 2007.

Program Owner’s Report
The April 2, 2007, results for electronically filed returns for VITA, AARP, and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) are as follows:

• VITA returns are up 26.6% - 618,000
• AARP returns are up 27% - 878,000
• TCE returns are up 24.8% - 31,000

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS)) is pleased with the electronic filing results.  The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).gave VITA a 43 percent quality rating.  Many sites did not follow the quality review process or did not use the intake sheets properly.  The intake sheets are two-sided; one side to be completed by the taxpayer and the other side by the volunteer.  Some volunteers did not complete the second side of the intake sheet and errors were made on the returns.  The rating is low but is a significant improvement over last year. Hubbard was not certain of the acceptance rate of returns but it is about 80 or 90 percent. 

Hank Mosler raised the question on whether volunteers should complete the Form 2210, Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals, Estates and Trusts; it sometimes pops up when the client has a balance owed.  He asked if there were any written processes regarding the form.  If volunteers should be completing the Form 2210 it needs to be included in the volunteer training.  The form is filed as an explanation to avoid penalty for underpayment of estimated tax and is a very complicated form.  If the form should not be completed, there needs to be some written guidance in how to set the defaults to disable the form or on how to treat when it does pop up.  Duquette noted this information should go to Paul Brubaker who is chair for the Training Subcommittee to be included in the committee’s recommendation.
ACTION:  Paul Brubaker should include thoughts on including the Form 2210, Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals, Estates and Trusts, in volunteer training or recommending SPEC have written guidelines on how volunteers should disable the form.

Duquette said his VITA site was audited last week.  One problem encountered was that returns are prepared at a senior center and the center had a jar out with donations written on it.  The donations are for the senior center, not the VITA site.  Gil Yanuck suggested putting the jar at the very entrance of the senior center so it is not near the site itself. And Duquette replied that is how his site solved the problem.  Duquette said they also don’t use intake sheets at this site and the auditors were a little disturbed about that.  However, the site does do a quality review of the returns.  The site doesn’t use the form to save time.  Returns are done by appointment only and many of the clients are returning customers which make the intake sheet less valuable.

Agenda Topics Subcommittee Reports E-filing
The subcommittee is going to recommend that everyone use the practitioner pin method for electronically signing a return.  The committee has compiled a set of written recommendations that will be sent out to the whole committee for comment.  Other recommendations on the list include solutions to the printer incompatibility problem.  The software will not interact with some of the equipment.  The committee is also suggesting that members of the VITA Committee be included in the beta testing of the software and the wording be changed regarding the “three day rule” for transmitting tax returns to state that it can be waived in case of emergencies.  Another issue the subcommittee looked at is the discrepancy in the distribution of equipment; some sites have too much equipment and some don’t have enough.  Mosler has an updated list of recommendations and will send to Toy.  All the written information will be sent out to the whole committee for input and comments.
ACTION:  Mosler will send an updated list of e-filing recommendations to Toy.
ACTION:  Toy will send the e-filing recommendations to the whole committee for input.

Branding
Elizabeth Colvin reported the Branding subcommittee had a short meeting as Hubbard was unavailable.  The committee discussed their ideas on how SPEC could publicize the Volunteer Return Preparation Program (VRPP) by email.  The subcommittee is looking forward to having more time to work on the issue after the tax filing season is over.

Training
Duquette reported only three members attended this subcommittee meeting.  Paul Brubaker sent out survey to all VITA committee members.  Duquette sent the survey out to all the volunteers at his VITA site for their input.  SPEC starts working on training material in May so the Committee should get the recommendations completed soon.  All committee members should forward this request for comments on training to others in the volunteer program.  The goal is to compile all of the input by April 30.  That compilation will be available to review on TAPSpace.  The subcommittee has a conference call scheduled for Friday, May 4 at 11 a.m. ET. 
ACTION:  Committee members should complete the training survey and return to Paul Brubaker.  Committee members should also ask anyone they know who volunteers to prepare tax returns to complete the survey as well. 

The goal is to have all the information compiled as a final document for review during the face-to-face meeting.

Face-to-Face Meeting
The meeting will be in San Antonio, May 20-23―Travel in on Sunday, May 20, meet at 8 a.m. on Monday (all day), meet at 8 a.m. on Tuesday (all day), and possibly meet until Noon on Wednesday.  The agenda will drive whether the meeting will last two full days or two and a half days.  Toy has been on the subcommittee calls and felt there is plenty of work to meet for two and a half days.  Hubbard agreed.  Duquette added that the committee met for two full days in Atlanta last year and were plenty busy.   However, the agenda will set the final times.
 
Mosler asked if any other people from SPEC will be at the meeting.  Hubbard said he invited Libby Blair, Chief, Oversight and Analysis, SPEC Field Operations, Communication, Assistance, Research and Educations (CARE), and Jeff Bledsoe, Chief, Individual Marketing Services, SPEC.  Bledsoe said he will attend but Blair is not sure at this time.  Hubbard will also invite the training manager and members of the Process Based Training (PBT) team.  He will also invite the TaxWise liaison.

Public Input
Steve Swartz said the SPEC office in Maryland is pushing online TaxWise and asked if anyone has experience using it?  Hubbard replied that one of his partner’s from San Antonio is very enthusiastic with his experience in using TaxWise Online and wants to add 14 sites next year.  SPEC is pushing online because of security and confidentiality concerns.  It will also save on costs on distributing and gathering the computer equipment each year.

Gil Yanuck reported that electronic filing is improving in Nevada; the sites are averaging 83 percent e-file and some are as high as 97 percent.  Regarding the comment about TaxWise on line, very few of the sites in Nevada have a dedicated high-speed line that can be tied up for five hours or more and the defaults cannot be set when using TaxWise online transmission.  The Military VITA as well as other VITA sites has positive thoughts on using TaxWise online but there will be difficulties in rolling out to all sites.

Harvey Epstein mentioned that the online program could be used more if volunteers could use a wireless connection to the Internet but it is his understanding that volunteers are not to be using wireless.  Hubbard is not certain of SPEC’s current policy concerning wireless but will find out.  But, the last he heard was that wireless is not to be used for transmitting any taxpayer information.  Mosler said IRS will need to address these issues if it wants to increase the use of TaxWise online.
ACTION:  Hubbard will find out SPEC’s current policy concerning the use of wireless Internet access. 

Yanuck said every year his sites get laptops from the IRS and have to set them up; then at end of season they are sent back and completely wiped.  The next year they get the computers back and they have to spend a great deal of time setting up the networks, installing software, trying to de-bug; some computers don’t work; some equipment is incompatible; etc.  Hubbard said SPEC talked about this problem just recently.  It‘s expensive for IRS to send this equipment out every year, but safeguarding IRS information is the most important issue here and with the sensitivity surrounding the loss of the personal data on the computers lost by the Veteran’s Department recently, it will not be changing soon. 

Mosler expressed concern that TaxWise will only support the new VISTA operating system which will make most of the volunteer’s existing hardware obsolete.  Hubbard responded that Cindy Jones the liaison with TaxWise recognized this potential problem and assured him that both systems will be supported for the next few years.  

Staff News
Sandy McQuin is on a detail as Director, Low Income Tax Clinic (LITC) for several months.  Steve Berkey is acting until April 14, 2007.  Kayla Walker, Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) Program Manager from Little Rock, AR, will be on a detail to act for McQuin for 120 days starting April 16, 2007.. 

Committee Members’ Concerns
Duquette has received emails concerning problems volunteers are having where should he send the information?  Hubbard responded that the emails should be sent to him and he will forward to correct party

Mosler said one of his seniors experienced a fraud incident and wouldn’t it be nice if the volunteer sites had a list of the most common fraud scams to hand out at the volunteer sites
ACTION:  Duquette is starting to plan the agenda for the face-to-face meeting, any one with agenda suggestions should send their ideas to Toy, Duquette and Hubbard.

Next meeting, May 1, 2007

• All members should review the March 6, 2007 minutes and email Toy with comments/changes by Friday, April 6, 2007.
• Paul Brubaker should include thoughts on including the Form 2210, Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals, Estates and Trusts, in volunteer training or recommending SPEC have written guidelines on how volunteers should disable the form.
• Mosler will send an updated list of e-filing recommendations to Toy. Toy will send the e-filing recommendations to the whole committee for input. Committee members should complete the training survey and return to Paul Brubaker.  Committee members should also ask anyone they know who volunteers to prepare tax returns to complete the survey as well. 
• Hubbard will find out SPEC’s current policy concerning the use of wireless Internet access. Duquette is starting to plan the agenda for the face-to-face meeting; any one with agenda suggestions should send their ideas to Toy, Duquette and Hubbard.

Previous Month’s Uncompleted Action Items:
None