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CITIZEN ADVOCACY PANEL (CAP) New York Metro Meeting Minutes Date:February 27, 2002 Time: 6:00-8:30 PM Location:10 MetroTech Center, 625 Fulton Street, 6th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201 Panel Members Attending
CAP Staff Attending:
Absentees:
Public Attendees:
IRS Guests
Opening of the Meeting Chairperson Maher opened the meeting at 6:00 PM. Minutes The minutes from the 1/17/02 meeting were reviewed. Panel Member Cintrón made a motion to accept the minutes, as amended. Seconded by Panel Member Greenberg and agreed by the panel. CAP Chairperson Call CAP Chair Maher briefed the panel members on the monthly CAP Chair conference call. Nina Olson, National Taxpayer Advocate, and the members of the CAP redesign team participated. The chairs discussed the lessons learned by the current CAP regarding the public outreach efforts they have undertaken. The focus of the call was to provide information to the design team, so that they may develop future CAP strategies for an effective public outreach program. The minutes of the conference call are attached and are an integral part of these minutes. Small Business/Self Employed Outreach efforts Taxpayer Education Specialist Gita Hecht gave a presentation to the Panel members on the efforts the Small Business/Self Employed Operating Division has taken in the area of Taxpayer Education and Communication (TEC) for the small business community in the New York Metro area. The Small Business/Self-Employed (SB/SE) operating division is structured to best serve taxpayers whose needs are more complex than wage and investment taxpayers. This division serves about seven million small businesses nationwide, including corporations and partnerships with assets of $5 million or less. While many face the same tax issues as large corporations, they often do not have tax professionals on staff. Tax compliance issues often stem from a lack of understanding of tax law requirements, inadequate accounting practices and resources and cash flow problems. In addition to Schedule C workshops held at the Brooklyn office, TEC has undertaken many outreach activities to assist and educate these customers. During the current filing season the local TEC has given presentations to the Staten Island Business Association, the Cadman Plaza Business Library, the National Society of Minority Contractors, as well as many other business groups in the area. The local TEC is targeting specific industry groups within the NY Metro area such as day care industries and restaurant and food businesses in order to focus on their particular needs, such as reporting wage and tip income. TEC would like to form a partnership with the NY Metro Citizen Advocacy Panel to identify specific organizations and groups that could benefit from such outreach efforts. Fraud Committee Proposal Panel member Mihovich requested the Panel members approve the proposal submitted by the fraud subcommittee, suggesting changes to be made to the IRS fraud referral program. The Panel members voted unanimously to submit the proposal, as written, to the Internal Revenue Service for consideration. The proposal is attached and is an integral part of these minutes. CAP staff will follow-up and submit proposal to the proper officials. Call Waiting Time Proposal The Panel members reviewed and revised the wording of the proposal to be submitted to the IRS regarding the implementation of "intelligent queuing". This proposal recommends the IRS include a message on the 1-800-829-1040 line that would advise the caller of an expected waiting time to speak with a customer service representative. The Panel voted unanimously to submit the formal written proposal to the IRS. CAP staff will submit the proposal to the proper IRS officials for consideration. The proposal is attached and is an integral part of these minutes. Website Usage Report CAP staff submitted a statistical report to the Panel regarding the numbers of visitors to the Website and the pages viewed during the past six months. The report is attached and is an integral part of these minutes. CAP Interview Vice-Chair Fandozzi advised the Panel that the Brooklyn Queens Cable Network Channel had visited the Taxpayer Assistance Center at the Brooklyn office. They were taping a segment to be aired on the services the office is providing taxpayers with assistance in preparing their 2001 returns. As part of the segment he was interviewed about the activities of the New York Metro Citizen Advocacy Panel. The segment is scheduled for airing sometime in March. CAP staff will attempt to secure a copy of the tape in time to show at the final CAP meeting on March 20, 2002. Adjournment Panel member Mihovich made a motion to adjourn and Panel Member Cintrón seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 PM. I hereby certify that, to the best of my knowledge, the foregoing minutes are accurate and complete. Edward Maher, Chairperson New York Metro Citizen Advocacy Panel Attachments:
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