CITIZEN ADVOCACY PANEL (CAP)

Brooklyn District Meeting Minutes

Date: July 19, 2001

Time: 6:00-9:20 PM

Location: 10 MetroTech Center, 625 Fulton Street, 6th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Panel Members Attending

• Horace Aiken
  
• Mercedes Cintrón
  
• Anthony Fandozzi, Vice-Chairperson
  
• Laura Greenberg
  
• Gloria Goldberg, Acting DFO
• Edward Maher, Chairperson
• Matthew Mihovich
• Ethel Richards

CAP Staff Attending

• Gita Hecht
• James McGurn

Absentees

• Burton Kahn

Public Attendees

• None

Opening of the Meeting
Chairperson Maher opened the meeting at 6:00 PM.

Minutes
The minutes from the 6/28/01 meeting were reviewed. Panel member Mihovich made a motion to accept the minutes. Seconded by panel member Richards and agreed by the panel.

Organ Donation
Panel member Cintrón requested the Panel reconsider the decision to not pursue the Organ Donation recommendations. The Panel agreed to take a second vote on the recommendations. On the issue of placing a request for organ donations in the 1040 package the Panel voted 1-yes, 5-no, and 1 abstain. On the issue to endorse Senator Shumer's bill to establish an online registry for organ donation the panel voted 1-yes and 6-no.

Walk-in Issue: CD ROM and SERP
CAP Analyst McGurn gave a presentation on the Servicewide Electronic Research Program (SERP). SERP is a computer program that allows customer service employees to research tax law and procedures. Following the presentation, Analyst Goldberg advised the panel that SERP will be further enhanced with the addition of ICP, which will enhance the research and tools available to customer service representatives. The Panel requested additional information on the ICP program. Staff will follow-up and present at the next meeting.

Recruitment Update
Chairperson Maher related that Mike Lewis, Treasury Liaison to CAP, has advised that the Secretary of Treasury will be making a selection of the new CAP members. Panel members are asked to review the training syllabus for items they can cover at the training session. The training is scheduled to take place at the Long Island Marriott Hotel in Uniondale on September 14th. Staff will advise of any change in the date and the timeframes for the training session.

CAP Chair Telephone Conference
Chairperson Maher reported on the monthly telephone conference. The report is attached and is an integral part of these minutes. The idea of assigning a mentor to the new members was discussed. The Panel members endorsed this idea and agreed that a current member will mentor each new member. The CAP chairs would like to pursue forming a joint committee to review issues with the Toll-Free line. Panel members were asked to advise Chairperson Maher if they are interested in joining such a committee. The Panel also agreed to open the phone lines to include all of New York State, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

Compliance Form Update
Panel member Mihovich advised that the Compliance Form Committee is preparing a report for review by the Panel.

Small Business
The Small Business Committee will be meeting with Ellen Murphy, Taxpayer Education on the local IRS plans for education of new small business startups. The Committee will also be meeting with Richard Eggelson, liaison with the New York State and IRS partnership, sometime in September.

AICPA Committee
The committee will review the Congressional Legislative Report for the areas of simplification that were endorsed. The Committee will be forming an action plan to be presented to the Panel.

Philadelphia Tax Forum
Vice-Chair Fandozzi advised the Panel that the forum went well. Vice-chair Fandozzi endorses the idea of expanding the phone lines since many of the individuals they met were interested in CAP but have no means to make telephone calls through the CAP toll free line. Panel member Richards suggests that CAP conduct a presentation at a future Tax Forum.

Kiosk Update
Chairperson Maher advised that a Kiosk currently in Connecticut could be given to the Brooklyn office for use. Further information will follow. Panel member Mihovich has concerns that the IRS is not involving CAP sufficiently before advising of actions involving Kiosk plans.

Adjournment
Panel member Cintrón made a motion to adjourn and Panel member Mihovich seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 9:20 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