Taxpayer Advocacy Panel
Area 2 Committee
Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Designated Federal Official
Marianne Ayala, Acting DFO

Attendance
Raymond Boyle
David Cain
Audrey Child-Tomie
Patricia Davis
Dick Grzebinski
Edward Johnson
Frances Johnson
Theresa Matthews
Ernest Miller
Robert Patterson
Mary Jean Potenzone
Connie Sharpe
Donald Thomas
Erica Webber

Absent
Ann Case
Andrew Feng
Louise McAulay
Robert McQuiston

Guest(s) Present
Jose Martinez, NJ Alternate
Seth Flanders, PA Alternate
Jim Maultsby, DC Alternate
Barbara McCrumb, DE Alternate

Staff
Marianne Ayala, TAP Program Analyst

Welcome and Roll Call
Mary Jean Potenzone welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Roll Call
Marianne Ayala did roll call

Review of Meeting Minutes
Marianne Ayala informed everyone that the Florida office has been traveling to multiple face to face meeting this month and for this reason the minutes are not ready. They will be ready for next month’s call.

Introduction of Guest
The Alternates for the following states were present: NJ, PA, DC, and DE. Mary Jean Pontenzone thanked the guest for being on the call.

Joint Committee Report
Potenzone highlighted some points from the Joint Committee (JC) call. She reminded everyone about the TAP Chair Sabby Jonathan’s quick update review. Everyone can also go to TAP Space and review the JC meeting minutes. Area 2 was able to have two proposals reviewed TAP ID # 16745, Taxpayer Copy of Lien Release and TAP ID # 16751, IRS Telephone Calls Field Exam. These two issues were sent to the IRS already. She informed everyone that Judi Nicolas; the Seattle TAP Program Manager will be acting as a Local Taxpayer Advocate (LTA) for 2 months. There was a very brief update of the Strategic Task Force; one of the things she mentioned was that they collected the SWOT analysis from everyone. But since she is part of the task force she is willing to take any late responses and incorporate in the final report.

Face to Face Recap
Mary Jean thanked everyone for coming to the face to face meeting in North Carolina. She thanked the staff and she felt that there was a great presentation of everyone. She was happy to get to know everyone while we conducted our meeting there. She really liked the idea that Marianne Ayala incorporated having the subcommittee set up changed to Team A-D. She is really excited about having all of the back logged issues assigned, so they may be moved along.

Elevated Issues
Ready to Elevate
TAP ID # 16783 (5032), Change in S Corp Regulations
Marianne Ayala reported that this was an issue elevated back in 2008 by the Area 2 Chair Ben Chapmen. Bob McQuiston has decided to re-elevate it to the Joint Committee with guidance from Tom Walker. Mary Jean briefly explained the issue; she stated that if you have to make a selection to be a Sub S corporation, to determine that the regulations currently provide that you have to send your determination notice to the office that approved the Sub S corporation status. Some of those offices no longer exist and it’s a big burden on the taxpayer to back and find those original selections even though often their attorney has them. The IRS has changed internally there position, under the form and instructions they have you send to the area were you are currently holding your 1120S. The recommendation that Bob McQuiston has wonderfully written up, suggest that they change their regulation to conform to the 1120S instruction.

Mary jean would like to have this issue to the discussion room in TAP Space, for everyone to review and comment, so that the committee can vote on it.

TAP ID # 16842 (5455), Third Party Designee Extension
Marianne Ayala reported that there were difficulties elevated this issue through the JC. Some of the JC members did not agree with the issue and others felt like it was a good issue that should have been elevated not to the IRS, but to Nina Olsen the National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA), so that it may show up on her annual report. In that process, it was sent back to the Area 2 committee to be reworked. Because there was a similar issue back in 2004 that was rejected by the IRS, TAP Issue # 304-054, Expanding Third Party Authorization Form and its asking for the third party designee authorization to be extended to 3 years. While TAP ID 16842, is asking for the authorization to be indefinitely. Marianne Ayala will post this issue to TAP Space, because Mary Jean feels like it’s a good issue to recommend but it needs additional information.

There were mixed thoughts about elevating these issues. The full committee decided to have them posted to TAP Space for discussion.

Status
TAP ID # 16721, Request to Speak to a Specific IRS Employee - Ayala reported that the JC QR approved the issue and it will be included in the next JC Agenda.

Subcommittee Report Out
Team A –Thomas informed everyone that each issue was divided up among each team member.

• TAP ID # 16227, eService Password Expiration – Erica reported that she is finalizing a draft of this issue. She will be circulating it among her team members before sending it to the Area 2 QR team.
• TAP ID # 16723, Single Member LLC Filing Schedule - E. Johnson reported a summary of the issue. He indicates that the issue is that on the SS-4 Form that in the original context of it there was no place to indicate whether they were a Single Member LLC or not. When he looked at the revised form and the instruction, he found that you can input that you are a Single Member LLC. And on top of that the instructions also indicate that they do not have to complete the election form if they want to accept the default that they are a disregarded organization, which makes it easier for the Single Member LLC. By coincidence he had to file one a week ago and he found it extremely simple to follow for the Single Member LLC, especially when the online form is used. He suggests that this issue is dropped. He would like to get in contact with the TAP Issue Submitter to let them know that the form has been changed.

The full committee agreed by consensus to drop the issue.

• TAP ID # 16726, 1099, W-2s& K-1s Should Require Telephone # - Thomas has been assigned to this issue.
• TAP ID # 16782, Potenzone has been assigned to this issue.

Team B – Boyle informed everyone that each issue was divided up among each team member. Following this meeting the subcommittee will meet to discuss the issues assigned to their team.

Boyle was interrupted and due to lack of time we were unable to go back to his report out.

Team C – McQuiston had taken the lead of this committee, but since he has resigned Sharpe requested a conference call to discuss these issues.

Team D - Ernest Miller reported that the Team was not able to meet until today, before this meeting. They decided that they will work together and that they will work two issues at a time.

• TAP ID # 16753, Receiving forms After E-filing
• TAP ID # 17151, Kansas City IRS Group

They will be holding another conference call to discuss these two issues.

Screening Subcommittee’s Review of New Issues
TAP ID # 16600, Child Support - Not Able to Claim
The custodial parent generally will satisfy the dependent criteria over the non-custodial parent. To suggest a tax credit to encourage non-custodial parents to pay their child support bill is a great idea, but will require congressional approval. The Screening Committee’s suggestion is to drop the issue.

The full committee agreed by consensus to drop the issue.

TAP ID # 16613, Forms and Pubs Distribution
The screening committee has found this issue has been vetted from two different points-of-view. While some taxpayers complain about getting tax forms and booklets they don’t need, others complain when they don’t get tax forms. The rule about whether you get paper tax forms and booklets is generally determined by how you filed (paper or electronic). We suggest maybe requesting the IRS to add a small check-box to the Form 8822, which will ask taxpayers if they want paper forms and booklets sent to them when they update their address and maybe adding a small box on the 1040 with this same question as well. Screening committee decided to allow the full committee to debate whether or not we should work this issue.

There were mix thoughts about this issue. Ayala will be posting this issue to TAP Space so the committee can comment and vote.

TAP ID # 16634, Identity Theft Possibility - On Pre-printed Forms
Thomas reported that this appears very similar to an issue that we covered at the F2F. It dealt with SSNs appearing on IRS correspondence. He believes some felt that the last four of the SSN should be all that is required. He’s in favor of this but we also worked an issue last year were taxpayers got upset about not getting pre-printed estimated tax payments. Open to committee suggestions. Another area has already elevated a similar issue TAP ID # 16737, Do not list SSN's on Levy due to ID thefts. The status is “Elevated to IRS, Awaiting Response”.

The committee agreed on placing this issue in the parking lot (hold) until the IRS responds to TAP ID # 16737.

TAP ID # 16788, Telephone Assistor
The screening committee feels this problem is more of an issue with the taxpayer and/or his representatives filling out the F.2848 incorrectly then with the IRS. The screening committee feels that this issue should be not be worked.

The full committee agreed by consensus to drop the issue.

Outreach
Since there was no extra time Marianne Ayala informed everyone that she will post the outreach report and comments to TAP Space for everyone to view.

Public Input
None

Closing Remarks
Potenzone requested volunteers for the Quality Review Team to take Bob McQuiston’s place on the team. She will be part of the team. Bob Patterson and Frances Johnson have already been on the team. There were no volunteers. Potenzone thanked everyone for attending the meeting.

The next meeting is a scheduled June 16, 2010.

Certification: These minutes were approved by the TAP Area 2 committee, by consensus, ­­June 16, 2010.