Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP)
Area 3 Committee
Meeting Minutes
March 8, 2010

Members in Attendance
Justin Axelrod
Susan DaCorte
Karie Davis-Nozemack
Herbert Hayes
Randee Head
Louis Kapugi
Susan Lynn
Elizabeth Mossad
Sue Tatum
Tommy Thompson
Charles Armstrong

Members Absent
Miya Burt-Stewart
Luis Fuentes
Eboni Moss

Staff in Attendance
Anita Fields, TAP Secretary
Donna Powers, TAP Program Analyst
Sallie Chavez, SAMS Analyst
Nancy Ferree, Acting DFO

Welcome/Announcements
Lou Kapugi started the meeting by welcoming Donna and thanking Sallie. He also welcomed everyone else and our guest to the meeting.

Roll Call
Quorum was met.

Introductions of Guests
Marty Schneckner

Review Meeting Minutes
Meeting minutes from February were approved by consensus.

Review of Joint Committee Meeting
Tommy Thompson gave an overview of the Joint Committee Meeting. He mentioned that the TAP Director gave the National Office Update, but nothing new happened. The one thing that changed from last year is the JC Quality Review process. The JC quality review subcommittee is, a proofreading committee, the main quality review needs to be complete in the Area and Project committees. When it goes to the JC, they will be cleaning up sentence structure and stuff like that. Recruiting is kicking off March 15-April 30 this year, we are recruiting in 27 states this year.

Subcommittee Reports
Issue 16589 (old Issue 5499)—Phone # on Notice 3172 Not Correct—Susan Lynn reported that they had another meeting. Last month the committee discussed that this issue was very similar to the one Susan DaCorte wrote up last year and was rejected. Lynn felt that the person that rejected our recommendation gave the committee the wrong information. During the meeting, the decided to have the TAP analyst try to schedule a conference call with the IRS employee who rejected the issue. She stated that the IRS is not responding correctly on this issue.

Issue 16595 (old Issue 5839)—Form for Change of Business Name—Susan Lynn reported that Miya Burt-Stewart has the issue almost complete and will have this issue ready by April. She also wants Powers to schedule a subcommittee call to look over her work.

Issue 16596 (old Issue 5849)—Erroneous Information from IRS Employees—Liz Mossad reported that another area is working on this issue. Area 3 is going to collaborate with Area 1 to work through the issue together. She will have a report next month.

Issue 16597 (old Issue 5896)—Deceased Taxpayer Information—DaCorte reported she needs another month; she is waiting on a response from another entity.

Issue 16598 (old Issue 5899)—Virtual world Goods—Justin Axelrod explained what virtual world goods are. Axelrod explained that people go on and build virtual businesses or they are game type worlds. What happened in 2005 over a billion dollars was earned in these virtual worlds and converted into real world money. There is absolutely no guidance for taxpayers and it is almost like a second currency. Axelrod states it gets in depth into some tax law, but all the committee wants to ask for is that the IRS give guidance to people that earns money in these virtual worlds. The issue is really about is, is the income taxable when it is earned in this virtual currency or do they wait and report it after they pull it out of the virtual world. Axelrod said that he would have this issue written-up by the end of the month.

Ferree mentioned that this issue was one of Nina Olson’s most serious problems in 2008. It was problem number 13 in her report. Sue Tatum said that she also referenced it this year as well.

Issue 16883—Electronic Returns (Rejecting because of Schedule M)
Sallie Chavez stated that she received a call on the toll free line and the caller said she has filed her return electronically (using Tax Act software) four times and she continues to get Error Code 1132 (Schedule M – Schedule M – Economic Recovery Payments Received (SEQ 0170) does not match IRS records. An economic recovery payment may have been received if social security benefits, supplemental security income, railroad retirement benefits, or veteran’s disability compensation or pension benefits were received. ) She and her husband receive Social Security. She received the stimulus payment however; her husband did not because he is still working. She went to the IRS and they told her it is a Social Security problem (not IRS). This may be an IMMEDIATE INTERVENTION because there are thousands of taxpayers who may not have received the income however, IRS are saying they did.

Chavez said that it appeared to be an immediate intervention issue. She researched SAMS and there is a similar issue with practitioners therefore, she input this to SAMS. She then received a call from the SAMS manager. She said they heard about this issue but it has only been raised as a practitioner issue where the taxpayer did not know if they had received the stimulus check. They will pursue the issue. It is more of a software issue, not an IRS issue, but it is an active issue being worked.

Outreach
Powers reported 67 outreaches with a total audience of 41,997. The reason the number is so high is that a couple of people had media interviews. She encouraged everyone to keep up the good work, because there was about three or four issues that came from these outreaches.

Face-to-Face Meeting
Anita Fields shared that the face-to-face meeting is in New Orleans and the meeting dates are 19-21 May. She stated that the logistics are not in place yet, but as soon as they are, we will get the information out.

Citizen Input
Marty Scheckner discussed the process of the Taxpayer Advocate Service. Ferree explained the difference between the Taxpayer Advocate Service and the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel. Herbert Hayes stated that if Mr. Scheckner could articulate his issue into an issue that the panel can work, the panel could review and try to improve the service that you are receiving.

Tatum asked how members find out how another committee is working on the same issue. Ferree gave a number of ways that the staff and the members can check to see if an identical issue in with another area.

Meeting Close
Kapugi closed the meeting and thanked everyone for attending.

Next Meeting is a teleconference April 12, 2010, 2:30pm EST.