Designated Federal Official
Teresa Thompson

Attendance
Kirsten Ball
Harlan Barnett
Eileen Birge
Herb Bohrer
Dean Conder
Nancy Eik
Joan Gustafson
Richard Holland
Lea Kear
Charnia Parrish
Chris Paustian
Karla Toomer

Staff
Janice Spinks, TAP Analyst
Nina Pang, TAP Analyst
Kymberly Axtell, TAP Secretary

Guest

Absent:
Judi Nicholas, TAP Program Manager

Opening/Welcome/Announcements
Teresa Thompson opened the meeting. It was indicated that Herb would be late in attending the call. In his absence, Nancy served as chair and welcomed the members. Kymberly took roll and a quorum was met.

Approval of February Meeting Minutes
The meeting minutes were approved as submitted.

Outreach Corner

• Nancy asked Harlan to send Rick and Charnia his Outreach “Talking Points” templates and outreach email letters. Nancy commended Harlan on the great job he has done to condense everything down to what people want and need to know.
• Chris stated the Communications Committee is creating a database to track electronic outreach. It will work something like face book pages and other websites.
• Nancy talked about joining the Missoula Business Women' Network. The network holds a luncheon every month and she will be speaking on TAP and hand out brochures.
• Harlan stated he will have a meeting with the head of the Lacy Rotary to arrange a time for a TAP presentation for about 80 people.
• Kirsten indicated she participated in a Financial Fitness Fair with West Valley City. She shared a booth with TAS; there were about 120 people in attendance. She suggested getting in touch with the local community action office to see if they were doing any outreach events in the local area that other members could attend.
• Herb spoke about the VITA event that he attended in Idaho Falls. While he was not able to spend a lot of time talking about TAP (due to the volunteers being extremely busy), he was able to leave business cards and brochures.

Citizen Input
None

Miscellaneous Subcommittee Report- Nancy Eik
Nancy provided an update on the following issues;

• Issue 4395-Expanding Definition of Immediate Family—the subcommittee received an update on the issue after their last meeting and they will be discussing it further.
• Issue 5568-Brochure for Tax situations involving the Elderly— The subcommittee has not heard anything back on this issue; they will continue to pursue this once the information is received
• Issue 4327-Penalties-Timely sent forms 1099 & W-2—the subcommittee received information from Marisa regarding this issue and will be discussing the response at their next meeting.

Eileen Birge added that IRS has better instructions when filling out a request for a substitute W-2.

Taxpayer Burden Subcommittee Report- Rick Holland
Rick provided an update on the following issues;

• Issue 5223-Offer in Compromise (OIC) Appeal—The subcommittee discussed this issue and requested research as to whether the IRS has a timeline or guidelines for response times once an OIC appeal is filed
• Issue 5841-IRS Envelopes are to small for additional documentation—The subcommittee discussed this issue and will be making a recommendation to enclose a label in place of envelopes so that the taxpayer is able to choose the size envelope suitable for the amount of documentation being sent back to the IRS.

IRS Services Subcommittee Report- Harlan Barnett
Harlan provided an update on the following issues:

• Issue 4389-CP 2000-Unable to Reach an Employee—This issue ties in with the Practitioner Hotline issue and a lot of research has been done...it is ranked as the number one Most Serious Problem in Nina Olson’s report to congress. The subcommittee is wondering if there is anything else that can be added to make a point since it has gained so much attention...they will discuss this further and make a decision at their next meeting
• Issue 5587-Practitioner Hotline— The subcommittee received a response back from James Hanness stating the IRS did not have any way of telling who was calling via cell phone or land line...the subcommittee will be making a decision about this issue at their next meeting

New Issue Screening Committee
Nancy reported that a screening committee (comprised of the Subcommittee Leads) met to review the remaining new issues from the Annual Meeting. Following is a summary of the issues and the decisions made on each:

• Issue 5583-EFTPS-No way to make Non-Monetary Changes—enrolled agent would like the ability to make non-monetary changes to applications using EFTPS.

DECISION: This issue was reviewed and by consensus the subcommittee decided to keep for further review.

• Issue 5584-LLC-Not Enough Guidance—enrolled agent would like the IRS to provide more guidance on LLC taxation and expand the requirements for filing Form 1065.

DECISION: This issue was reviewed and by consensus the subcommittee decided to drop this issue because the instructions are adequate.

• Issue 5588-E-file Profile-Each Business Required to List Forms Filed—the IRS requires each E-file profile for a business/organization to list each form that will be filed for each company.

DECISION: This issue was reviewed and by consensus the subcommittee to keep for further review.

• Issue 5617-Refund-Processing timeframe is unreasonable—IRS’ time frame for processing refunds is unreasonable.

DECISION: This issue was reviewed and by consensus the subcommittee decided to drop the issue because the current refund process works.

• Issue 5632-Where’s my refund? Web link—practitioner indicates he would like to see IRS upgrade the “Where is my refund” link to include 1040X refund return information also.

DECISION: This issue was reviewed and by consensus the subcommittee decided to drop because the 1040X returns are not e-filed and there is no way to update the website to handle this.

• Issue 5645-Foreign Tax Issues on the Toll-Free IRS Line—issue does not answer questions on foreign tax issues.

DECISION: This issue was reviewed and by consensus the subcommittee decided to drop this issue because it is beyond TAP’s scope.

• Issue 5652-On line Calculator for Basis Calculations—IRS web site does not include an online basis calculator for basis calculations.

DECISION: The issue was reviewed and by consensus the subcommittee decided to drop the issue because there is not enough information provided to determine what kind of basis calculator.

• Issue 5670-Toll-Free Employees give info without citing References—1040 line employees give info without citing references or where they found the info.

DECISION: This issue was reviewed and by consensus the subcommittee decided to drop because call site and TAC employees are required to site their references. This could be an isolated case.

• Issue 5684-Limit Income when Filing with AARP or VITA—enforce limit of income for elderly when filing with AARP or VITA.

DECISION: The issue was reviewed and by consensus the subcommittee decided to drop the issue because the IRS does not jurisdiction over issue, it would be up to the individual cites to enforce this.

• Issue 5762-1040 Instruction Packet-No Master list of Forms and Pubs—no longer a master list of every form and publication in the 1040 instructions packet.

DECISION: This issue was reviewed and by consensus the subcommittee decided to keep for further review.

• Issue 5822-Notices Do Not Explain Adjustments adequately—Taxpayers and Representatives would be able to review the changes and either agree or disagree and could have answers to IRS questions.

DECISION: This issue was reviewed and by consensus the subcommittee decided to keep for further review.

• Issue 5844-Full SSNs’ are being used on all IRS correspondence—IRS sends out letters to taxpayers using their full SSN. DECISION: This issue was reviewed and by consensus the subcommittee decided to drop issue because the IRS is already doing this, they only use the last four of the SSN.
• Issue 5861-Financially Disabled Term is not Understood by IRS employees—the reasonable cause or similar explanations that may provide an excuse for relief from a penalty for the late filing of a tax return cannot change the time limitations for filing a claim set by law.

DECISION: This issue was reviewed and by consensus the subcommittee decided to drop the issue because the term seems clear and it is unreasonable to expect employees to be trained on everything.

• Issue 5865-CAF Unit not uploading info submitted by POA—the CAF unit is not updating information submitted by the POA’s.

DECISION: This issue was reviewed and by consensus the subcommittee decided to combine this issue with issue 5871 and 4512, which are similar issues and will be kept for further review.

• Issue 5866-No State information on withholding on IRS transcript—there is no state information or withholding on IRS transcripts.

DECISION: This issue was reviewed and by consensus the subcommittee decided to keep for further review.

• Issue 5869-Form 863-Changes no way to contact IRS for assistance—E-file information cannot be changed on Form 8633 and the taxpayer does not have any IRS contact information for assistance.

DECISION: This issue was reviewed and by consensus the subcommittee decided to drop the issue because when entities are changed a new EIN/EFIN must be obtained.

• Issue 5924-Form 9465 Installment Agreement Form—leads taxpayer to believe he/she is giving all information they need to make an electronic payment to authorize IRS to go into their bank account to collect payment.

DECISION: This issue was reviewed and by consensus to keep for further review. The issue will be moved to the Taxpayer Burden Subcommittee.

Joint Committee Business-Herb Bohrer
Herb reported that the committee was given a short run down of the Albuquerque, NM Town Hall and the Quality Review Process. The Joint Committee has asked that Quality Review be done in the areas before issues are elevated to the JC Quality Review....Area 6 has had this in place since last year when Dean Conder put a lot of work into the process.

Face-to-Face Meeting-Janice Spinks
Janice reviewed the location, hotel information, dates and time of the Face to Face meeting. The location will be Portland, OR. Janice requested that the leads begin to think about what issues will be worked during the face to face and what research they will need leading up to the meeting. Herb suggested putting an item on the agenda for the April meeting.

Town Hall Meeting-Herb Bohrer
Herb notified everyone who will be going to the Denver Town Hall on March 18th and reminded them about the conference call being held on March 04, 2010.

Member Comments/Other Business-Herb Bohrer
Kirsten asked everyone to look over the Tax Calendar and email her with any suggestions. Herb indicated he is planning a visit to the Ogden TAC and asked if anyone would be interested in going with him. Kirsten and Karla both volunteered to join him.

Herb gave a brief overview of the Albuquerque, NM Town Hall describing who attended and what was discussed. He stated that the attendance wasn’t the best but overall it was a good experience.

Recap Action Items and Timeframes-Nina Pang
Nina listed the following as being the action items:

• February Minutes Approved
• Active Issues were discussed and decided
• Taxpayer Burden Subcommittee requested Issue 5924

Closing-Designated Federal Official-Teresa Thompson
Teresa Thompson closed the meeting