Designated Federal Official
Teresa Thompson

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

Staff
Judi Nicholas, TAP Program Manager
Janice Spinks, TAP Analyst
Nina Pang, TAP Analyst
Kymberly Axtell, TAP Secretary

Guest

Absent:
Charnia Parrish

Opening/Welcome/Announcements
Teresa Thompson opened the meeting. Herb welcomed the members. Nina took roll call and a quorum was met.

Approval of February Meeting Minutes
The meeting minutes were approved subject to the following changes, Harlan said he would get the “Talking Points” templates and outreach email letters out to Rick and Charnia and Judi noted that Issue 558, should be corrected to Issue 5583.

Outreach Corner

• Harlan spoke about having lunch with about six people who used to work with him at the Waikiki Yacht Club, where he presented information about TAP.
• Karla noticed that on the outreach report there was a mistake, said she would send Kymberly an email with the correction.
• Herb mentioned attending an outreach event in the Boise, ID area later in the month which should present a good forum for outreach. He will be there with the local Taxpayer Advocate.
• Rick spoke about a presentation he would be doing to a group of Internal Auditors where he would use the power point presentation. Rick also mentioned an outreach event he attended in February where he was able to speak with several government officials.
• Harlan said he did a presentation to the Lacey Rotary Club.
• Judi asked the committee which outreach report they preferred and the summary report will be used for future meetings.
• Joan said she will be doing a TV interview on a local channel.

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 discussed this issue and recommend closing the issue as accepted.

DECISION: The committee agreed the recommendation to close the issue as accepted.

• Issue 5568-Brochure for Tax situations involving the Elderly— the subcommittee discussed this issue and have decided to go back to IRS, requesting that they take a second look at the issue and their response.
• Issue 4327-Penalties-Timely sent forms 1099 & W-2—the subcommittee discussed this issue and decided to close and drop the issue.

DECISION: The committee agreed to the recommendation to drop the issue.

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 a meeting with an IRS employee who works in the OIC area. In anticipation of a meeting the subcommittee has developed a list of questions that they would like to have addressed. Herb stated OIC was mentioned by Nina Olson at the Denver Town Hall.
• Issue 5841-IRS Envelopes are too small for additional documentation—the subcommittee discussed this issue and will be asking for more information.

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

• Issue 4389-CP 2000-Unable to Reach an Employee—the subcommittee discussed this issue and recommend closing this issue due to the following reasons: High level of attention by numerous people, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) and National Taxpayer Advocate’s (NTA) Report in Years 2007 and 2009.

DECISION: The committee agreed to the recommendation to drop this issue.

• Issue 5587-Practitioner Hotline – Can’t Answer Questions and Long Wait— the subcommittee discussed this issue and are waiting for research on call site employees training.
• Issue 5571-Changes Fixed - Not Really Fixed—the subcommittee discussed this issue and requested the section of the IRM that requires an employee to write up a notes after each phone call.
• Issue 5163-Contacting A Revenue Officer—the subcommittee discussed this issue and the staff will follow up to find out if the IRM has been changed to reflect the recommendation.

Joint Committee Business-Herb Bohrer
Herb reported that Shawn Collins is now the permanent TAP Director. Herb asked the members to provide any to photos from the 2009 Annual Meeting face to face meetings. The photos will be used in the 2009 TAP Annual Report.

Face-to-Face Meeting-Judi Nicholas
Judi requested the subcommittees use time in their next meetings to develop agendas for the face to face meetings Judi also mentioned that the New Issue Screening Committee would be reviewing the new issues. The subcommittee will see their new issues at their upcoming meetings.

Town Hall Meeting-Herb Bohrer
Herb said during the Denver Town Hall someone raised the issue about how the IRS had reorganized itself and the problems it has caused. Herb would like the committee to have a discussion about this topic at the face to face. Theresa suggested that the committee be provided with information about the IRS organizational structure prior to the reorganization. Nancy mentioned that she was on the design team that worked on the reorganization and she has documents that describe the former organization. Judi requested that she send the documents to the staff so that it could be copied and sent to the committee.

Member Comments/Other Business-Herb Bohrer
Herb stated that Lea Kear resigned from TAP because of job obligations. An alternate, Beverly Phillips has been selected. Beverly has a conflict with the monthly Area 6 conference call. Judi will email the members with an alternate date and time and seek consensus on a new date and time.

Judi mentioned the Nationwide Tax Forums; TAP will be able to staff all six of the forums. Area 6 will attend the forms in Las Vegas, NV and San Diego, CA. Judi will be sending a soliciting member interest attending one or both of the forums.

Judi stated that she is hoping to interview soon to fill the one vacant analyst position.

Herb asked Judi to give an update on recruiting. Judi gave a brief update on number of applications for the different states. An email will be sent out soon to all the persons who have a draft application reminding them about their application prior to deadline.

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

• March minutes were approved with corrections made.
• Issue 4389 and Issue 4327 were both dropped and Issue 4395 was closed as accepted.

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