Taxpayer Advocacy Panel
Area 7 Committee
Meeting Minutes
March 17, 2010

Designated Federal Official
Dorothea (Dorry) Curran

Attendance
David Kahn
John Kim
Lee Battershell
Howard Levine
Patricia (Patti) O’Neill
Clifford Young
Ming (Minnie) Lau
Sabby Jonathan
Gary Iskowitz
Richard Coonradt
Richard (Rich) Waterman
Sandy Finestone
John Rodgers (JR)

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

Absent
Judi Nicholas, TAP Program Manager

Opening/Welcome/Announcements
Dorry opened the meeting and John welcomed the members. Janice took roll and a quorum was met.

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

Joint Committee (JC) Report – John Kim/Sabby Jonathan
John provided the following information from the JC;

• Shawn stated the TAP Charter was approved and has been posted on TAPSpace; members are encouraged to review the document
• The JC Strategic Planning Taskforce is in place; Cheryl Morris is the chairperson; John Kim is a member of this team...they will begin meeting monthly and John will be soliciting input from the committee and will keep everyone informed on their progress
• Recruitment has begun and will run through the end of April...everyone should have received information regarding vacancies and information that can be used to assist with recruitment
• It was requested that everyone update their profile on TAPSpace by including a picture
• Sabby stated he continues to send monthly chair highlights and asked that everyone review the information, he is very happy with the JC members and stated they are working hard
• Sabby stated he has been pushing the Area Chairs to get issues in the pipeline

Taskforce Sub-committee Reports

Taskforce C – John Rodgers, Lead
In their last taskforce meeting, they approved two issues (5744 & 5673) for Area approval to elevate through the QR process to the JC. JR thanked John and Minnie for their assistance in getting these referrals prepared.

#5744-Erroneous CP2000’s - John gave a brief synopsis of the issue and explained the same issue was addressed by the Issue Management Resolution System (IMRS). However, the taskforce was not satisfied with their conclusion. According to their findings, they declared it was a training issue and would recommend additional training for employees. The taskforce felt the problem was bigger than that and therefore chose to make a different recommendation.

Howard made a suggestion to the summary/conclusion of the referral. He suggested they specifically refer to what the correction is by stating,”this programming correction when completed...”
DECISION: The taskforce agreed to incorporate Howard’s suggestion.

JR indicated Minnie had applied the Quality Review (QR) process (within the Taskforce) to the issue and it is now ready to forward to the Area QR.
DECISION: After review by the Area 7 QR team, Issue Referral 5744 can be sent to the JC – QR Team.

5673 Reporting State Refunds – JR indicated Minnie has reviewed this issue within the taskforce and it is ready for JC-QR if the Area approves elevation to the JC. JR provided an overview of the issue and the proposed solution/recommendation being made in the referral. The taskforce recognized this is a potential Forms & Pubs issue and will address referring it to that committee once the referral has gone through the normal process.
DECISION - The Committee agreed to move the referral forward.

5279 Retired on Disability & Can’t E-file – JR has been working this issue. They are still reviewing the research received and will most likely recommend it be dropped. The research will be discussed in the taskforce and a decision will be made on how to handle this issue.

Taskforce A – Howard Levine, Lead
Howard provided an update on the following issues;

5162 – Procedures of Form TD F. 90-22.1 – They are going to keep this issue in the parking lot and review it in June to see if the IRS has come up with more guidance.

5806 – E-file Income Requirements - They are working this issue and plan to have something to present at the April meeting.

4680 1099 Misc. Procedures – They are still following up on the IRS’s response to the referral that was elevated. The taskforce will have Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) at their next meeting to discuss their concerns and will have a follow up report at the May or June committee meeting.

Taskforce B - Lee Battershell, Lead
Lee presented the following to the committee;

4922 Power of Attorney (POA) – This was the issue where a taxpayer complained that POA’s were not being recorded when it was originally sent and ended up having to fax the information again. Lee stated she has followed this issue and has found there is no longer a problem. Based on Lee’s findings, the taskforce recommended the issue be dropped.
DECISION – The committee agreed with the recommendation to drop this issue.

Area QR Process – Lee recommended there be one Area QR review, after that review the referral(s) would be sent back to originator for a response. Lee will conduct one final review before sending to the JC QR Team.

Lee stated Minnie has been very helpful in this process.

Lee will send the issues to Janice to forward to MaryAnn for the JC-QR; Janice will copy Lee on the email.

Correspondence Audits Issues – Members were asked to provide Gary with any feedback they may have on this issue. This issue is growing and has been broken up into several issues. The taskforce is in the process of determining how best to present them; separate vs. combined.

Sabby has sent forward a new issue which Janice will include on the database.

Sabby stated Shawn has arranged an informal teleconference meeting with Nina Olson and he is going to address this issue with her at that time.
ACTION: Janice is in the process of securing a SME to attend their April or May meeting.

5601 SS Benefits for Minors-Taxability – Lee reported nothing has been received from Tax Forms and Publications.

Review of Outreach
Patti thanked Kymberly for the good job creating a new graph, which is more detailed. Patti noted that not very much outreach was done during the month. She encouraged everyone to remember to do the reports and send them to Kymberly at the end of the month. The goal is to have 100% participation in outreach.

Success Stories
John Kim had an article placed on the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) website. The article describes what TAP is, invites people to participate in the TAP, and mentions the recruiting period. This was a very good way of getting nationwide exposure about the TAP.

Gary appeared on a local FOX affiliate where he discussed the TAP; he was able to mention the dates of recruitment on the air as well.

Lee met with Dave Jones, 9th District California Assemblymen; he is going to add the improveirs.gov link on his web page.

Member Comments/Other Business
No additional business was discussed.