Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP)
EITC Issue Committee
Thursday, March 24, 2010 1:00 pm EST

Designated Federal Official (DFO)
Ferree, Nancy TAP Program Manager, Plantation, FL

Members Present
Akbar, Sandra
Birge, Eileen
Granger, Jacqueline
Tatum, Sue
Villarreal, Josefina
Webber, Erica

Members Absent
Alvarado, Frank
Armstrong, Charles
Cabusora, Haidee
Hayes, Herbert
Patterson, Robert
Stepner, Gerald

Program Owners
Foley, Barbara

Staff Present
Fields, Anita, TAP Secretary
Powers, Donna, TAP Analyst
Ayala, Marianne, TAP Analyst

Welcome & Roll Call/Quorum
Jo Villarreal welcomed everyone to the meeting. Anita did roll call and quorum not met.

Introduction of Guest
None

Review Meeting Minutes
The minutes were not approved, due to quorum not being met.

Subcommittee Report-Out:
Education—Jacqueline Granger had nothing to report, they are waiting on the face-to-face meeting. Over the last month all subcommittee members have designed a PowerPoint presentation of their individual topic. For the face-to-face meeting they will discuss the direction the subcommittee wants to go.

Training—Marianne Ayala reported that during the subcommittee call the committee discussed the information the subcommittee wanted to review. They want to review the training module for VITA training and they want to know how the IRS comes up with these training modules. Ayala is currently trying to speak with someone in VITA to answer the questions on how the IRS comes up with the training modules.

Input from Program Owners
Barbara Foley said that there is not a lot of things happening right now. The office is just going along with the filing season and making sure that everything is up-to-date. Eileen Birge asked is there an interchange with the term Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Earned Income Credit (EIC). Foley explained that both terms mean the same. The difference is the schedule is Earned Income Credit. Foley would like during presentations to use the term Earned Income Tax Credit. Foley explained that EIC is how the scheduled is named, but the credit is EITC.

Granger stated, that Commissioner Schulman said that he was going to do something about refund anticipation loans. Have anything been done on that? Granger said this is a big issue for their target population. Foley said that she would do some research and give an update during the face-to-face meeting next month.

The members also asked Foley about certification for tax preparers. Foley informed that by next year all tax preparers would need to have their own number and register. There will be requirements for them to have continuing education credits and they will also have to pass some type of testing to show that they are knowledgeable enough to prepare a tax return.

Granger asked is there a strong reason why the EITC office does PowerPoint slides; they do not use white backgrounds. Foley stated that they can do a lighter background.

Face-to-Face Meeting Dates
Ayala reminded everyone that the travel date for the meeting is 19 April and the meeting will begin at 8am 20 April. She also informed the committee that she has requested lunch menus from the hotel to help facilitate the lunch rush. The hotel is also offering everyone in the group a 20% discount. Anita asked that all panel members bring their copy of the NODT letters with them to the face-to-face meeting.

Closing
Villarreal asked that everyone make note of different issues that they are not clear and bring it to the meeting.

The next meeting is a face-to-face meeting 19-21 April, 2010 in Miami, FL.

*Certification: The committee approved these minutes by consensus on 4/20/2010.