Notices Improvement Issue Committee
April 14, 2010
Teleconference
2:00 – 3:00 pm (EDT)

Program Owner

• Cesarano, Jim
• Gardner, Sidney

TAP Director
Collins, Shawn

Designated Federal Official

• Morizio, Louis

Committee Members Present

• Bernstein, Mark
• Boyle, Raymond
• Davis-Nozemack, Karie
• Head, Randee
• Holland, Richard
• Johnson, Frances
• McQuiston, Robert
• Miller, Ernest, Chair
• Murray, Alan
• Woodard, Norma, Vice Chair

Committee Members Absent

• Case, Ann
• Feng, Andrew
• Gambardella, Linda
• Lee, Bradford

Other Attendees (Office of Taxpayer Correspondence, OTC)

• Faye, Denise
• Kieliszek, Charlotte
• Patterson, Jodi, Director of OTC

TAP Staff

• Babb, Rose
• Odom, Meredith

Welcome/Announcements
Miller welcomed everyone to the call.

Office of Taxpayer Correspondence
Patterson gave an over view of her office and asked panel members for ways her office can work with them in the future. She discussed that her department is in the process of redesigning the notices that are sent to taxpayers. There are over 1,000 types of letters designed for taxpayers, but wants the message in each letter to be simplified. Patterson stated that her staff is working with an outside contractor that specializes in simplifying communications across the board. The objective is to look at the process holistically from the taxpayer’s view and create a contact repository.

Murray noted to Patterson that TAP uses a scoring system to review the Notices and that there are various criteria used for grading documents before returning them to the IRS. Murray also noted that Patterson mentioned having the notices reviewed by an outside company and that TAP is already charged with the responsibility of reviewing the notices.

Patterson stated that the Murray’s feed back is helpful in understanding what the Notices Improvement Issue Committee is charged with.

Collins mentioned that since Patterson’s office is now the Office of Taxpayer Correspondence, she foresees that TAP members will be able to play a role in providing assistance through the Notice Improvement Issue Committee.

Morizio mentioned that Gardner and Cesarano have given the committee an assignment to re-evaluate the DAT Scoring System. The objective is to decide if the DAT Scoring System should be changed or not. Morizo also mentioned that he thinks the panel members would like to have more input into the Notices and that the DAT Scoring sheet should have additional spaces for more comments. Morizio provided clarification to Patterson on what panel members look for in the DAT Scoring process.

Office of Notice Improvement
Gardner mentioned that at the Annual Meeting last December, he discussed DAT Scoring, and provided TAP group with other types of projects that would impact Notices Improvement and the process for evaluation of inserts that were mailed with letters to taxpayers.

Gardner and Cesarano’s office will be migrating into the Office of Taxpayer Correspondence effective the last week of May. Gardner mentioned that he would like to continue working with TAP Notices Improvement Committee. Patterson will inform the TAP office if there are any changes with regard to Gardner and Cesarano’s assignments within the OTC. For the face to face meeting in Detroit, Gardner mentioned that he has arranged for a presentation at the print site.

Morizio mentioned that panel members are flexible with their assignments. They are dependent on Patterson for projects to work on.

Kieliszek stated that during the next few months, the IRS website will have notices translated into five most common languages. These translated notices will be in a template format.

New Procedures
Morizio informed panel members, that according to the newly revised TAP Charter, every issue must be approved by the Joint Committee. Except for a focus group, anything decided by consensus must be approved by the Joint Committee. Morizio also mentioned that panel members should be careful with any issues assigned with a short turn for example (7-10days) turn around time. If panel members receive projects with short turn around times, they should provide a draft to Gardner in order to meet the time frame and also send a copy of the draft to the Joint Committee as well for final approval.

Subcommittee Update
Boyle stated that his subcommittee is looking at the current DAT Tool and how applicable it is in evaluating the new correspondence from the OTC. Boyle also stated that his subcommittee plans to finish up their assignment on the DAT Tool at the face to face meeting in Detroit, MI on May 25 & 26.

Public Participation None.

Closing Remarks: Miller thanked everyone for joining the call.