Taxpayer Advocacy Panel
SBSE Issue Committee
Meeting Minutes
February 25, 2010

Designated Federal Official
Judi Nicholas, TAP Manager

Attendance
Richard (Dick) Grzebinski
Jo Ann Gibbons
Harlan Barnett
Kirsten Ball
Ming Ni (Minnie) Lau
Carolyn Adam-Dodd
Thomas (Tom) Walker
Anne Rasmussen
Susan Lynn
Teresa (Terry) Matthews
Clifford (Cliff) Young
John Rodgers (JR)
David Cain

Staff
Janice Spinks, TAP Analyst
Nina Pang, TAP Analyst
Kymberly Axtell, TAP Secretary
Kim Lawson, Program Owner

Absent
Mary Jo Werner
Miya Burt-Stewart

Opening/Welcome/Announcements
Judi opened the meeting and Harlan welcomed the members. Nina took roll and a quorum was met.

Approval of January Meeting Minutes
Harlan asked the Leads to ensure they review their respective draft sub-committee meeting notes to ensure the information is complete. Going forward, these documents will be part of pre-read and he also wants to make sure the Program Owners are receiving up to date information.

Janice indicated she made the following changes to the January meeting minutes.

• Under Miscellaneous Issues the spelling of Jo Ann’s name was corrected.
• The spelling of Minnie’s name was corrected on the attendance list.

DECISION: The meeting minutes were approved noting the aforementioned corrections.

Sub-committee Reports
IRS Tax Calendar – Susan Lynn, Lead
The sub-committee held a meeting on February 23rd. The draft meeting notes were not available. The calendar was divided among the group for individual review. From this, a 10 page draft summary of potential recommendations has been prepared. This information has been shared with program owner and they are waiting for a response before proceeding. They anticipate having a response by the time of their next meeting. They are also waiting for feedback from the program owner regarding the deadline for their final report/recommendations.

Kim stated she is part of the calendar team and saw the draft and found the information to be quite thorough.

Harlan asked for the 10 page summary to be posted for review by the full committee. Judi indicated staff will include it with the draft meeting minutes when they are posted on TAPSpace.

Solution Saturday – Anne Rasmussen, Lead
Information was sent to committee members suggesting cities and dates of potential events. The focus is on cities with the highest Unemployment rates. They are waiting to hear from other subcommittee members before proceeding.

Harlan asked for a copy of the information that was sent to retain for his records.

Voluntary Agreements (TIPS) – Jo Ann Gibbons, Lead
The subcommittee requested Joe’s assistance with statistics. He was able to obtain some information, which he provided on their call in January. He was not able to get most of the data that is needed; however, he is still working on trying to obtain the information and hopes to have it for their March meeting. There are certain questions they need answered and this information will help guide them in making recommendations.

The documents contain a lot of general information and they are reviewing the items from the employee/employers perspective in terms of making suggestions on how to make them more user-friendly. They believe if the document is easier to decipher then perhaps businesses will be apt to use them. Tonjua is also providing input but without her commentary they can’t say much at this point. This project could be a long process.

Judi stated they pulled out all of the action items for Joe and sent them to Tonjua so that he can come to the meeting prepared.

Audit Techniques Guide – David Cain, Lead
They had the IRS prioritize the guides they wanted a response to and have divided them up among the team, 3 each. The members will report on their findings at the next meeting. They have discovered that there are 2-3 guides unavailable on the website. Some of the guides are up to 200 pages and they have asked for copies from the program owner in order to take them out to the community for feedback. They anticipate having all of the guides reviewed by their next meeting. The group is still in the information gathering process and they expect to work the project to the end of the year.

Program Owner Comments – Kim Lawson
Kim stated Tonjua asked that she inform the committee that everything seems to be working well at this time. They are pleased with the progress that is being made on the respective projects.

Harlan indicated there is a lot of good preliminary information and asked that the leads ensure Tonjua and her staff are kept abreast of what is being done.

Miscellaneous Issues
Face to face Meeting (FTF) Location – Judi stated she sent an email to everyone that our location is Dallas, which had the lowest cost projections. We will be staying at the Westin in uptown; they will provide complimentary meeting space. In April we will begin conversation about the respective agendas. The sub-committees will be asked to use their May meeting to plan their FTF meeting agenda. In late April/early May, Kymberly will contact members about travel arrangements.

Tom informed the members to begin thinking about evening activities so that he can plan accordingly, especially in relation to the stadium. He will need to know how many would like to tour, and what kind of transportation needs there will be. Judi stated this will be included on the May meeting agenda.

Issue Projects - Judi stated there has been a change in forwarding issue projects. This has come about as a result of updating the TAP Charter. As it stands now, the projects are being forwarded directly to the IRS and this is in violation of the Advisory Committee Act. Going forward, all Issue Committee Project recommendations will need to be approved by the JC, which is now reflected in the charter. To keep this from being onerous on the JC, as recommendations are perfected they will be posted on TAPSpace for review and conversation in the JC. During the JC meeting, there will be a consensus poll to approve the recommendation. One reason for the consensus poll is that the conversation has to be in the public eye and captured in the meeting meetings which goes on the public website. This change should not interrupt the process.

Steve will work up a format for issue committees to submit project recommendations. The goal is to make this transparent.

The Tax Calendar subcommittee’s report will be a good test since they will make recommendations before any of the other groups.

Harlan stated if there is anything he can do to assist with the subcommittee projects please let him know.

Harlan asked the new members how they are doing;

• Minnie stated the TAP is treating her fine
• Teresa stated staff has done a wonderful job assisting her in obtaining the ATG that were not on the website
• David stated he regrets that tax season is getting in the way of his contributions; he plans to do better after tax season is over

Cliff stated everyone is going along well; everyone is energized, which is good.