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

Designated Federal Official
Judi Nicholas, TAP Program Manager

Attendance
JoAnne Gibbons
Harlan Barnett, Chair
Carloyn Adam-Dodds
Susan Lynn
Kirsten Ball
Dick Grezbinski
Clifford Young
Ming Ni (Minnie) Lau
John Rodgers (JR)
David Cain
Miya Steward-Burt

Absent
Teresa Matthews
Anne Rasmussen
Mary Jo Werner

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

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

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

Sub-committee Reports

2010 IRS Tax Calendar – Susan Lynn, Lead
Susan provided the following information in relation to their project;

Susan advised everyone that the information received as pre-read was a summary of all of the different sessions and breakout topics. They recently received the referral form and the subcommittee will meet to discuss how to compile the information into the final format to present to the Program Owner.

The Tax Calendar is IRS Publication 1518; for the Small Business Self Employed population. The main thing the program owner wanted them to do was to look through the calendar and suggest ways to make it better. Additionally, what should they do with the monthly topics, the reminders, should the calendar be electronic only or should they continue printing it as well? They were asked to look at the 2011 calendar theme and provide feedback about that as well. This issue was just recently brought to the subcommittee’s attention. They have folded this into their project and will address it in their final report.

In reviewing the calendar the approach they took was to divide the it up into portions and each member of the subcommittee was charged with providing feedback on their respective section.

The Program Owners had the opportunity to review the initial draft and has agreed to accept the proposal in the format presented. They have been on calls and were able to work with the subcommittee in making recommendations.

One of the main recommendations they will relate to whether to keep providing printed copies or do electronic versions only. They didn’t do a formal survey but they did poll IRS employees, tax practitioners, the general public and panel members etc. The overwhelming response was to continue printing the calendar and print more copies if it’s within budget constraints.

The other main recommendation deals with distribution of the calendars. There is a three tier system for distribution.

• Internally within the IRS they request how many they will need based on how much outreach they think will be conducted
• Other Stakeholders would be Small Business Administration and Small Business Development Centers who can request large quantities based on their outreach projections
• Tax Practitioners and other individuals who write in and ask for a certain number of copies

In their report they have different recommendations on how to handle the three tiers.

They noted that the calendar does not make reference to the TAP. They hope to include a reference to the TAP and how taxpayers can make their voice heard.

Each call was supported by TAP staff and the Program Owners. Whenever they had questions Tonjua and her team provided the information so that they could make informed decisions.

They noted several web links that are not operable, which was pointed out to the Program Owners so they could address this right away.

They made suggestions on how information regarding due dates could be enhanced and more visible.

Kirsten reviewed all of the links and did a great deal of research. She has made a lot of very good comments and suggestions about little things that can be tweaked for end-user; Small Business and Self Employed people.

They are recommending that IRS put requests for calendars earlier in the year.

They didn’t review the Spanish version; however they spoke to an IRS employee that reviews the Spanish version.

Questions/comments regarding the project
Jo Ann asked if there was a tickler note for re-order on the calendar to alert taxpayers when/how to order.
Response: Currently there is not; however, they will take this into consideration.

Tonjua suggested they include the number of extra calendars they propose be printed.

Tonjua asked what would the reference to TAP look like. She advised Susan to specify this in the report; in addition to where the information should be located.

Judi indicated there is standard language for promoting TAP. She will get that information and provide it to Susan.

Tonjua mentioned the recommendation about a 14-16 months calendar. She noted that they ran into problems with changes in tax forms. She wanted to know if this would lend itself to just an online version or a mini print for mid-year changes.
Response: Susan indicated in the report they noted to relate this to the electronic version and include January at the least.

It was suggested that they replace the “green thumb” page which appears to be just a filler page.

Tonjua asked about the changing color of font (using blue/black ink) she suggested they cite a source to make the recommendation stronger.

Tonjua agreed to extend the due date of the final report to allow time for JC review.
DECISION: The committee approved of the IRS Tax Calendar information as presented at this point. The subcommittee will complete a final draft for submission to the Program Owner.

Solution Saturday – Anne Rasmussen, Lead
JR provided an update on the project on behalf of the subcommittee
Solution Saturday is an event where the IRS will set up convention type session where taxpayers can come in for tax assistance on specific issues and work directly with an IRS employee. They are looking to improve the marketing and the results of these sessions. The subcommittee is looking into how the IRS decides which cities they are in, how they market the program etc. They have gathered a lot of information to recommend various cities and the best way to market the program. They have asked IRS and TAP staff for demographics, where the most Schedule C filers are located, where particular collection issues more prevalent than other cities etc. They are trying to narrow down demographics to best isolate the better cities to attend.

JR indicated he happened upon an event in Alaska that he thought was a Solution Saturday. As it turned out, the event was called “Super Saturday” and is tailored to low income taxpayers to get tax returns filed.

One recommendation is to change the name so that it does not attract the wrong audience. The project is on-going and they will be able to make there slated due date.

Voluntary Agreements (TIPS) – JoAnne Gibbons
Their issue is to increase voluntary compliance and reduce the tax gap. The IRS would like them to do that through education opposed to enforcement. Their focus is to review the agreements currently in place and find out if taxpayers understand them, what happens if they fail to comply and whether employers are participating in the way they should to get employees on board and what are the alternatives. They have been gathering information from Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) Joe Guillen and Dan Lauer. Dan was very helpful in providing insight/perspective on the issue. Next month Dan and Joe should have all of the information they have requested.

After their next meeting they should be ready to task out assignments among the subcommittee.

JoAnne indicated because they are behind in gathering data and information she is not sure whether they can meet any particular deadline; this could be a very lengthy process. JoAnne indicated they should have a better idea of when they can complete the project after their April meeting.

Audit Techniques Guide (ATG) – David Cain, Lead
David indicated they have a goal to finish the project by the end of the year but they would like to complete it sooner. There is a lot of information available, which they are in the process of reviewing. There are still a few guides unavailable, which they are trying to secure. They have received hard copies of several guides, which have been distributed to various industries for feedback. They will await comments and in the meantime the subcommittee members will review the pages they each have been assigned. There are more they need to assign to the subcommittee members. They are currently working on the priority guides.

They have distributed them to the public for feedback on how useful they think the guides are. Once the feedback is received they will focus on addressing the four points the IRS asked them to address.

There are more that need to be reviewed and they hope to be done with this process in the next two-three months.

Miscellaneous Issues
Harlan asked that preliminary information is sent to Tonjua and her team so they are tracking where we are.

Program Owner Comments

Tonjua asked the committee if they would ever want to work five projects at once again. The overall consensus was that this has not been a problem.

Kirsten asked to participate in a Solution Saturday event behind the scenes in Salt Lake City. Tonjua informed her she was working with someone that she could work with behind the scenes.

Tonjua indicated if she or any of the other program owners are not available, feel free to contact Phyllis Grimes or Melanie Partner; they are both very good at getting the panel any information/resources they may need.

Jo Anne indicated she would be happy to review the ATG for business consultant groups. However, she can’t access it on line and asked someone to send it to her.

Judi indicated there was no assignment for business consultants. She asked Tonjua to see if she could get a copy of the guide for business consultants and forward to Janice to send to JoAnne.

JR volunteered to review guides as well; the two suggested for him to review were Alaska Commercial Fishing/Catcher Vessels/Processors and Brokers.
ACTION: Nina will locate the guides for these and send them to JR.

Judi updated the spreadsheet to show which members are assigned to the guides for review.

Harlan indicated that once the TIPS & Tax Calendar Subcommittees have completed their projects, those members will be grafted into the other groups.

Closing
Judi thanked everyone for their participation and closed the meeting.