It is true – As we rapidly approach the IRS deadline to file last year’s income taxes, the IRS wants to know of any problems you may have experienced, issues that may have arisen, or suggestions that you may have for improving the process.
In fact, there is a whole staff of IRS employees and volunteers from every state (including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico) whose purpose is to receive, research, and resolve tax issues and suggestions. That organization, the TAXPAYER ADVOCACY PANEL (TAP), serves as focus groups for the IRS providing input on strategic initiatives and providing a venue for raising issues identified by citizens.
As a part of the TAP leadership for the coming year, the National Vice Chair for the organization is the one Hawaii Representative on the panel: John Kim. John graduated from Roosevelt High School and the University of Hawaii and has earned 3 masters degrees. A retired Air Force Meteorologist and former teacher at Iolani, John will serve his last year on the panel in his new position. He is excited about the opportunities in the coming year to improve processes in the IRS.
While TAP does not directly work issues related to or requiring legislative or statutory changes, it has dealt with hard to use forms, confusing instructions, errors in computer processing, and with numerous suggestions to make filing easier for all citizens. TAP want to help the IRS improve the tax filing processes. To do that, we need input from you. As you go through this year’s filing season, keep notes about things that didn’t seem to work right, frustrations that you encountered, and suggestions that you may have thought of. Then, communicate those notes to the TAP.
If you are interested in serving as the next TAP member from Hawaii, TAP will start a new recruiting cycle from March 15 to April 30. Information about application procedures and timelines will be available on the website as we get closer to the recruiting window.
For more information, you can go to the TAP website at www.improveirs.org or call the national toll-free phone number: 1-888-912-1227.
Submitted by John S. S. Kim, TAP Representative from Hawaii