By Larry FavingerStaff Columnist
YORK –
When you think of organizations or government agencies interested in improving customer service, the Internal Revenue Service isn’t even close to being on the top of the list.
York Town Manager Rob Yandow is the Maine representative to a group that is working on just that idea.
“The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel is a citizens advisory group to the Internal Revenue Service,” Yandow said. He said the IRS had “a few” such groups but TAP is the largest of those. In includes over 90 members from across the country, with at least one representative from each state. Yandow is included in Area 1 that includes New England and New York. There are seven areas in all. Yandow is the vice chairman of Area 1.
Members of the panel are appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury with the approval “of some arm of the White House,” Yandow said.
The membership is varied, he said, with people from all walks of life included.
The purpose of TAP “is to assist in improving the service delivery of the Internal Revenue Service.” Yandow said.
TAP was established in 2001 “to help the IRS improve” and it took a couple of years to get off the ground. “But now,” he said, “it is a very effective organization.”
The group does not get involved in individual tax disputes between a taxpayer and the IRS or legislative matters, which is the purview of Congress, the President and the Secretary of the Treasury.
TAP does get involved in grass roots issues. “We go out and do outreach,” he said. “We try to make people aware of the panel and the opportunity that they have to help the service delivery.”
Yandow said everyone has some kind of issue with the Internal Revenue Service. The TAP encourages people to bring issues to its attention. When that happens the issue is assigned to a subcommittee, studied and then comes before the area group with a recommendation.
A decision is then made whether or not to forward it “up the chain” with a recommendation to the executive committee of the entire TAP. If the issue is deemed worthy it then goes to managers within the IRS for action.
“Sometimes they agree with the recommendation and take action,” he said, and other times they can’t accept the recommendation as is but can address the issue in another way. Sometimes nothing can be done for a variety of circumstances.
Issues can also come to the TAP from the top down when IRS managers define a specific issue that has come to light that needs to be addressed.
Yandow, a native of Vermont, has always had an interest in finance. He discovered TAP while a town manager in Arizona and applied for a position. He became an alternate while in Arizona.
When he came to Maine, he checked again and found the three-year term of the woman serving from Maine was about to expire, so he sought that position. He was actually appointed in November.
People are named to TAP for a single three-year term and it is completely voluntary. Each TAP member is expected to put in 300 to 500 hours a year working for the panel.
“It’s not often you have an opportunity to serve on a nationwide panel and have an opportunity to have a positive impact on something as significant as the service delivery of the Internal Revenue Service and have an impact on people’s lives.” he said. “I think it’s a great opportunity.”
As to hearing of issues, he has had some contacts already and anticipates more as people become aware of TAP and his involvement with it.
“I talked to a lot of people about it,” he said. He makes an effort to talk about TAP to various service organizations and other interested groups. “The more people are aware of it the more people can take advantage of it.”
The entire panel gets together once a year in Washington for a four-day conference to discuss issues.
People with issues can send them to www.improveirs.com which is TAP’s headquarters in Brooklyn, N.Y., or submit them to ryandowTAP@charter.net.
“I’ll be happy to try and help them out,” he said.
Caption: York Town Manager Rob Yandow, appointed to the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel, hopes to improve the customer service of the IRS. (Weekly Sentinel photo)
