WASHINGTON – The Internal Revenue Service today announced that it recommended, and the Department of the Treasury approved, the selection of 25 new members to serve on the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP) for 2022.

The new members will join 10 TAP alternates who were approved in a prior year, for a total of 35 new active members. When added to returning members, these new TAP members will round out the panel with 69 volunteers for 2022. New members were selected from a pool of approximately 300 interested individuals who applied during an open recruitment period last spring and from alternate members who applied in previous years.

“We are excited to welcome all of the new members to the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel,” said National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins. “These members volunteer hundreds of hours to help ensure that our tax system works for all Americans. The past few years have been extremely challenging for taxpayers and the IRS. The dedicated work of our TAP volunteers is more important than ever to help identify and prioritize initiatives to modernize the IRS, improve service and protect taxpayer rights.”

Members of the TAP work on a variety of issues that impact taxpayers in key areas where the IRS and the public interact the most. Members also serve as a conduit for bringing grassroots concerns raised by the taxpaying public to the attention of the IRS.

Each year, the TAP submits dozens of recommendations to the IRS. In 2021 alone, the TAP made 193 recommendations to the IRS, many of which have already been implemented. For example, the TAP’s recommendations have resulted in many improvements to IRS tax forms, instructions and publications to make them easier for taxpayers to understand.

Another TAP recommendation that was successfully adopted ensured the IRS properly alerted impacted taxpayers when an IRS processing center was closed. Read more about the work and accomplishments of the TAP in its 2021 Annual Report.

Martha J. Lewis, the 2022 National TAP Chair, recently stated, “If we look at the past and all that TAP has accomplished, it’s truly amazing. We still have a lot of work to do, especially in the area of taxpayers understanding what we do and how we can help them.”

The TAP is a federal advisory committee that serves an important role in tax administration. TAP members are a diverse group of ordinary citizens who possess a sense of civic duty, patriotism and belief in an effective and well-regarded tax system.

TAP members volunteer their time and energy to improve IRS services and taxpayer satisfaction by listening to taxpayers, identifying issues and making recommendations to improve IRS service and customer satisfaction.

Oversight and program support for the TAP are provided by the Taxpayer Advocate Service, an independent organization within the IRS led by the National Taxpayer Advocate. TAS helps resolve taxpayer account problems and makes administrative and legislative recommendations to mitigate systemic problems with tax administration.

TAP members volunteer to serve a three-year appointment and are expected to devote 200 to 300 hours per year to panel activities. To the extent possible, TAP members are demographically and geographically diverse, providing balanced representation from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. In addition, there is one TAP member representing the interests of taxpayers working, living or doing business abroad.

The new TAP members by location:

 

Sara	Zanders	AR
Sarah	Holtzclaw	CA
Debra	Kurita	CA
Victoria	Ramirez	CA
Richard	Rodriguez	CA
Angela	Madison	CA
Jean	Miller	CT
Cheryl	Crowe	DE
Kimberly	Fox	FL
Aisha	Earle	GA
Kimberly	Pederzani	IL
Shelley	McCracken	IN
Rebecca	Lammers	International
Willis	Keenan	KY
Anthony	Jackson Jr.	LA
Steven	Hoffman	MA
Conner	McFarland	ME
Suzanne	Trnka	MN
Doris	Carpenter	MO
George Hampton	Williams	MS
Jared	Lefevre	MT
Ruth	Guyon	NE
David	Newingham	NV
Shequeila	Birdsong	NY
Charles	Harvey	NY
Kameelah	Guthridge	OH
Robin	Mosley	OH
Candace	Smith	OK
Meagan	Regina	PA
Patricia	Thompson	RI
Marla	Brown	TN
Richard	Bell	TX
Omar	Roman	TX
Susan	LaBudde	WI
Melissa	Harvey	WV

 

Taxpayers can contact the TAP representative for their geographic area by calling 888-912-1227 (toll-free) or online at www.improveirs.org. Those interested in serving on the 2023 panel beginning Dec. 1, 2022, may apply during the TAP’s current recruitment period, which is open through April 8.

Taxpayers can also write to the TAP at:

Taxpayer Advocacy Panel
TA: TAP, Room 1509
1111 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20224