IRS Selects New Members and a Chairman for ETAAC

WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service today announced the selection of five new members for the Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee (ETAAC). The Treasury Department and the IRS Commissioner have approved the new members to serve a three-year term beginning November 2006 and ending November 2009.

The group serves as a public forum for discussion of electronic tax administration issues and supports the goal of increasing electronic interactions between tax professionals and the IRS.

“ETAAC supports the goal of electronic tax administration by recommending policies and strategies to encourage taxpayers to e-file their tax returns and to communicate electronically with the IRS. The members’ advice is critical to our continued progress,” said Bert DuMars, director of IRS Electronic Tax Administration.

These new members will replace the recently retired members to ensure continuity of the committee. The new members are:

• Chris Beach of Cameron Park, Calif. Beach is the Director of Filing Methods Bureau for the State of California, Franchise Tax Board. He provides oversight for the department’s tax forms and electronic filing programs and is involved in policy, legislative, and budget processes impacting the department’s e-file, e-payment, and tax forms functions.

• Sharon S. Gray of Rockville, Md. Gray is Director of Balance Consulting, LLC, where she provides consulting to bank clientele. Balance Consulting, LLC, is a leader in tax reporting compliance education and consulting on specialized compliance issues.

• Timothy S. Hubbs of Franklin, N.C. Hubbs is President and CEO of Drake Enterprises, Limited, a software provider to tax preparers for preparation and e-filing of tax returns. In 2006, Drake customers transmitted over 6.8 million Federal returns and over 5.4 million state returns.

• Joan R. Ruff of Mission Woods, Kan. Ruff, Assistant Vice President of Knowledge Development for H & R Block, leads and manages the development of tax knowledge for US Tax Services and its tax professionals. She designs and develops tax and operational training for over 80,000 tax professions.

• Marquetta White of Mesa. Ariz. White, Assistant Director of Taxpayer Services for the Arizona Department of Revenue, manages the e-file program. She has worked cooperatively with IRS in several areas including supporting VITA, promoting Free File, and accepting the Federal ERO registration to reduce burden on e-filing tax preparers.

Robert Meighan of Bluffton, S.C. has agreed to serve as the chairman of Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee (ETAAC) for 2007. Meighan is vice president of the Consumer Tax Group (Turbo Tax) at Intuit and has been a member of ETAAC since September 2005. He has more than 25 years in the tax preparation industry both as a CPA and as a customer advocate at TurboTax.

ETAAC was created in 1998 as part of the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act. Each June, ETAAC submits an annual report to Congress on the progress of the IRS’ electronic tax initiatives.

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