LOUISIANA SOCIETY OF ENROLLED AGENTS
Board of Directors’ Meeting, 12/4/2016
Sam’s Town, Shreveport, Louisiana
5:40 p.m. meeting called to order by President Sandidge.
Officers/Directors present – Linda Sandidge, EA; Stella Little, EA; Sandra Brown, EA; Faye Touchet, EA; Jennifer Hayes, EA; Lee Johnson, EA; (late arrival) David Saari, EA; Lynn Jacobs, EA
Members present – Gina Jones, EA; Hubert Tolman, EA
President Sandidge announced the resignation of Secretary Cherrie Groves EA who cited personal reasons for the resignation. Until a replacement is determined, Immediate Past President Lynn Jacobs, EA volunteered to serve as interim secretary.
Hubert Tolman, EA led the group in the pledge of allegiance. Then roll was called.
Agenda – Added to New Business was the issue of using part of education event profits to give back to the members who supported those events. Moved and seconded to approve the agenda, as revised; motion passed.
President’s Remarks –
President Sandidge welcomed those in attendance and thanked Jennifer Hayes, EA for agreeing to fill an open Director’s position.
We were reminded of the Tax Book and Quickfinder codes, which yield a rebate to LSEA for each item purchased.
IRS user fees for the SEE Exam are now set at $81 per section, not the proposed $99.
PTIN renewals are due.
Those EA’s whose SSN end in 4, 5, 6 should renew their EA credential no later than 1/31/2017.
E-services verification will soon be underway via ‘Get Transcript’ online, or a phone call to e-services should the user be unable to complete the online verification, or an in-person visit to an IRS office.
NAEA ballots are out, with a deadline of 12/15/2016. We were reminded to view the biographies and profiles online and to ignore those included in the print materials.
PAC contributions are encouraged.
May 2017 NAEA event dates are set: Fly-In 5/17/17, APEX 5/18/17, BOD meeting 5/19/17, all in the D.C. area. President Sandidge participated for the first time in the May 2016 Fly-In and plans to do so again in 2017 once registration for that event is available.
Minutes – it was moved and seconded to waive reading of the June 5, 2016 minutes; motion passed. Lynn will create those minutes from Faye’s notes and distribute them when complete.
Treasurer Report – Stella Little, EA had previously distributed her reports via email.
After review, the item ‘website’ will be removed via retained earnings, not an expense item, from the asset listing.
Discussion ensued regarding possible use of profits from the educational events. A promotional items catalog was given to Sandy for consideration of items to member participants.
At the end of June, one-half of the activity profits and product commissions might be used in purchasing items given to members who support LSEA educational events.
It was moved and seconded to approve the treasurer’s report accepted pending future audit; motion passed.
Lee Johnson, EA offered to confer with the head of the Louisiana Gaming Commission regarding a possible 50-50 raffle.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Bylaws – Faye Touchet, EA – up to date and in good order
Education – Sandy Brown, EA –
PTI registrations are at 46 for Shreveport and 22 for Baton Rouge, achieving the break-even point. In 2015 there were 59 registrations.
Expenses of the PTI events included labels, stamps, hotel of approximately $2,300
Income via the sponsor fees, $35 x $68 = $2,380 for a possible profit of $80
Future of the Baton Rouge event is uncertain.
There were many TX registrations in Shreveport.
Baton Rouge garnered 2 registrations from Kentucky.
Registration starts at 7 a.m.; Sandy will meet with Randy at 9:45-10; Faye offered to monitor the Shreveport seminar.
Sandy has a contract in hand for the summer event, 6/4 – 6/6/2017 in Lafayette at the Hilton Garden Inn. The hotel requires a $1,000 deposit. The contract deadline is 1/28/17. The meeting rooms are $450/day with a $100 set up fee. Possible speakers were elicited
L G Brooks – Linda will write him
Kevin Huston – Lynn offered to contact him
Lisa Miller – Faye will write her
Alan Pinck – Gina will contact him
Helen O’Planick – $75/hour fee for affiliates; the board suggested we accept her
Frank Degen
Sandy needs a new database and will purchase the IRS CD.
It was moved and seconded to approve the dates and location for the 2017 summer educational event and annual meeting; motion passed. Recreation will include ‘The Escape Room’.
Government Relations – Lee, Lynn – no report
EA Proclamation Day – Linda was able to secure this for February 2016; we are all surprised that it must be an annual proclamation. Lee offered to handle this; Linda will email the contact details to him.
Membership –
LSEA needs a membership chairman and committee. Membership stands at 93. Board members present are challenged to submit a name by the end of December for a possible chairman.
We need a list of Louisiana non-member EA’s to divide up among the officers / directors / other committee chairmen to call and urge to join NAEA/LSEA
Nominating – Lynn Jacobs, EA is charged with securing nominations. All current Officers offered to continue in their duties. Secretary position remains to be filled. Continuing Directors whose tenure runs through 2018 are David Saari, Jennifer Hayes, Faye Touchet; officers whose terms conclude 2017 are Sandy Brown and Lee Johnson, both of whom agreed to continue for 2017-2019 term.
Website – the new website is up and running and in good working order. Linda reported that she had received emails inquiring about LSEA educational events. We will continue to remit to Blue Host for the domain name.
Educating America – no current activity. President Sandidge was pleased to announce that in the Fall 2017 BRCC (Baton Rouge Community College) will include in their regular curriculum a SEE prep course. Lee Johnson offered to contact junior and community colleges along the highway 90 corridor to elicit their interest in offering a SEE prep course (chairman of the business department is the place to start).
Unfinished Business –
- Gift to Charlotte Morgan for designing the current LSEA logo (see website). Sandy suggested a $100 g.c. to Amazon (purchase at Sam’s or CVS or online) – moved, seconded; motion passed.
- Membership chair – see above discussion
- QF discount code – Linda will contact Thomson Reuters for such
- NAEA Event Calendar – Linda stated it is easy to submit events, and will add the summer events to the NAEA calendar
- Newsletter – Jennifer Hayes volunteered to spearhead a newsletter project, which will be produced early each month. She expects to have the first issue out in January 2017 and has 3 ideas for it – LLC electing C Corp must now pay franchise tax to LDR; state W2/W3 due dates coincide with IRS of 1/31
New Business –
- May 2017 D.C. area events – 5/17 Fly In Day; 5/18 APEX; 5/19 NAEA BOD meeting
- EA Day Proclamation – Linda will send to Lee contact information, proclamation wording and date
- David Saari’s Leadership Academy report was quite detailed. David attended the November 2016 APEX, NAEA BOD and SSLA. He found it very informative as to the staffing of NAEA and the volunteer leadership positions. Based on his experience, participation in APEX, NAEA BOD and SSLA were strongly urged by David.
- Secretary – upon the resignation of Cherrie Groves as secretary, Immediate Past President Lynn Jacobs offered to serve as interim secretary until a replacement is determined.
- SSLA – The question came up as to whether participation in SSLA is limited to board members only; careful review of the Bylaws and Policy and Procedures did not yield an answer. Discussion ensued regarding SSLA participation guidelines:
- current member in good standing of NAEA/LSEA
- member of LSEA BOD, for partial expense reimbursement
- any member in good standing may participate without reimbursement
It was moved and seconded to follow the above three guidelines; motion passed.
Website advertising – A query was received from a tax-related business; this issue is tabled until next meeting.
At 7:45 p.m. the meeting adjourned to Good of the Order, then called back to order at 7:52 p.m.
It was moved and seconded to adjourn; motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 7:53 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lynn Jacobs, EA
IPP, Interim Secretary
