2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

An open meeting of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel Earned Income Tax Credit Issue Committee will be conducted via telephone conference call. The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel is soliciting public comments, ideas and suggestions on improving customer service at the Internal Revenue Service.

This notice announces a change in benefit period eligibility under the EB Program for North Carolina. The following change has occurred since the publication of the last notice regarding the State's EB status: Based on data reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on September 19, 2008, North Carolina's 3-month seasonally adjusted total unemployment rate rose to the 6.5 percent threshold and exceeded 110 percent of the corresponding rate in the prior year. This causes North Carolina to be triggered ``on'' to an EB period beginning October 5, 2008.

An open meeting of the Joint Committee of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel will be conducted via conference call. The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel is soliciting public comment, ideas, and suggestions on improving customer service at the Internal Revenue Service.

An open meeting of the Area 6 committee of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel will be conducted (via teleconference). The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP) is soliciting public comments, ideas, and suggestions on improving customer service at the Internal Revenue Service. The TAP will use citizen input to make recommendations to the Internal Revenue Service.

An open meeting of the Area 1 Taxpayer Advocacy Panel will be conducted via telephone conference call. The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel is soliciting public comments, ideas and suggestions on improving customer service at the Internal Revenue Service.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) has rescheduled a South Atlantic Habitat and Ecosystem IMS Refinement Workshop, in St. Petersburg, FL.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council will hold a meeting of its Golden Tilefish Limited Access Privilege (LAPP) Exploratory Workgroup in North Charleston, SC.

An open meeting of the Area 3 Taxpayer Advocacy Panel will be conducted via telephone conference call. The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel is soliciting public comments, ideas, and suggestions on improving customer service at the Internal Revenue Service.

In response to a petition filed by BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) on July 15, 2008, the Board is instituting a declaratory order proceeding under 49 U.S.C. 721 and 5 U.S.C. 554(e) to determine whether what BNSF characterizes as two track relocation projects in Oklahoma City, OK, are subject to the Board's jurisdiction and require prior Board approval. One reply in opposition to the petition and three letters in support of the petition have been filed. The Board seeks public comments on this matter.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, May 22, 1995), this notice announces that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for review of an expiring information collection. This information collection, ``Claim for Unpaid Compensation of Deceased Civilian Employee'' (OMB Control No. 3206- 0234; SF 1153), is used to collect information from individuals who have been designated as beneficiaries of the unpaid compensation of a deceased Federal civilian employee or who believe that their relationship to the deceased entitles them to receive the unpaid compensation of the deceased employee. OPM needs this information in order to adjudicate the claim and properly assign a deceased Federal civilian employee's unpaid compensation to the appropriate individuals(s). We received no comments on our 60-day notice on this information collection (SF 1153), published in the Federal Register on June 17, 2008. Approximately 3,000 SF 1153 forms are submitted annually. It takes approximately 15 minutes to complete the form. The annual estimated burden is 750 hours. For copies of this proposal, contact Margaret A. Miller by telephone at (202) 606-2699, by FAX at (202) 418-3251, or by e-mail at Margaret.Miller@opm.gov. Please include your mailing address with your request.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, May 22, 1995), this notice announces that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) intends to submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for comment on a revised information collection. This information collection, ``Financial Resources Questionnaire'' (OMB Control No. 3206-0167; form RI 34-1), collects detailed financial information for use by OPM to determine whether to agree to a waiver, compromise, or adjustment of the collection of erroneous payments from the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund. ``Notice of Amount Due Because Of Annuity Overpayment'' (OMB Control No. 3206-0167; form RI 34-3), informs the annuitant about the overpayment and collects information from the annuitant about how repayment will be made. Comments are particularly invited on whether this collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of functions of the Office of Personnel Management, and whether it will have practical utility; whether our estimate of the public burden of this collection of information is accurate and based on valid assumptions and methodology; and ways in which we can minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond through the use of appropriate technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology. Approximately 520 RI 34-1 and 1,561 RI 34-3 forms are completed annually. Each form takes approximately 60 minutes to complete. The annual estimated burden is 520 hours and 1,561 hours respectively. The total annual estimated burden is 2,081 hours. For copies of this proposal, contact Margaret A. Miller by telephone at (202) 606-2699, by FAX (202) 418-3251, or by e-mail at Margaret.Miller@opm.gov. Please include a mailing address with your request.

Based on an affirmative final determination by the Department of Commerce (the Department) and the International Trade Commission (ITC), the Department is issuing the antidumping duty order on electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) from Australia.

Based on an affirmative final determination by the Department of Commerce (the Department) and the International Trade Commission (ITC), the Department is issuing an antidumping duty order on electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) from the People's Republic of China (PRC).

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by Amendment 80 vessels subject to sideboard limits in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2008 Pacific cod sideboard limit established for Amendment 80 vessels subject to sideboard limits in the Western Regulatory Area of the GOA.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

This document contains a final rule that implements the content requirements for the written cross-trading policies and procedures required under section 408(b)(19)(H) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA or the Act). Section 611(g) of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, Public Law No. 109-280, 120 Stat. 780, 972, amended section 408(b) of ERISA by adding a new subsection (19) that exempts the purchase and sale of a security between a plan and any other account managed by the same investment manager if certain conditions are satisfied. Among other requirements, section 408(b)(19)(H) stipulates that the investment manager must adopt, and effect cross-trades in accordance with, written cross- trading policies and procedures that are fair and equitable to all accounts participating in the cross-trading program. This final rule affects employee benefit plans, investment managers, plan fiduciaries and plan participants and beneficiaries.

This document amends PTE 2006-06 (71 FR 20856, Apr. 21, 2006), a prohibited transaction class exemption issued under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). Among other things, PTE 2006-06 permits a ``qualified termination administrator'' (QTA) of an individual account plan that has been abandoned by its sponsoring employer to select itself to provide services to the plan in connection with the plan's termination, and to pay itself fees for those services. In response to changes to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code) enacted as part of the Pension Protection Act (PPA) of 2006, PTE 2006- 06 is amended to require, as a condition of relief under the exemption, that benefits for a missing, designated nonspouse beneficiary be directly rolled over into an inherited individual retirement plan that fully complies with Code requirements. This amendment also conforms to the Department's final rule amending regulations concerning the Termination of Abandoned Individual Account Plans at 29 CFR 2578.1 (the QTA Regulation), and the Safe Harbor for Distributions from Terminated Individual Account Plans at 29 CFR 2550.404a-3 (the Safe Harbor Regulation), which appears elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register. The amendment to the class exemption affects plans, participants and beneficiaries of such plans and certain persons engaging in such transactions.

This document contains a final rule amending regulations under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 that provide guidance and a fiduciary safe harbor for the distribution of benefits on behalf of participants or beneficiaries in terminated and abandoned individual account plans. The Department is amending these regulations to reflect changes enacted as part of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code), under which a distribution of a deceased plan participant's benefit from an eligible retirement plan may be directly transferred to an individual retirement plan established on behalf of the designated nonspouse beneficiary of such participant. Specifically, the amended regulations require as a condition of relief under the fiduciary safe harbor that benefits for a missing, designated nonspouse beneficiary be directly rolled over to an individual retirement plan that fully complies with Code requirements. This final rule will affect fiduciaries, plan service providers, and participants and beneficiaries of individual account pension plans.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Hawker Beechcraft Corporation Model BAe.125 series 800A (including C- 29A and U-125) airplanes, and Hawker Beechcraft Model Hawker 800XP airplanes. This AD requires doing an inspection to determine the serial number and part number on the main landing gear (MLG) upper casing, and replacing the MLG assembly with a serviceable MLG assembly if necessary. This AD results from a report indicating that the MLG casings have received improper hydrogen embrittlement relief. We are issuing this AD to prevent a fracture of the MLG casings and a collapse of the affected MLG, which could adversely affect the airplane's continued safe flight and landing.