Department of the Treasury 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document contains corrections to final regulations that were published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 (71 FR 66232) relating to rules for determining bona fide residency in the following U.S. territories: American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands.

An open meeting of the Area 4 Taxpayer Advocacy Panel will be conducted (via teleconference). 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 7 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.

OTS is issuing final guidance: Concentrations in Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Lending, Sound Risk Management Practices (guidance). OTS developed this Guidance to clarify that institutions actively engaged in CRE lending should assess their concentration risk and implement appropriate risk management policies and procedures to identify, monitor, manage, and control their concentration risks.

This document contains final rules governing the provisions prohibiting discrimination based on a health factor for group health plans and issuers of health insurance coverage offered in connection with a group health plan. The rules contained in this document implement changes made to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (Code), the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), and the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act) enacted as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).

In the Rules and Regulations section of this issue of the Federal Register, the IRS is issuing temporary regulations relating to the reduction in taxable income under section 302 of the Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005. The regulations affect taxpayers that provide housing in their principal residences to individuals displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The text of those regulations also serves as the text of these proposed regulations.

The OCC, Board, and FDIC (the Agencies) are issuing final joint Guidance on Concentrations in Commercial Real Estate Lending, Sound Risk Management Practices (Guidance). This Guidance has been developed to reinforce sound risk management practices for institutions with high and increasing concentrations of commercial real estate loans on their balance sheets. This Guidance applies to national banks and state chartered banks (institutions). Further, the Board believes that the Guidance is broadly applicable to bank holding companies.

The Department of the Treasury, 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, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). Currently the Bureau of the Public Debt within the Department of the Treasury is soliciting comments concerning the Request To Reissue United States Savings Bonds.

The Department of the Treasury, 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, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). Currently the Bureau of the Public Debt within the Department of the Treasury is soliciting comments concerning the Subscription For Purchase and Issue of U.S. Treasury Securities, State and Local Government Series.

This document contains a proposal to make changes required by the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) to the Form 5500 Annual Return/Report filed for employee benefit plans under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code (Code). The proposed changes supplement proposed revisions to the Form 5500 Annual Return/Report published, prior to the enactment of the PPA, by the Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (Agencies) in the Federal Register on July 21, 2006, at 71 FR 41616 (July 2006 Proposal). This supplemental proposal replaces the Schedule B, ``Actuarial Information,'' with separate actuarial schedules for single-employer plans (Schedule SB) and multiemployer plans (Schedule MB) to reflect PPA changes in funding and annual reporting requirements; adds new questions to the Schedule R, ``Retirement Plan Information,'' to collect additional information regarding single and multiemployer defined benefit pension plans required by the PPA; and proposes having the Form 5500-SF Annual Return/Report (Short Form 5500) included in the July 2006 Proposal serve as the simplified report required by the PPA for plans with fewer than 25 participants. The revisions are being proposed for 2008 plan year filings and would affect employee pension and welfare benefit plans, plan sponsors, administrators, and service providers to plans subject to annual reporting requirements under ERISA and the Code.

This document corrects notice of proposed rulemaking (REG- 121509-00) that was published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, August 29, 2006 (71 FR 51155). The document contains proposed regulations that provide guidance relating to the exclusion from gross income of previously taxed earnings and profits under section 959 of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) and related basis adjustments under section 961 of the Code.

This document contains final regulations designed to eliminate regulatory impediments to the electronic filing of certain income tax returns and other forms. These regulations affect business taxpayers who file income tax returns electronically. This document also makes conforming changes to certain current regulations.

This document contains correction to final regulations (TD 9273) that were published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, August 8, 2006 (71 FR 44887) addressing the carryover of certain tax attributes, such as earnings and profits and foreign income tax accounts, when two corporations combine in a corporate reorganization or liquidation that is described in both section 367(b) and section 381 of the Internal Revenue Code.

This document contains correction to final regulations (TD 9292) that were published in the Federal Register on Thursday, October 19, 2006 (71 FR 61648) regarding the allocation of creditable foreign tax expenditures by partnerships.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau proposes to expand the San Francisco Bay viticultural area in northern California. The proposed expansion would add 88 square miles to the viticultural area to its north in Solano County, California. We designate viticultural areas to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines and to allow consumers to better identify wines they may purchase. We invite comments on this proposed viticultural area expansion.

In accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974, as Amended, the Department of the Treasury gives notice of an amendment to this part by revising the titles of two Privacy Act systems of records and removing five other Privacy Act systems of records. The systems of records are related to the functions of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR).