Department of the Treasury December 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (``OFAC'') is publishing the names of four individuals whose property and interests in property have been blocked pursuant to Executive Order 13413 of October 27, 2006, ``Blocking Property of Certain Persons Contributing to the Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.''

The proposed information collection request (ICR) described below has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507. OTS is soliciting public comments on the proposal.

This document contains proposed amendments to the regulations relating to the imposition of user fees for enrolled agents and enrolled retirement plan agents. The proposed regulations separate the enrolled retirement plan agent user fees from the enrolled agent user fees and lower the initial enrollment and renewal of enrollment fees for enrolled agents and enrolled retirement plan agents. The proposed regulations affect individuals who are or apply to become enrolled agents or enrolled retirement plan agents. The charging of user fees is authorized by the Independent Offices Appropriations Act of 1952.

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 IRS is soliciting comments concerning Notice 2005-62, Modification of Notice 2005-04; Biodiesel and Aviation- Grade Kerosene.

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 IRS is soliciting comments concerning Form 8941, Credit for Small Employer Health Insurance Premiums.

The Agencies are issuing final Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines (Guidelines) to provide further clarification of the Agencies' appraisal regulations and supervisory guidance to institutions and examiners about prudent appraisal and evaluation programs. The Guidelines, including their appendices, update and replace existing supervisory guidance documents to reflect developments concerning appraisals and evaluations, as well as changes in appraisal standards and advancements in regulated institutions' collateral valuation methods. The Guidelines clarify the Agencies' longstanding expectations for an institution's appraisal and evaluation program to conduct real estate lending in a safe and sound manner. Further, the Guidelines promote consistency in the application and enforcement of the Agencies' appraisal regulations and safe and sound banking practices. The Agencies recognize that revisions to the Guidelines may be necessary to address future regulations implementing the provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.

In the Rules and Regulations section of this Federal Register, the IRS and the Treasury Department are issuing temporary regulations (TD 9508) under section 863(a) of the Internal Revenue Code. These regulations set forth the source of income attributable to qualified fails charges. This action is necessary to provide guidance about the treatment of fails charges for purposes of sections 871 and 881, which generally require gross-basis taxation of foreign persons not otherwise subject to U.S. net-basis taxation and the withholding of such tax under sections 1441 and 1442. The text of the temporary regulations also serves as the text of these proposed regulations.

An open meeting of the Area 6 Taxpayer Advocacy Panel will be conducted. 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 Taxpayer Advocacy Panel Joint Committee will be conducted. 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 2 Taxpayer Advocacy Panel will be conducted. The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel is soliciting public comments, ideas, and suggestions on improving customer service at the Internal Revenue Service.

An open meeting of the Area 4 Taxpayer Advocacy Panel will be conducted. The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel is soliciting public comments, ideas, and suggestions on improving customer service at the Internal Revenue Service.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (``OFAC'') is publishing the names of three newly-designated individuals whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to Executive Order 13224 of September 23, 2001, ``Blocking Property and Prohibiting Transactions With Persons Who Commit, Threaten To Commit, or Support Terrorism.''

The OTS Mutual Savings Associations Advisory Committee (MSAAC) will convene a meeting on Monday, December 20, beginning at Noon, Eastern Time. The meeting will be closed to the public.

The proposed information collection request (ICR) described below has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. OTS is soliciting public comments on the proposal.

This document contains temporary and final regulations relating to Federal tax deposits (FTDs) by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). In response to the decision of the Financial Management Service to discontinue the system that processes FTD coupons, the temporary and final regulations provide rules under which depositors must use EFT for all FTDs and eliminate the rules regarding FTD coupons. The temporary and final regulations affect all taxpayers that are required to make FTDs, in particular those taxpayers that currently use FTD coupons.

The OCC, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on a continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. The OCC is soliciting comment concerning its information collection titled ``Assessment of Fees12 CFR 8.'' The OCC also gives notice that it has sent the collection to OMB for review.

The OTS is amending the Federal Register notice published on November 26, 2010, 75 FR 72871. 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 comment on proposed and continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507. The Office of Thrift Supervision within the Department of the Treasury will submit the proposed information collection requirement described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. Today, OTS is soliciting public comments on its proposal to extend this information collection.

This document contains proposed regulations relating to the requirement for ``specified tax return preparers,'' generally tax return preparers who reasonably expect to file more than 10 individual income tax returns in a calendar year, to file individual income tax returns using magnetic media pursuant to section 6011(e)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code). The proposed regulations reflect changes to the law made by the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009. The proposed regulations affect specified tax return preparers who prepare and file individual income tax returns, as defined in section 6011(e)(3)(C). For calendar year 2011, the proposed regulations define a specified tax return preparer as a tax return preparer who reasonably expects to file (or if the preparer is a member of a firm, the firm's members in the aggregate reasonably expect to file) 100 or more individual income tax returns during the year, while beginning January 1, 2012 a specified tax return preparer is a tax return preparer who reasonably expects to file (or if the preparer is a member of a firm, the firm's members in the aggregate reasonably expect to file) 11 or more individual income tax returns in a calendar year. The proposed regulations are unrelated to and are not intended to address the requirements for obtaining a preparer tax identification number (PTIN) under section 6109. See the final regulations under section 6109 published in the Federal Register (75 FR 60309-01). This document also provides a notice of a public hearing on these proposed regulations.

In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, the Financial Management Service gives notice of a proposed new Privacy Act system of records entitled ``Treasury/FMS .008-Mailing List Records.''

By this notice, FinCEN announces the availability of two related pieces of guidance that apply to depository institutions and to securities broker-dealers, mutual funds, futures commission merchants, and introducing brokers in commodities (collectively referred to as ``final guidance'') interpreting the final rule published elsewhere in this part of today's Federal Register. Among other things, the final rule clarifies the scope of the statutory prohibition on the disclosure by a financial institution of a report of a suspicious transaction set forth in the Bank Secrecy Act (``BSA'') by stating that the confidentiality provision does not apply when a depository institution, securities broker-dealer, mutual fund, futures commission merchant, or introducing broker in commodities (hereafter, ``an authorized institution'') shares a suspicious activity report (``SAR''), or any information that would reveal the existence of a SAR, within its corporate organizational structure for purposes consistent with Title II of the BSA, as determined by regulation or guidance. The final guidance interprets this provision to permit an authorized institution to share a SAR, or information that would reveal the existence of a SAR (collectively, ``SAR information''), with certain affiliates.

The OCC is issuing this final rule to amend its regulations implementing the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) governing the confidentiality of a suspicious activity report (SAR) to: clarify the scope of the statutory prohibition on the disclosure by a financial institution of a SAR, as it applies to national banks; address the statutory prohibition on the disclosure by the government of a SAR, as that prohibition applies to the OCC's standards governing the disclosure of SARs; clarify that the exclusive standard applicable to the disclosure of a SAR, or any information that would reveal the existence of a SAR, by the OCC is to fulfill official duties consistent with Title II of the BSA; and modify the safe harbor provision in the OCC's SAR rules to include changes made by the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act. These amendments are consistent with a final rule being contemporaneously issued by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) is revising its regulations governing the release of unpublished OTS information. The primary change clarifies that the OTS's decision to release a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) is governed by the standards set forth in amendments to the OTS's SAR regulation that are part of a separate, but simultaneous, rulemaking.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (``OFAC'') is publishing the names of three newly-designated individuals whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to Executive Order 13224 of September 23, 2001, ``Blocking Property and Prohibiting Transactions With Persons Who Commit, Threaten To Commit, or Support Terrorism.''

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 comment on proposed and continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507. The Office of Thrift Supervision within the Department of the Treasury will submit the proposed information collection requirement described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. Today, OTS is soliciting public comments on its proposal to extend this information collection.