Department of the Treasury December 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) amends its regulation that sets forth the penal sum for a brewer's bond where the excise tax liability of the brewer is reasonably expected to be not more than $50,000 in the current calendar year and the brewer was liable for not more than $50,000 in such taxes in the preceding calendar year. For a period of three years, the penal sum of the required bond will be $1,000 for such brewers who file excise tax returns and remit taxes quarterly. In a related proposed rule published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register, TTB is soliciting comments from all interested parties on this amended regulatory text, on whether TTB should permanently adopt this change, and on other proposed regulatory changes.

This document contains final regulations that implement and provide guidance on the fees imposed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on issuers of certain health insurance policies and plan sponsors of certain self-insured health plans to fund the Patient- Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund. These final regulations affect the issuers and plan sponsors that are directed to pay those fees.

Currently, for any merchandise valued over $2,000, CBP requires importers to provide a surety bond, complete CBP form 7501, and pay a minimum of $25 in Merchandise Processing Fees (MPF). The final rule increases the limit, from $2,000 to $2,500, for which merchandise may qualify for an ``informal entry'', thereby eliminating the need for a surety bond, expediting the customs clearance process, and reducing the required MPF amount to $2 (assuming the entries are filed electronically). CBP is increasing the informal entry limit to mitigate the effects of inflation and in addition, to meet a commitment of the Beyond the Border Initiative between the United States and Canada, to increase and harmonize the value thresholds to $2,500 for expedited customs clearance from the current levels of $2,000 for the United States and $1,600 for Canada. This document also removes the language requiring formal entry for certain articles that were formerly subject to absolute quotas under the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing because CBP no longer needs to require formal entries for these articles. This document also makes a technical conforming amendment to reflect a recent statutory amendment that increased the ad valorem Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) from 0.21 percent to 0.3464 percent. Finally, this document makes non- substantive editorial and nomenclature changes.

This document contains proposed regulations that provide guidance under section 1411 of the Internal Revenue Code (Code). Section 1402(a)(1) of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 added new section 1411 to the Code effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2012. The proposed regulations affect individuals, estates, and trusts. This document also contains a notice of a public hearing on these proposed regulations.

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 an existing Treatment of Shareholders of Certain Passive Foreign Investment Companies.

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (``OFAC'') is amending the Cuban Assets Control Regulations to authorize the processing of funds transfers for the operating expenses or other official business of third-country diplomatic or consular missions in Cuba. OFAC also is amending the Cuban Assets Control Regulations to authorize certain payments for services rendered by Cuba to United States aircraft that currently require the issuance of a specific license.