Department of the Treasury May 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

An open meeting of the Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee (ETAAC) will be conducted via telephone conference call. The ETAAC will discuss recommendations for electronic tax administration which will be published in their Annual Report to Congress by June 30, 2014. The IRS will respond to these recommendations.

FinCEN, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (``Treasury''), invites all interested parties to comment on its proposed renewal without change to the collection of information in 31 CFR 1010.630 concerning the prohibition on correspondent accounts for foreign shell banks, including recordkeeping and termination of correspondent account provisions. This request for comments is made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA'') of 1995, Public Law 104-13, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A).

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 a proposed and/or continuing information collection, 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 Fiscal Service within the Department of the Treasury is soliciting comments concerning the form ``Special Form of Detached Assignment for U.S. Registered Definitive Securities and U.S. Bearer Securities for Conversion to BECCS or CUBES''.

This document adopts as a final rule, with some changes, interim amendments to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations which were published in the Federal Register on October 5, 2000, as T.D. 00-67, and later amended by T.D. 03-15 published in the Federal Register on March 21, 2003, to implement the trade benefit provisions for sub-Saharan Africa contained in Title I of the Trade and Development Act of 2000, as amended. The trade benefits under Title I, also referred to as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), apply to sub-Saharan African countries designated by the President and involve: The extension of duty-free treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) to non-textile articles normally excluded from GSP duty-free treatment that are not import-sensitive; and the entry of specific textile and apparel articles free of duty and free of any quantitative limits. The regulatory amendments adopted as a final rule in this document reflect and clarify the statutory standards for preferential tariff treatment under the AGOA, as amended by section 3108 of the Trade Act of 2002 and include other amendments necessitated by passage of the AGOA Acceleration Act of 2004 and the Africa Investment Incentive Act of 2006. This final rule includes specific documentary, procedural and other related requirements that must be met in order to obtain preferential treatment. This document also adopts as a final rule interim amendments to the CBP regulations implementing the GSP which were included in T.D. 00-67 to conform those regulations to previous amendments to the GSP statute. Moreover, this document adopts as a final rule other changes to the AGOA implementing regulations made by T.D. 03-15 to clarify several issues that arose after their original publication.

The Department of the Treasury will submit the following information collection requests to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13, on or after the date of publication of this notice.

This document cancels a public hearing on proposed regulations providing guidance under chapter 4 of Subtitle A (sections 1471 through 1474) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

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 4684, Casualties and Thefts.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (``OFAC'') is publishing the names of 2 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.''

This document adopts as a final rule interim amendments to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations which were published in the Federal Register on October 23, 2013, as CBP Dec. 13- 17, to implement the preferential tariff treatment and other customs- related provisions of the United States-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement.

This document cancels a public hearing on proposed regulations relating to the requirement to maintain minimum essential coverage enacted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, as amended by the TRICARE Affirmation Act and Public Law111-73.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (``OFAC'') is publishing the names of 2 individuals whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to Executive Order 13664 of April 3, 2014, ``Blocking Property of Certain Persons With Respect to South Sudan.''

The OCC, 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 a continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). In accordance with the requirements of the PRA, the OCC may not conduct or sponsor, and the 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 the renewal of its information collection titled, ``Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery.'' The OCC also is giving notice that it has sent the collection to OMB for review.

The OCC, 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 a continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). In accordance with the requirements of the PRA, the OCC may not conduct or sponsor, and the 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 renewal of its information collection titled, ``Financial Management PoliciesInterest Rate Risk.'' It also is giving notice that it has submitted the collection to OMB for review.

This document contains a notice that the IRS has made available the 2015 Grant Application Package and Guidelines (Publication 3319) for organizations interested in applying for a Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC) matching grant for the 2015 grant year, which runs from January 1, 2015, through December 31, 2015. The application period runs from May 5, 2014, through June 20, 2014. The IRS will award a total of up to $6,000,000 (unless otherwise provided by specific Congressional appropriation) to qualifying organizations, subject to the limitations of Internal Revenue Code section 7526, for matching grants. A qualifying organization may receive a matching grant of up to $100,000 per year for up to a three- year project period. Qualifying organizations that provide representation for free or for a nominal fee to low income taxpayers involved in tax disputes with the IRS, or educate individuals for whom English is a second language of their taxpayer rights and responsibilities, or both, can apply for a grant. Examples of qualifying organizations include: (1) A clinical program at an accredited law, business or accounting school whose students represent low income taxpayers in tax controversies with the IRS, and (2) an organization exempt from tax under I.R.C. Sec. 501(a) that represents low income taxpayers in tax controversies with the IRS or refers those taxpayers to qualified representatives, or operates programs to inform individuals for whom English is a second language about their rights and responsibilities as taxpayers.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (``OFAC'') is publishing the names of four individuals and four entities whose property and interests in property have been blocked pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (``Kingpin Act'') (21 U.S.C. 1901-1908, 8 U.S.C. 1182).

This NOGA is published in connection with the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program, administered by the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund), the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury). The purpose of this NOGA is to notify the public that: (i) Parties interested in being approved as Qualified Issuers may submit Qualified Issuer Applications and (ii) Qualified Issuers may submit Guarantee Applications to be approved for a Guarantee under the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program. This NOGA also explains application submission and evaluation requirements and processes, agency contacts, and information on CDFI Bond Guarantee Program outreach.

This document contains corrections to final and temporary regulations (TD 9650) that were published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, December 31, 2013 (78 FR 79602). The regulations provide guidance on determining ownership of a passive foreign investment company (``PFIC'') and on the annual filing requirements for shareholders of PFICs.

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 discharge of liens.

This document contains final regulations clarifying the rules regarding the tax treatment of payments by qualified retirement plans for accident or health insurance. The final regulations set forth the general rule under section 402(a) that amounts held in a qualified plan that are used to pay accident or health insurance premiums are taxable distributions unless described in certain statutory exceptions. The final regulations do not extend this result to arrangements under which amounts are used to pay premiums for disability insurance that replaces retirement plan contributions in the event of a participant's disability. These regulations affect sponsors, administrators, participants, and beneficiaries of qualified retirement plans.

The United States Mint, a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, is announcing an opportunity for public comment on the proposed collection of certain information regarding the public's use of U.S. coins with special emphasis on the possible use of alternative metals in U.S. coinage. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information and to allow 60 days for public comment in response to the notice. This notice solicits comments on a proposed information collection concerning U.S. coinage practices as required to determine the public's interest according to the Coin Modernization, Oversight, and Continuity Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-302).