Department of the Treasury December 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is publishing the names of one or more persons that have been placed on OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List based on OFAC's determination that one or more applicable legal criteria were satisfied. All property and interests in property subject to U.S. jurisdiction of these persons are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

The Internal Revenue Service, 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 continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The IRS is soliciting comments concerning changes in periods of accounting.

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is publishing the names of one or more persons that have been placed on OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List based on being listed in the Annex to an Executive Order or OFAC's determination that one or more applicable legal criteria were satisfied. All property and interests in property subject to U.S. jurisdiction of these persons are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is adopting a final rule amending the Iraq Stabilization and Insurgency Sanctions Regulations to implement Executive Order (E.O.) 13668 of May 27, 2014 (``Ending Immunities Granted to the Development Fund for Iraq and Certain Other Iraqi Property and Interests in Property Pursuant to Executive Order 13303, as Amended''). These amendments also implement certain technical and conforming changes.

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, on or after the date of publication of this notice. The public is invited to submit comments on these requests.

This document contains corrections to final regulations (TD 9825) that were published in the Federal Register on Thursday, October 19, 2017. The final regulations are under section 597 of the Internal Revenue Code. These final regulations amend existing regulations that address the federal income tax treatment of transactions in which federal financial assistance is provided to banks and domestic building and loan associations, and they clarify the federal income tax consequences of those transactions to banks, domestic building and loan associations, and related parties.

FinCEN is inviting the public to nominate financial institutions, trade groups, and non-federal regulators or law enforcement agencies for membership on the Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group. New members will be selected for three-year membership terms.

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is publishing the names of persons that have been placed on OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List based on OFAC's determination that one or more applicable legal criteria were satisfied. All property and interests in property subject to U.S. jurisdiction of these persons are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

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, on or after the date of publication of this notice. The public is invited to submit comments on these requests.

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is adding regulations to implement certain provisions of the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012.

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. Currently, the OCC is soliciting comment concerning the renewal of an information collection titled ``Debt Cancellation Contracts and Debt Suspension Agreements.'' The OCC also is giving notice that it has sent the collection to OMB for review.

This document contains proposed regulations that provide guidance on the treatment of foreign currency gain or loss of a controlled foreign corporation (CFC) under the business needs exclusion from foreign personal holding company income (FPHCI). The proposed regulations also provide an election for a taxpayer to use a mark-to- market method of accounting for foreign currency gain or loss attributable to section 988 transactions. In addition, the proposed regulations permit the controlling United States shareholders of a CFC to automatically revoke certain elections concerning the treatment of foreign currency gain or loss. The proposed regulations affect taxpayers and United States shareholders of CFCs that engage in transactions giving rise to foreign currency gain or loss under section 988 of the Internal Revenue Code (Code).

The Internal Revenue Service, 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 continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The IRS is soliciting comments concerning information collection requirements related to continuation coverage requirements application to group health plans.

The U.S. 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 this continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The public is invited to submit comments on the collection(s) listed below.

This document contains proposed regulations implementing section 1101 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (BBA), which was enacted into law on November 2, 2015. Section 1101 of the BBA repeals the current rules governing partnership audits and replaces them with a new centralized partnership audit regime that, in general, assesses and collects tax at the partnership level. These proposed regulations provide rules addressing how pass-through partners take into account adjustments under the alternative to payment of the imputed underpayment described in section 6226 and under rules similar to section 6226 when a partnership files an administrative adjustment request under section 6227. To make corresponding changes, these proposed regulations amend portions of the previously proposed regulations under sections 6226 and 6227. Additionally, these proposed regulations provide rules regarding assessment and collection, penalties and interest, and period of limitations under the new centralized partnership audit regime. The proposed regulations also address the rules for seeking judicial review of partnership adjustments.

The Internal Revenue Service, 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 continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. IRS is soliciting comments concerning Limitations on Net Operating Loss Carryforwards and Certain Built-in Losses and Credits Following.

By this Notice, the Department of the Treasury is informing the public that it is conducting a mandatory survey of ownership of foreign securities by U.S. residents as of December 31, 2017. This Notice constitutes legal notification to all United States persons (defined below) who meet the reporting requirements set forth in this Notice that they must respond to, and comply with, this survey. The reporting form SHCA (2017) and instructions may be printed from the internet at: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/ tic/Pages/forms-sh.aspx#shc. Definition: Pursuant to 22 U.S.C. 3102 a United States person is any individual, branch, partnership, associated group, association, estate, trust, corporation, or other organization (whether or not organized under the laws of any State), and any government (including a foreign government, the United States Government, a State or local government, and any agency, corporation, financial institution, or other entity or instrumentality thereof, including a government- sponsored agency), who resides in the United States or is subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. Who Must Report: The reporting panel is based upon the data submitted for the 2016 Benchmark survey and the June 2017 TIC report Aggregate Holdings of Long-Term Securities by U.S. and Foreign Residents (TIC SLT). Entities required to report will be contacted individually by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Entities not contacted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York have no reporting responsibilities. What to Report: This report will collect information on holdings by U.S. residents of foreign securities, including equities, long-term debt securities, and short-term debt securities (including selected money market instruments). How to Report: Copies of the survey forms and instructions, which contain complete information on reporting procedures and definitions, may be obtained at the website address given above in the Summary. Completed reports can be submitted electronically or mailed to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Statistics Function, 4th Floor, 33 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10045-0001. Inquiries can be made to the survey staff of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York at (212) 720-6300 or email: SHC.help@ny.frb.org. Inquiries can also be made to Dwight Wolkow at (202) 622-1276, email: comments2TIC@do.treas.gov. When to Report: Data must be submitted to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, acting as fiscal agent for the Department of the Treasury, by March 2, 2018. Paperwork Reduction Act Notice: This data collection has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act and assigned control number 1505-0146. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid control number assigned by OMB. The estimated average annual burden associated with this collection of information is 49 hours per respondent for end-investors and custodians that file Schedule 3 reports covering their securities entrusted to U.S. resident custodians, 146 hours per respondent for large end-investors filing Schedule 2 reports, and 546 hours per respondent for large custodians of securities filing Schedule 2 reports. Comments concerning the accuracy of this burden estimate and suggestions for reducing this burden should be directed to the Department of the Treasury, Attention: Administrator, International Portfolio Investment Data Reporting Systems, Room 5422, Washington, DC 20220, and to OMB, Attention: Desk Officer for the Department of the Treasury, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Washington, DC 20503.

The Internal Revenue Service, 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 continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The IRS is soliciting comments concerning the statement of liability of lender, surety, or other person for withholding taxes.

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, on or after the date of publication of this notice. The public is invited to submit comments on these requests.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is expanding the approximately 2.25 million-acre ``Outer Coastal Plain'' viticultural area of southeastern New Jersey by approximately 32,932 acres. The Outer Coastal Plain AVA includes all or portions of Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Monmouth, Ocean, and Salem counties. The established viticultural area and the expansion area are not located within any other established viticultural area. TTB designates viticultural areas to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines and to allow consumers to better identify wines they may purchase.

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, on or after the date of publication of this notice. The public is invited to submit comments on these requests.

This temporary rule delays the compliance date of a wine labeling requirement that was established by T.D. TTB-147, a temporary rule published on January 23, 2017. In that rule, TTB required the statement ``Tax class 5041(b)(6)'' to appear on the container of any wine for which the hard cider tax rate is claimed if it is removed from wine premises or customs custody on or after January 1, 2018. This temporary rule delays the compliance date for that requirement by one year. Specifically, the tax class statement ``Tax Class 5041(b)(6)'' will not be required to appear on containers of wine that are taxed at the hard cider tax rate until January 1, 2019. Through a notice of proposed rulemaking published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register, TTB is soliciting comments from all interested parties on this delay of the compliance date for the wine labeling requirement, and, also in that document, TTB is reopening for 60 days the comment period for Notice No 168, the notice of proposed rulemaking that published concurrently with T.D. TTB-147 on January 23, 2017.

The Internal Revenue Service, 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 continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. IRS is soliciting comments concerning Automatic Contribution Arrangements.

The Internal Revenue Service, 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. The IRS is soliciting comments concerning Form 720X, Amended Quarterly Federal Excise Tax Return.