Department of the Treasury 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. 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 Financial Research Advisory Committee for the Treasury's Office of Financial Research (OFR) is convening for its sixteenth meeting on Thursday, July 16, 2020, via webcast, beginning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The meeting will be open to the public and advance registration is required.

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 the proposed information collections listed below, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

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 U.S. 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.

This document contains a correction to a notice of proposed rulemaking (REG-104591-18) that was published in the Federal Register on May 13, 2020. The guidance on section 162(f) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code), as amended by legislation enacted in 2017, concerning the deduction of certain fines, penalties, and other amounts.

This document contains corrections to Treasury Decision 9394, which was published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, April 29, 2008. Treasury Decision 9394 contained final regulations regarding when a partnership may consider certain deductions and losses of a foreign partner to reduce or eliminate the partnership's obligation to pay withholding tax under section 1446 on effectively connected taxable income allocable under section 704 to such partner.

As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, FinCEN invites comments on a proposed renewal, without change, of currently approved information collections relating to the generic clearance for the collection of qualitative feedback on agency service delivery. This request for comments is being made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

This document contains proposed regulations that clarify the definition of a ``qualifying relative'' for purposes of various provisions of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) for taxable years 2018 through 2025. These proposed regulations generally affect taxpayers who claim Federal income tax benefits that require a taxpayer to have a qualifying relative. This document also withdraws a portion of the proposed regulations published on January 19, 2017, addressing the support test for a qualifying relative, and proposes replacement language.

The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund), Department of the Treasury, requests comments from the public to gain a better understanding of how Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) treat equity investments in their organizations to help inform policy decisions regarding the CDFI Fund's management and oversight of its investment portfolio.

An open meeting of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel's Taxpayer Assistance Center Project Committee 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 Taxpayer Advocacy Panel's Notices and Correspondence Project Committee 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 Taxpayer Advocacy Panel's Special Projects Committee will be conducted. The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel is soliciting public comments, ideas, and suggestions on improving customer service at the Internal Revenue Service.

By this notice, the Department of the Treasury is informing the public that it is conducting a mandatory survey of foreign ownership of U.S. securities as of June 30, 2020. This mandatory survey is conducted under the authority of the International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act. 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. Additional copies of the reporting forms SHLA (2020) and instructions may be printed from the internet at: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic /Pages/ forms-sh.aspx. Definition: A U.S. 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 panel for this survey is based primarily on the level of foreign resident holdings of U.S. securities reported on the June 2019 benchmark survey of foreign resident holdings of U.S. securities, and on the Aggregate Holdings of Long-Term Securities by U.S. and Foreign Residents (TIC SLT) report as of December 2019, and will consist mostly of the largest reporters. 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 foreign resident holdings of U.S. securities, including equities, short-term debt securities (including selected money market instruments), and long-term debt securities. 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, or by contacting the survey staff of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York at (212) 720-6300 or (646) 720-6300, email: SHLA.help@ny.frb.org. The mailing address is: Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Data and Statistics Function, 6th Floor, 33 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10045-0001. Inquiries can also be made to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, at (202) 452-3476, or to Dwight Wolkow, at (202) 923-0518, or by email: comments2TIC@do.treas.gov. When to Report: Data should be submitted to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, acting as fiscal agent for the Department of the Treasury, by August 31, 2020. 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 1505-0123. 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 486 hours per report for the largest custodians of securities, and 110 hours per report for the largest issuers of securities that have data to report and are not custodians. Comments concerning the accuracy of this burden estimate and suggestions for reducing this burden should be directed to the Department of the Treasury, Office of International Affairs, Attention Administrator, International Portfolio Investment Data Reporting Systems, Room 1050, 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 Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is adding regulations to implement Executive Order 13894 of October 14, 2019 (``Blocking Property and Suspending Entry of Certain Persons Contributing to the Situation in Syria''). OFAC intends to supplement these regulations with a more comprehensive set of regulations, which may include additional interpretive and definitional guidance, general licenses, and statements of licensing policy.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is adopting a final rule to strengthen and modernize the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) by clarifying and expanding the activities that qualify for CRA credit; updating where activities count for CRA credit; creating a more consistent and objective method for evaluating CRA performance; and providing for more timely and transparent CRA-related data collection, recordkeeping, and reporting.

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. Currently the Bureau of the Fiscal Service within the Department of the Treasury is soliciting comments concerning the Legacy Treasury Direct Forms.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) establishes the approximately 144,000-acre ``Tualatin Hills'' viticultural area in portions of Multnomah and Washington Counties, Oregon, and the approximately 33,600-acre ``Laurelwood District'' viticultural area in portions of Washington and Yamhill Counties, Oregon. TTB is establishing both viticultural areas in the same document because a small portion of their boundaries is contiguous. The two viticultural areas lie entirely within the established Willamette Valley viticultural area. The Laurelwood District viticultural area is also entirely within the established Chehalem Mountains 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.

This document contains proposed regulations regarding the credit for carbon oxide sequestration under section 45Q of the Internal Revenue Code (Code). These proposed regulations will affect persons who physically or contractually ensure the capture and disposal of qualified carbon oxide, use of qualified carbon oxide as a tertiary injectant in a qualified enhanced oil or natural gas recovery project, or utilization of qualified carbon oxide in a manner that qualifies for the credit.

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. Currently, the IRS is soliciting comments concerning Foreign Tax Credit (Individual, Estate, or Trust).

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is adopting as final, with minor technical corrections, temporary regulations relating to excise taxes imposed on distilled spirits, wines, and beer that were published in the Federal Register on January 4, 2017. These regulatory amendments implement certain changes made to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (IRC) by the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015, which amended the IRC to remove bond requirements and change tax return due dates for certain eligible excise taxpayers.

The OCC, the Board, the FDIC, and the NCUA (collectively, the agencies) are issuing final guidance for credit risk review (final guidance). This guidance is relevant to all institutions supervised by the agencies and replaces Attachment 1 of the 2006 Interagency Policy Statement on the Allowance for Loan and Lease Losses. The final guidance discusses sound management of credit risk, a system of independent, ongoing credit review, and appropriate communication regarding the performance of the institution's loan portfolio to its management and board of directors.

The Capital Magnet Fund (CMF) is administered by the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund). Through the CMF, the CDFI Fund provides financial assistance grants to Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and to qualified Nonprofit Organizations that have the development or management of affordable housing as one of their principal purposes. All awards provided through this Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) are subject to funding availability.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is amending its regulations on activities and operations of national banks and corporate activities of Federal savings associations to provide that these institutions may permit telephonic and electronic participation at all board of directors, shareholder, and as applicable, member, meetings. This Interim Final Rule (IFR) will update the OCC's regulations to conform with modern technologies and enable national banks and Federal savings associations to hold these meetings without violating social distancing restrictions imposed in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emergency.

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.