Department of the Treasury – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is publishing five general licenses (GLs) issued pursuant to the Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions Regulations: GLs 81, 82, 83, 84, and 85 each of which were previously made available on OFAC's website.

This document corrects a notice of proposed rulemaking (REG- 132569-17) published in the Federal Register on November 22, 2023, containing proposed regulations that would amend the regulations relating to the energy credit for the taxable year in which eligible energy property is placed in service.

This document sets forth final regulations specifying the methodology for constructing the corporate bond yield curve that is used to derive the interest rates used in calculating present value and making other calculations under a defined benefit plan, as well as for discounting unpaid losses and estimated salvage recoverable of insurance companies. These regulations affect participants in, beneficiaries of, employers maintaining, and administrators of certain retirement plans, as well as insurance companies.

This document amends the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations to extend import restrictions on certain archaeological material from China. The Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs, United States Department of State, has made the requisite determinations for extending the import restrictions, which were originally imposed by CBP Dec. 09-03 and last extended by CBP Dec. 19-02. Accordingly, these import restrictions will remain in effect for an additional five years, and the CBP regulations are being amended to reflect this further extension through January 14, 2029.

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 (SDN 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 extends the period to submit comments or to request a public hearing for a notice of proposed rulemaking (REG- 142338-07) that was published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, November 14, 2023. The proposed regulations relate to excise taxes on taxable distributions made by a sponsoring organization from a donor advised fund, and on the agreement of certain fund managers to the making of such distributions.

The OCC, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites 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 a proposed new information collection titled, ``Information Collection for Qualitative Research on Consumer Trust in Banking and Bank Supervision.''

For the period beginning January 1, 2024, and ending on March 31, 2024, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Immigration Bond interest rate is 3 per centum per annum.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) proposes to establish the 70,437-acre ``Conneaut Creek'' American viticultural area (AVA) in Ashtabula County, Ohio. The proposed AVA is located entirely within the boundaries of the existing Lake Erie AVA. 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. TTB invites comments on these proposals.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) proposes to rename the established ``Mendocino Ridge'' American viticultural area (AVA) in Mendocino County, California, as ``Mendocino Coast Ridge.'' The proposed name change would not affect the size or boundary description of the AVA. 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. TTB invites comments on this proposal.

This notice announces an open meeting of the Community Development Advisory Board (the Advisory Board), which provides advice to the Director of the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund). This meeting will be conducted virtually. A link to view the meeting will be posted under the date of the meeting at www.cdfifund.gov/cdab.

The Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) (collectively, the Agencies) are adopting final changes to the Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure (Uniform Rules) to recognize the use of electronic communications in all aspects of administrative hearings and to otherwise increase the efficiency and fairness of administrative adjudications. The OCC, Board, and FDIC are also modifying their agency-specific rules of administrative practice and procedure (Local Rules). The OCC also is integrating its Uniform Rules and Local Rules so that one set of rules applies to both national banks and Federal savings associations and amending its rules on organization and functions to address service of process.

This document contains proposed regulations that would provide guidance regarding whether a debt instrument is worthless for Federal income tax purposes. The proposed regulations are necessary to update the standard for determining when a debt instrument held by a regulated financial company or a member of a regulated financial group will be conclusively presumed to be worthless. The proposed regulations will affect regulated financial companies and members of regulated financial groups that hold debt instruments.

This notice announces that the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Advisory Committee on Risk-Sharing Mechanisms (ACRSM) will meet in the Cash Room, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20220, from 2 p.m.-4 p.m. eastern time, February 1, 2024. The Committee meeting will be held in person and virtually and is open to the public.

In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the OCC, the Board, and the FDIC (the agencies) 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 Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), of which the agencies are members, has approved the agencies' publication for public comment of a proposal to revise and extend for three years the Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income (Call Reports) (FFIEC 031, FFIEC 041, and FFIEC 051), which are currently approved collections of information. The FFIEC has also approved the Board's publication for public comment, on behalf of the agencies, of a proposal to revise and extend for three years the Report of Assets and Liabilities of U.S. Branches and Agencies of Foreign Banks (FFIEC 002), and the Report of Assets and Liabilities of a Non-U.S. Branch that is Managed or Controlled by a U.S. Branch or Agency of a Foreign (Non-U.S.) Bank (FFIEC 002S), which are also currently approved collections of information. The agencies are requesting comment on proposed revisions to the Call Report forms and instructions, and the FFIEC 002, as applicable, that include the revision and addition of certain new data items related to the reporting on loans to nondepository financial institutions (NDFIs) and other loans, guaranteed structured financial products, and proposed long-term debt requirements. In addition, the agencies are seeking comment on a proposal to adopt ongoing standards for electronic signatures to comply with the Call Report signature and attestation requirement. The revisions are proposed to take effect with the June 30, 2024, report date, except for those related to the proposed long-term debt requirements which would take effect for the first report date at or following the effective date of any final rule.

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 (PRA). The IRS is soliciting comments on U.S. Employment Tax Returns and related Forms.

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 persons and a vessel that have been placed on OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN 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 and a vessel are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

The OCC, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites 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 a revision to its information collection titled, ``Bank Activities and Operations; Investment in Bank Premises.''

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 (SDN 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. OFAC is also publishing updates to the identifying information of seven persons currently included on the SDN List.

FinCEN is promulgating regulations regarding access by authorized recipients to beneficial ownership information (BOI) that will be reported to FinCEN pursuant to section 6403 of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), enacted into law as part of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (AML Act), which is itself part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (NDAA). The regulations implement the strict protocols required by the CTA to protect sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) reported to FinCEN and establish the circumstances in which specified recipients have access to BOI, along with data protection protocols and oversight mechanisms applicable to each recipient category. The disclosure of BOI to authorized recipients in accordance with appropriate protocols and oversight will help law enforcement and national security agencies prevent and combat money laundering, terrorist financing, tax fraud, and other illicit activity, as well as protect national security.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) (collectively, the agencies) have prepared this report pursuant to section 37(c) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act. Section 37(c) requires the agencies to jointly submit an annual report to the Committee on Financial Services of the U.S. House of Representatives and to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the U.S. Senate describing differences among the accounting and capital standards used by the agencies for insured depository institutions (institutions). Section 37(c) requires that this report be published in the Federal Register. The agencies have not identified any material differences among the agencies' accounting and capital standards applicable to the institutions they regulate and supervise.

This document finalizes rules related to the fees established by the No Surprises Act for the Federal independent dispute resolution (IDR) process, as established by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA). These final rules amend existing regulations to provide that the administrative fee amount charged by the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Health and Human Services (the Departments) to participate in the Federal IDR process, and the ranges for certified IDR entity fees for single and batched determinations, will be set by the Departments through notice and comment rulemaking. The preamble to these final rules also sets forth the methodology used to calculate the administrative fee and the considerations used to develop the certified IDR entity fee ranges. This document also finalizes the amount of the administrative fee for disputes initiated on or after the effective date of these rules. Finally, this document finalizes the certified IDR entity fee ranges for disputes initiated on or after the effective date of these rules.

This document contains corrections to Treasury Decision 9979, which was published in the Federal Register for Tuesday, August 15, 2023. Treasury Decision 9979 issued final regulations relating to the application of the low-income communities bonus credit program for the energy investment credit established pursuant to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

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 (SDN 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.