Department of Treasury August 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

As a part of its review of regulations under section 2222 of the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996 (Pub. L. 104-208, Sept. 30, 1996) (EGRPRA), the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) is issuing a final rule, which reduces regulatory burden on savings associations by updating and revising various application and reporting requirements. Specifically, the final rule: modifies the branch office and agency office application and notice requirements, harmonizes publication and public comment procedures for various applications and notices, and revises the meeting procedures. The final rule also eliminates various obsolete rules.

This notice advises all interested persons of a public meeting of the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform.

This document contains final regulations under section 402(a) of the Internal Revenue Code regarding the amount includible in a distributee's income when life insurance contracts are distributed by a qualified retirement plan and regarding the treatment of property sold by a qualified retirement plan to a plan participant or beneficiary for less than fair market value. This document also contains final regulations under sections 79 and 83 of the Internal Revenue Code regarding the amounts includible in income when an employee is provided permanent benefits in combination with group-term life insurance or when a life insurance contract is transferred in connection with the performance of services. These regulations will affect administrators of, participants in, and beneficiaries of qualified retirement plans. These regulations will also affect employers who provide permanent benefits in combination with group-term life insurance for their employees and employees who receive those permanent benefits, as well as service recipients who transfer life insurance contracts to service providers in connection with the performance of services, and service providers to whom those life insurance contracts are transferred.

This document contains proposed amendments to regulations relating to payments made for service not in the course of the employer's trade or business, for domestic service in a private home of the employer, for agricultural labor, and for service performed as a home worker within the meaning of section 3121(d)(3)(C) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code). These proposed amendments would provide guidance concerning the application of the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) to these payments. These proposed amendments would affect employers that make these payments and employees that receive these payments. These proposed amendments would provide guidance to assist these taxpayers in complying with the law.

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 existing regulations, Third-Party Disclosure Requirements in IRS Regulations.

This document contains final regulations relating to the reporting obligations of persons that receive payments for air transportation or communications services subject to excise tax when persons liable for tax refuse to pay the tax. The final regulations affect persons that receive payments subject to tax and persons liable for those taxes.

This document contains proposed amendments to regulations under section 951(a) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) regarding a United States shareholder's pro rata share of a controlled foreign corporation's (CFC's) subpart F income, previously excluded subpart F income withdrawn from investment in less developed countries, and previously excluded subpart F income withdrawn from foreign base country shipping operations. These proposed regulations are intended to ensure that a CFC's earnings and profits for a taxable year attributable to a section 304 transaction will not be allocated in a manner that results in the avoidance of Federal income tax. These proposed regulations are also intended to ensure that earnings and profits of a CFC are not allocated to certain preferred stock in a manner inconsistent with the economic interest that such stock represents.

This notice advises all interested persons of a public meeting of the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform.

This temporary rule implements the new certification requirements regarding production practices and procedures for imported natural wine contained in section 2002 of the Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2004, which amended section 5382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. We are amending the wine regulations to incorporate these changes. We also are soliciting comments from all interested parties on the implementation of these new requirements through a notice of proposed rulemaking published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register.

Internal Revenue Service has provided the ability for IRS e- file program participants, who transmit directly to the Electronic Management System (EMS), to use only IRS approved encryption methods for the 2006 and later filing seasons. States that are retrieving their returns from the State Retrieval SubSystem (SRS) have been informed that they will do so via the EMS. This information pertains to IRS e- file software developers who currently prepare software packages for direct dial-up transmission to IRS e-file EMS sites for individual and business electronic returns and electronic tax documents, for states participating in IRS federal/state e-file, and also for transmitters who have dedicated leased lines. All trading partners (transmitters) who directly transmit to the IRS EMS must use either the IRS Internet solution (described below) or they must purchase and install in IRS facilities Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS)-compliant and IRS-approved encrypted dedicated leased lines. This solution is not for the Forms 1120 and 990 series submitted directly to the Modernized e-file (MeF) platform through the Registered User Portal or through the Application-to-Application method. It is not for the Information Returns, such as 1098, 1099, etc. to the FIRE system. It is not for the filing of forms W-2 to the Social Security Administration. The IRS will attempt to ensure that the standards described in the encryption solution documentation are generally compliant to those adopted by other IRS e-commerce Internet interfaces.

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 941 TeleFile, Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return.

An open meeting of the Area 2 Taxpayer Advocacy Panel will be conducted (via teleconference). 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 Multilingual Initiative (MLI) Issue Committee will be conducted (via teleconference). The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel is soliciting public comments, ideas, and suggestions on improving customer service at the Internal Revenue Service.

In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), 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 proposed revisions to the Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income (Call Report), which are currently approved collections of information. At the end of the comment period, the comments and recommendations received will be analyzed to determine the extent to which the FFIEC and the agencies should modify the proposed revisions prior to giving final approval. The agencies will then submit the revisions to OMB for review and approval.

The purpose of this notice is to publish the names of those IRS employees who will be serving as members on IRS' FY2005 SES Performance Review Board(s).

An open meeting of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel Earned Income Tax Credit Issue Committee will be conducted (via teleconference). The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel is soliciting public comments, ideas and suggestions on improving customer service at the Internal Revenue Service.

In the Rules and Regulations section of this issue of the Federal Register, the IRS is issuing temporary regulations under section 408A of the Internal Revenue Code (Code). The temporary regulations provide guidance concerning the tax consequences of converting a non-Roth IRA annuity to a Roth IRA. The temporary regulations affect individuals establishing Roth IRAs, beneficiaries under Roth IRAs, and trustees, custodians and issuers of Roth IRAs. The text of those temporary regulations also serves as the text of 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 Form 8898, Statement for Individuals Who Begin or End Bona Fide Residence in a U.S. Possession.

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 8846, Credit for Employer Social Security and Medicare Taxes Paid on Certain Employee Tips.

An open meeting of the Area 3 Taxpayer Advocacy Panel will be conducted (via teleconference). 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 Wage & Investment Reducing Taxpayer Burden (Notices) Issue Committee of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel will be conducted (via teleconference). The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel is soliciting public comments, ideas and suggestions on improving customer service at the Internal Revenue Service.

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 proposed information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. Currently, the OCC is soliciting comments concerning an information collection titled ``Bank Secrecy Act/Money Laundering Risk Assessment.''

The Department of the Treasury and its Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, as part of their continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invite the public and other Federal agencies to comment on a proposed information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). Currently, we are seeking comments on the form titled ``Formula and Process for Alcohol Products.''

This document withdraws a proposed regulation relating to the definition of a highway vehicle for purposes of various excise taxes. The withdrawal affects vehicle manufacturers, dealers, and lessors; tire manufacturers; sellers and buyers of certain motor fuels; and operators of heavy highway vehicles.