Department of Treasury 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

An open meeting of the Area 6 committee of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel will be conducted (via teleconference). The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP) is soliciting public comments, ideas, and suggestions on improving customer service at the Internal Revenue Service. The TAP will use citizen input to make recommendations to the Internal Revenue Service.

The Financial Management 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 a continuing information collection. By this notice, the Financial Management Service solicits comments concerning form FMS 3144 ``Minority Bank Deposit Program (MBDP) Certification Form for Admission''.

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92-462, a renewal charter has been filed for the IRS Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT). The renewal charter was filed on Aug. 5, 2005, with the Committee on Finance of the United States Senate, the Committee on Ways and Means of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Library of Congress. The renewal charter and copies of these filing letters are attached.

An open meeting of the Area 5 Taxpayer Advocacy Panel will be conducted. The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel is soliciting public comment, ideas, and suggestions on improving customer service at the Internal Revenue Service.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is issuing this interim final rule, with a request for comment, to amend its regulation at 12 CFR Part 8 concerning the timing of payments of OCC assessments. The interim final rule replaces the current process of assessment collection, which requires national banks to make the initial calculation of the amount due to the OCC. Under the revised assessment of fees process established by this interim rule, the OCC, rather than each national bank, will calculate the semiannual assessment fee based on the most recent Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income (Call Report). The fee will be due by March 31 and September 30 of each year, two months later than under the current process. Thus, payments that would have been due on January 31, 2006, will instead be due on March 31, 2006. The OCC will notify each national bank of the amount of its semiannual assessment and will automatically deduct that amount from each bank's designated bank account on the payment due date. The interim rule changes the assessment collection process only; it does not make any changes to the method for calculating assessments due from national banks.

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.

This document corrects final regulations (TD 9222) that were published in the Federal Register on Thursday, August 25, 2005 (70 FR 49864). The final regulations under section 951(a) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) provide guidance for determining 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 company shipping operations.

The Department of the Treasury is announcing a new fee schedule for the transfer of book-entry securities maintained on the National Book-Entry System (NBES). This fee schedule will take effect on January 3, 2006. The basic fee for the transfer of a Treasury book- entry security will increase from $.21 to $.22. The Federal Reserve funds movement fee will be $.04, unchanged from the funds movement fee in effect since January 2, 2004, resulting in a combined fee of $.26 for each Treasury securities transfer. In addition to the basic fee, off-line transfers have a surcharge. The surcharge for an off-line Treasury book-entry transfer in CY 2006 will be $33.00, unchanged from CY 2005.

Closed meeting of the Art Advisory Panel will be held in Washington, DC.

This interim final rule amends our regulation at 31 CFR part 210 (Part 210), which governs the use of the Automated Clearing House (ACH) system by Federal agencies. Part 210 adopts, with some exceptions, the ACH Rules developed by NACHAThe Electronic Payments Association (NACHA) as the rules governing the use of the ACH system by Federal agencies. We are issuing this rule to address changes that NACHA has made to the ACH Rules since the publication of NACHA's 2003 rule book.

This document contains final and temporary regulations relating to the simplification of procedures for obtaining automatic extensions of time to file certain returns. The portions of this document that are final regulations provide necessary cross-references to the temporary regulations. The temporary regulations allow individual income taxpayers and certain other taxpayers to obtain an automatic six-month extension of time to file certain returns by filing a single request. For these returns, the temporary regulations also remove the requirements for a signature and an explanation of the need for an extension of time to file. The temporary regulations affect taxpayers who are required to file certain returns and need an extension of time to file. The text of the temporary regulations also serves as the text of the proposed regulations set forth in the notice of proposed rulemaking on this subject in the Proposed Rules section of this issue of the Federal Register.

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 Rev. Proc 2005-51, Revenue Procedures regarding I.R.C. 6707A(e) and Disclosure with the SEC.

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 8895, One-Time Dividends Received Deduction for Certain Cash Dividends from Controlled Foreign Corporations.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is issuing this final rule to prescribe minimum standards applicable to insurance companies pursuant to the provision in the Bank Secrecy Act that requires financial institutions to establish anti-money laundering programs and to define the companies and insurance products that are subject to that requirement.

By this Notice, the Department of the Treasury is informing the public that it is conducting a mandatory survey of U.S. ownership of foreign securities as of December 31, 2005. This Notice constitutes legal notification to all United States persons who are in the reporting panel set forth in this Notice that they must respond to this survey. Additional copies of the reporting form SHCA and instructions may be printed from the Internet at: https://www.treas.gov/tic/ forms.html. Who Must Report: It is expected that reporting will be required only from those organizations which reported the largest values of securities data on the benchmark survey Form SHC entitled ``U.S. Ownership of Foreign Securities, Including Selected Money Market Instruments as of December 31, 2001''. The panel for this survey is expected to include: the 31 largest custodians and largest end- investors that filed schedule 2 in the aforementioned 2001 benchmark survey; and 188 of the next largest end-investors that filed schedule 3 in the aforementioned 2001 benchmark survey. 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 U.S. resident holdings of foreign securities, i.e., 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, or by contacting the survey staff of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York at (212) 720-6300, e-mail: SHC.help@ny.frb.org. The mailing address is: Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Statistics Function, 4th Floor, 33 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10045-0001. 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 3, 2006. 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 48 hours per respondent for end-investors and custodians that file schedule 3 reports covering their securities entrusted to U.S. resident custodians, 145 hours per respondent for large end-investors filing schedule 2 reports, and 700 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 Department of the Treasury is announcing the fee schedule for Sell Direct. Sell Direct fees are charged to the Legacy Treasury Direct and the TreasuryDirect investor for the service of selling unmatured securities in the secondary market, pursuant to the Regulations Governing Book-Entry Treasury Bonds, Notes and Bills Held in Legacy Treasury Direct[reg] and the Regulations Governing Securities Held in TreasuryDirect[reg].

Pursuant to Section 11 of the Debt Collection Act of 1982, as amended, (31 U.S.C. 3717), the Secretary of the Treasury is responsible for computing and publishing the percentage rate to be used in assessing interest charges for outstanding debts owed to the Government. Treasury's Cash Management Requirements (1 TFM 6-8000) prescribe use of this rate by agencies as a comparison point in evaluating the cost-effectiveness of a cash discount. In addition, 5 CFR Part 1315.8 of the Prompt Payment rule on ``Rebates'' requires that this rate be used in determining when agencies should pay purchase card invoices when the card issuer offers a rebate. Notice is hereby given that the applicable rate is 2.00 percent for calendar year 2006.

Elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is issuing a temporary rule amending the TTB regulations relating to special (occupational) tax, to reflect a 3-year tax suspension effected by section 246 of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004. Section 246 amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that, during the period from July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2008, the rate of special (occupational) tax on certain occupations will be zero. The occupations affected by the 3-year tax suspension are: Manufacturers of nonbeverage products who claim tax drawback; proprietors of distilled spirits plants, alcohol fuel plants, bonded and taxpaid wine premises, and breweries; and wholesale and retail dealers in distilled spirits, wine, and beer. The requirements to register annually and keep prescribed records remain in effect. In this notice of proposed rulemaking, we are soliciting comments from all interested parties on these regulatory amendments. The text of the regulations in the temporary rule published in the Rules and Regulations section of this issue of the Federal Register serves as the text of the 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 Rev. Proc. 2005-50, Automatic Consent for Eligible Educational Institution to Change Reporting Methods.