Department of Treasury 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document contains proposed regulations that address when tax-exempt bonds are treated as retired for purposes of section 103 and sections 141 through 150 of the Internal Revenue Code (Code). The proposed regulations are necessary to unify and to clarify existing guidance on this subject. The proposed regulations affect State and local governments that issue tax-exempt bonds.

This document contains a correction to notice of proposed rulemaking and notice of public hearing (REG-115420-18) that was published in the Federal Register on Monday, October 29, 2018. The proposed regulations are providing guidance under new section 1400Z-2 of the Internal Revenue Code relating to gains that may be deferred as a result of a taxpayer's investment in a qualified opportunity fund.

This notice of proposed rulemaking provides rules regarding the limitation on the deduction for business interest expense after the enactment of recent tax legislation. Specifically, these regulations provide general rules and definitions. The regulations also provide rules for calculating the limitation in consolidated group, partnership, and international contexts. The regulations affect taxpayers that have deductible business interest expense, other than certain small businesses, electing real property trades or businesses, electing farming businesses, and certain utility businesses. This document also withdraws a notice of proposed rulemaking relating to the disallowance of a deduction for certain interest paid or accrued by a corporation. This document also provides notice of a public hearing on the proposed regulations.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is amending its enforceable guidelines relating to recovery planning standards for insured national banks, insured federal savings associations, and insured federal branches (Guidelines) by increasing the average total consolidated assets threshold for applying the Guidelines from $50 billion to $250 billion. In addition, the OCC is changing the Guidelines to decrease from 18 months to 12 months the time within which a bank should comply with the Guidelines after the bank becomes subject to them. Finally, the OCC is making technical amendments to remove outdated compliance dates.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is providing notice of its maximum civil money penalties as adjusted for inflation. The inflation adjustments are required to implement the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015.

The Internal Revenue Service, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the 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 Schedule E (Form 1040), Supplemental Income and Loss.

The Internal Revenue Service, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the 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 Form 8038-T, Arbitrage Rebate, Yield Reduction and Penalty in Lieu of Arbitrage Rebate.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (collectively, the agencies) are inviting comment on a proposal that would establish risk-based categories for determining applicability of requirements under the regulatory capital rule, the liquidity coverage ratio rule, and the proposed net stable funding ratio rule for large U.S. banking organizations. The proposal would establish four categories of standards and apply tailored capital and liquidity requirements for banking organizations subject to each category. The proposal is consistent with a separate proposal issued by the Board that would apply certain prudential standards for large U.S. banking organizations based on the same categories. The proposal would not amend the capital and liquidity requirements currently applicable to an intermediate holding company of a foreign banking organization or its subsidiary depository institutions. This proposal also would not amend the requirements applicable to Federal branches or agencies of foreign banking organizations.

The United States Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service, is streamlining its securities regulations by removing regulations that are no longer necessary because they do not have any current or future applicability.

The Internal Revenue Service, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the 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 Form 8586, Low-Income Housing Credit.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (together, the agencies) are inviting public comment on a proposal that would implement a new approach for calculating the exposure amount of derivative contracts under the agencies' regulatory capital rule. The proposed approach, called the standardized approach for counterparty credit risk (SA-CCR), would replace the current exposure methodology (CEM) as an additional methodology for calculating advanced approaches total risk-weighted assets under the capital rule. An advanced approaches banking organization also would be required to use SA-CCR to calculate its standardized total risk-weighted assets; a non-advanced approaches banking organization could elect to use either CEM or SA-CCR for calculating its standardized total risk-weighted assets. In addition, the proposal would modify other aspects of the capital rule to account for the proposed implementation of SA-CCR. Specifically, the proposal would require an advanced approaches banking organization to use SA-CCR with some adjustments to determine the exposure amount of derivative contracts for calculating total leverage exposure (the denominator of the supplementary leverage ratio). The proposal also would incorporate SA-CCR into the cleared transactions framework and would make other amendments, generally with respect to cleared transactions. The proposed introduction of SA-CCR would indirectly affect the Board's single counterparty credit limit rule, along with other rules. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency also is proposing to update cross-references to CEM and add SA-CCR as an option for determining exposure amounts for derivative contracts in its lending limit rules.

The United States Mint is announcing the pricing for 2018 American Innovation coin products. These prices are listed in the table below.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is expanding the approximately 18,240-acre ``Arroyo Seco'' viticultural area in Monterey County, California, by approximately 90 acres. The established Arroyo Seco viticultural area and the expansion area both lie within the established Monterey viticultural area and the larger, multi-county Central Coast 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 OCC, Board, and FDIC (collectively, the agencies) are inviting comment on a proposed rule to amend the agencies' regulations requiring appraisals for certain real estate-related transactions. The proposed rule would increase the threshold level at or below which appraisals would not be required for residential real estate-related transactions from $250,000 to $400,000. Consistent with the requirement for other transactions that fall below applicable thresholds, regulated institutions would be required to obtain an evaluation of the real property collateral that is consistent with safe and sound banking practices. The proposed rule would make conforming changes to add transactions secured by residential property in rural areas that have been exempted from the agencies' appraisal requirement pursuant to the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act to the list of exempt transactions. The proposed rule would require evaluations for these exempt transactions. Pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the proposed rule would amend the agencies' appraisal regulations to require regulated institutions to subject appraisals for federally related transactions to appropriate review for compliance with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice.

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 Form 6252, Installment Sale Income.

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 Form 5304-SIMPLE, Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees of Small Employers (SIMPLE)Not for Use With a Designated Financial Institution; Form 5305-SIMPLE, Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees of Small Employers (SIMPLE)for Use With a Designated Financial Institution; Notice 98-4, Simple IRA Plan Guidance

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 Form 13285-A, Reducing Tax Burden on America's Taxpayers.

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 an existing notice of proposed rulemaking and temporary regulations, FI-255-82 (TD 7852), Registration Requirements With Respect to Debt Obligations (Sec. 5f.103-1(c)).

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) proposes to establish the approximately 215-square mile ``Crest of the Blue Ridge Henderson County'' viticultural area in Henderson County, North Carolina. The proposed viticultural area is not located within, nor does it contain, 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. TTB invites comments on this proposed addition to its regulations.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) establishes the approximately 1,500-square mile ``Upper Hudson'' viticultural area in all or portions of Albany, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, and Washington Counties in New York. The Upper Hudson viticultural area is 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 Internal Revenue Service, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the 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 modifications of commercial mortgage loans held by a real estate mortgage investment conduit.

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 respondents are 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 the renewal of its information collection titled, ``Leasing.''

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 qualified plug-in electric vehicle credit.