Internal Revenue Service August 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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.

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.

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 13013C, Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP) Membership Application.

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.

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.

This document corrects temporary regulations (TD 9205) that were published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, May 24, 2005 (70 FR 29596). The document contains temporary regulations relating to the computation and allocation of the credit for increasing research activities for members of a controlled group of corporations or a group of trades or businesses under common control.

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 8621-A, Return by a Shareholder Making Certain Late Elections To End Treatment as a Passive Foreign Investment Company.

This document amends the applicability date of final regulations under sections 883(a) and (c) (TD 9087) which were published in the Federal Register on August 26, 2003 (68 FR 51394). Those final regulations relate to income derived by a foreign corporation from the international operation of ships or aircraft.

This document contains final and temporary regulations relating to the capitalization of costs under the simplified service cost method of the Income Tax Regulations and the simplified production method. The regulations affect taxpayers that use the simplified service cost method or the simplified production method for self- constructed assets that are produced on a routine and repetitive basis in the ordinary course of their businesses. 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 in this issue of the Federal Register. The portions of this rule that are final regulations provide necessary cross-references to the temporary regulations.

An open meeting of the Area 7 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.

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 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 8901, Information on Qualifying Children Who Are Not Dependents.