Internal Revenue Service December 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document contains final and temporary regulations under section 468A of the Internal Revenue Code relating to deductions for contributions to trusts maintained for decommissioning nuclear power plants. The temporary regulations affect most taxpayers that own an interest in a nuclear power plant and reflect recent statutory changes. The text of these 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.

This document contains proposed amendments to regulations relating to employment tax adjustments and employment tax refund claims. These proposed amendments modify the process for making interest-free adjustments for both underpayments and overpayments of Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) and Railroad Retirement Tax Act (RRTA) taxes and Federal income tax withholding (ITW) under sections 6205(a) and 6413(a), respectively, of the Internal Revenue Code (Code). These proposed amendments also modify the process for filing claims for refund of overpayments of employment taxes under sections 6402 and 6414. These amendments are proposed in connection with the IRS's development of new forms to report adjustments to employment taxes which will replace the existing process of reporting adjustments of employment taxes on regularly filed employment tax returns. These proposed amendments affect taxpayers that file Form 941, ``Employer's QUARTERLY Federal Tax Return,'' Form 943, ``Employer's Annual Tax Return for Agricultural Employees,'' Form 944, ``Employer's ANNUAL Federal Tax Return,'' Form 945, ``Annual Return of Withheld Federal Income Tax,'' and Form CT-1, ``Employer's Annual Railroad Retirement Tax Return,'' and any related Spanish-language returns or returns for U.S. possessions. This document contains proposed amendments to regulations relating to the return requirements under section 6011 to reflect the changes to the adjustment and refund processes, and to reflect additional statutory and process updates. This document also contains proposed amendments to the regulations under section 6302 to clarify deposit obligations with respect to interest-free adjustments of underpayments and the effect of adjustments and refunds on the deposit schedule of a Form 943 filer. This document also provides notice of a public hearing on these proposed amendments to the regulations.

In the Rules and Regulations section of this issue of the Federal Register, the IRS is issuing a regulation that would add an additional item of return information that may be disclosed to the Bureau of the Census (Bureau) for use in the Bureau's annual Survey of Industrial Research and Development. This proposed regulation provides guidance to IRS personnel responsible for disclosing the information. This regulation facilitates the assistance of the IRS to the Bureau in its statistics programs and requires no action by taxpayers and has no effect on their tax liabilities.

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 8609, Low-Income Housing Credit Allocation and Certification and 8609-A, Annual Statement of Low-Income Housing Credit.

This document contains a final regulation relating to the list of items of return information disclosed to the Bureau of the Census (Bureau). The regulation adds two items of return information for use in producing demographic statistics programs, including the Bureau's Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE). The final regulation also removes four items that the Bureau has indicated are no longer necessary. This regulation facilitates the assistance of the IRS to the Bureau in its statistics programs and requires no action by taxpayers and has no effect on their tax liabilities.

This document removes the final regulation for Sec. 1.1561-2, amends Sec. Sec. 1.1561-2T and 1.1563-1T, and adds Sec. 1.1502-47T. These temporary regulations affect component members of a controlled group of corporations and consolidated groups filing life-nonlife Federal income tax returns. These temporary regulations provide guidance for calculating and apportioning between component members any amount of additional tax and any reduction in the amount exempted from the alternative minimum tax. These temporary regulations also update and clarify the allocation of tax-benefit items in the case in which a component member has a short taxable year not including a December 31st date. Finally, these temporary regulations provide explanations of two concepts: a group's testing date and a member's testing period for use in determining which members of the group and which taxable years of those members are subject to the controlled group rules. The text of these 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.

This document contains final and temporary regulations under section 904(g) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) relating to the recapture of overall domestic losses. Section 402 of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 (AJCA) enacted new section 904(g) of the Code to provide for the recapture of overall domestic losses. These regulations provide guidance needed to comply with these changes, as well as updated guidance with respect to overall foreign losses and separate limitation losses, and affect individuals and corporations claiming foreign tax credits. The text of these temporary regulations also serves as the text of the proposed regulations (REG-141399-07) published in the Proposed Rules section in this issue of the Federal Register.

This document contains final and temporary Income Tax Regulations regarding the reduction of the number of separate foreign tax credit limitation categories under section 904(d) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code). Section 404 of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 (AJCA) reduced the number of section 904(d) separate categories from eight to two, effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2006. These temporary regulations affect taxpayers claiming foreign tax credits and provide guidance needed to comply with the statutory changes made by the AJCA. The text of these temporary regulations also serves as the text of the proposed regulations (REG-114126-07) set forth in the notice of proposed rulemaking on this subject published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register.

This document contains corrections to temporary regulations (TD 9362) that were published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, November 7, 2007 (72 FR 62771) relating to a United States taxpayer's obligation under section 905(c) of the Internal Revenue Code to notify the IRS of a foreign tax redetermination, which is a change in the taxpayer's foreign tax liability that may affect the taxpayer's foreign tax credit and also relating to the civil penalty under section 6689 for failure to notify the IRS of a foreign tax redetermination as required under section 905(c).

This document provides a notice of public hearing on proposed rulemaking providing guidance regarding the use of certain funding balances maintained for defined benefit pension plans and regarding benefit restrictions for certain underfunded defined benefit pension plans.

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 1065-B, U.S. Return of Income for Electing Large Partnerships, and Schedule K-1, Partner's Share of Income (Loss) From an Electing Large Partnership.

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 an existing final regulation, REG-105344-01 (TD 9036) Disclosure of Returns and Return Information by Other Agencies (Sec. 301.6103(p)(2)(B)-1).

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 an existing final regulation, Notice of Significant Reduction in the Rate of Future Benefit Accrual.

This document contains a correction to temporary regulations (TD 9366) that were published in the Federal Register on Thursday, November 15, 2007 (72 FR 64147) describing the time and manner in which certain tax-exempt organizations not currently required to file an annual information return under section 6033(a)(1) are required to submit an annual electronic notice including certain information required by section 6033(i)(1)(A) through (F).

This document contains corrections to final regulations (TD 9363) that were published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, November 13, 2007 (72 FR 63807) relating to the requirements for filing corporate income tax returns and returns of organizations required to file returns under section 6033 on magnetic media pursuant to section 6011(e) of the Internal Revenue Code.

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 1099-Q, Payments From Qualified Education Programs (Under Sections 529 and 530).

Publication of the tier 2 tax rates for calendar year 2008 as required by section 3241(d) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. section 3241). Tier 2 taxes on railroad employees, employers, and employee representatives are one source of funding for benefits under the Railroad Retirement Act.

This document contains corrections to a notice of proposed rulemaking (REG-151884-03) that was published in the Federal Register on Friday, November 16, 2007, (72 FR 64545) providing guidance under sections 381(c)(4) and (c)(5) of the Internal Revenue Code relating to the accounting method or combination of methods, including the inventory method, to use after certain corporate reorganizations and tax-free liquidations. These proposed regulations clarify and simplify the existing regulations under sections 381(c)(4) and (c)(5). The regulations affect corporations that acquire the assets of other corporations in transactions described in section 381(a).