Internal Revenue Service February 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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 regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information entitled ``Affordable Care ActSummary of Benefits and Coverage Disclosures.''

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 Application of Separate Limitations to Dividends From Noncontrolled Section 902 Corporations.

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 1045, Application for Tentative Refund.

This document contains final and temporary regulations relating to the compliance-monitoring duties of a State or local housing credit agency for purposes of the low-income housing credit. The final and temporary regulations revise and clarify the requirement to conduct physical inspections and review low-income certifications and other documentation. The final and temporary regulations will affect State or local housing credit agencies. The text of these temporary regulations also serves as the text of the proposed regulations (REG-150349-12) 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 corrections to a notice of proposed rulemaking (REG-109822-15) that was published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, December 23, 2015 (80 FR 79795). The proposed regulations would require annual country-by-country reporting by United States persons that are the ultimate parent entity of a multinational enterprise group.

This document contains proposed regulations that provide guidance regarding the definition of political subdivision for purposes of tax-exempt bonds. The proposed regulations are necessary to specify the elements of a political subdivision. The proposed regulations will affect State and local governments that issue tax-exempt bonds and users of property financed with tax-exempt bonds. Under certain transition rules, however, the proposed definition of political subdivision will not apply for determining whether outstanding bonds are obligations of a political subdivision and will not apply to existing entities for a transition period. This document also provides a notice of a public hearing for these proposed regulations.

This document contains final and temporary regulations relating to the taxation of, and withholding on, foreign persons upon certain dispositions of, and distributions with respect to, United States real property interests (USRPIs). The regulations reflect changes made by the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (the PATH Act). In addition, the regulations update certain mailing addresses listed in regulations under sections 897 and 1445. These regulations affect certain holders of USRPIs and withholding agents that are required to withhold tax on certain dispositions of, and distributions with respect to, USRPIs. This document also requests comments on certain other aspects of the PATH Act that apply to dispositions of, and distributions with respect to, USRPIs.

This document contains final regulations relating to information reporting by brokers for transactions involving debt instruments and options, including the reporting of original issue discount (OID) on tax-exempt obligations, the treatment of certain holder elections for reporting a taxpayer's adjusted basis in a debt instrument, and transfer reporting for section 1256 options and debt instruments. The regulations in this document provide guidance to brokers and payors and to their customers.

The Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (``MPRA''), which was enacted by Congress as part of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015, relates to multiemployer defined benefit pension plans that are projected to have insufficient funds, within a specified timeframe, to pay the full plan benefits to which individuals will be entitled (referred to as plans in ``critical and declining status''). Under MPRA, the sponsor of such a plan is permitted to reduce the pension benefits payable to plan participants and beneficiaries if certain conditions and limitations are satisfied (referred to in MPRA as a ``suspension of benefits''). One specific limitation governs the application of a suspension of benefits under any plan that includes benefits directly attributable to a participant's service with any employer that has withdrawn from the plan in a complete withdrawal, paid its full withdrawal liability, and, pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement, assumed liability for providing benefits to participants and beneficiaries equal to any benefits for such participants and beneficiaries reduced as a result of the financial status of the plan. This document contains proposed regulations that would provide guidance relating to this specific limitation. These regulations affect active, retired, and deferred vested participants and beneficiaries under any such multiemployer plan in critical and declining status as well as employers contributing to, and sponsors and administrators of, those 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 8752, Required Payment or Refund Under Section 7519.

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 1041-QT, U. S. Income Tax Return for Qualified Funeral Trusts.

This document contains temporary regulations that provide guidance relating to the allocation by a partnership of creditable foreign tax expenditures. These temporary regulations are necessary to improve the operation of an existing safe harbor rule that is used for determining whether allocations of creditable foreign tax expenditures are deemed to be in accordance with the partners' interests in the partnership. The text of these temporary regulations also serves as the text of the proposed regulations set forth in the notice of proposed rulemaking (REG-100861-15) published in the Proposed Rules section in this issue of the Federal Register. These regulations affect partnerships that pay or accrue foreign income taxes, and their partners.