Employer Appointment of Agent

Forms and Documents

Forms and supporting documents for this ICR

Document	Type	Status	Availability
Form 2678 Employer / Payer Appointment of Agent	Form and Instruction	Modified	Available
Summary of Changes_11f2678.pdf	Justification for No Material/Nonsubstantive Change	Uploaded 2011-03-30	Available

IC Document Collections

Information collection document groups

IC ID	Collection	Type	Status	Form
17366	Employer / Payer Appointment of Agent	Form and Instruction	Modified

ICR Details

OMB Control No: 1545-0748	ICR Reference No: 201103-1545-016
Status: Historical Active	Previous ICR Reference No: 200806-1545-026
Agency/Subagency: TREAS/IRS	Agency Tracking No:
Title: Employer Appointment of Agent
Type of Information Collection: No material or nonsubstantive change to a currently approved collection	Common Form ICR:  No
Type of Review Request: Regular
OIRA Conclusion Action: Approved with change	Conclusion Date: 09/22/2011
	Date Received in OIRA: 05/17/2011
Terms of Clearance: Agency modified collection to more accurately describe burden changes.

table that charts list comparision

	Inventory as of this Action	Requested	Previously Approved
Expiration Date	11/30/2011	11/30/2011	11/30/2011
Responses	6,130,000	0	95,200
Time Burden (Hours)	13,731,200	0	47,600
Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0	0

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Abstract: 26 U.S.C. 3504 authorizes an employer to designate a fiduciary, agent, etc., to perform the same acts as required of employers for purposes of employment taxes. Form 2678 is used by an employer to notify the Director, Internal Revenue Service Center, of the appointment of an agent to pay wages on behalf of the employer. In addition, the completed form is an authorization to withhold and pay taxes via Form 941, Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return, for the employees involved.

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Authorizing Statute(s): US Code: 26 USC 3504 Name of Law: Acts to be performed by agents
  

Citations for New Statutory Requirements: PL: Pub.L. 110 - 289 1 Name of Law: Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008
PL: Pub.L. 109 - 171 6071 Name of Law: Deficit Reduction Act of 2005

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Associated Rulemaking Information
RIN:	Stage of Rulemaking:	Federal Register Citation:	Date:
	Not associated with rulemaking

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Federal Register Notices & Comments
60-day Notice:	Federal Register Citation:	Citation Date:
	73 FR 22009	04/23/2008
30-day Notice:	Federal Register Citation:	Citation Date:
	73 FR 55203	09/24/2008
Did the Agency receive public comments on this ICR? No

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Number of Information Collection (IC) in this ICR: 1

table that charts list of burden

IC Title	Form No.	Form Name
Employer / Payer Appointment of Agent	2678	Employer/Payer Appointment of Agent

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ICR Summary of Burden

table that charts list of burden

	Total Approved	Previously Approved	Change Due to New Statute	Change Due to Agency Discretion	Change Due to Adjustment in Estimate	Change Due to Potential Violation of the PRA
Annual Number of Responses	6,130,000	95,200	0	6,034,800	0	0
Annual Time Burden (Hours)	13,731,200	47,600	0	13,647,424	36,176	0
Annual Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0	0	0	0	0

Burden increases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: Yes

Burden Increase Due to: Changing Regulations

Burden decreases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Reduction Due to:

Short Statement: REG-137036-08 proposed regulations relating to employment tax liability of agents authorized by the Secretary under section 3504 of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) to perform acts required of employers with respect to taxes under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act on wages paid for home care services, as defined in these regulations. These regulations also propose amendments to modify the existing regulations under section 3504 to be consistent with the organizational structure of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and to update the citation to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. Form 2678 is used by an employer to notify the Director, Internal Revenue Service Center, of the appointment of an agent to pay wages on behalf of the employer. IRS added a checkbox to Form 2678 so that home care recipients may indicate they are appointing an agent to report, deposit, and pay FUTA taxes, for purposes of identifying such agents. This will help IRS identify the population of Form 940 filers that are home care service recipients for statistical and inference purposes. Adding this checkbox increases the number of responses of Form 2678 by 6,034,800 and increases the burden by 8,336,800 hours. An additional increase in burden by 36,176 hours is being reported to account for an adjustment in the methodology previously used.

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Annual Cost to Federal Government: $83,173

Does this IC contain surveys, censuses, or employ statistical methods? No

Is the Supporting Statement intended to be a Privacy Impact Assessment required by the E-Government Act of 2002? No

Is this ICR related to the Affordable Care Act [Pub. L. 111-148 & 111-152]? No

Is this ICR related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, [Pub. L. 111-203]? No

Is this ICR related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)? No

Is this ICR related to the Pandemic Response? Uncollected

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Common Form ICR:  No

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On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).

The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:

(a) It is necessary for the proper performance of agency functions;

(b) It avoids unnecessary duplication;

(c) It reduces burden on small entities;

(d) It uses plain, coherent, and unambiguous language that is understandable to respondents;

(e) Its implementation will be consistent and compatible with current reporting and recordkeeping practices;

(f) It indicates the retention periods for recordkeeping requirements;

(g) It informs respondents of the information called for under 5 CFR 1320.8 (b)(3) about:

(i) Why the information is being collected;

(ii) Use of information;

(iii) Burden estimate;

(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);

(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and

(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;

(h) It was developed by an office that has planned and allocated resources for the efficient and effective management and use of the information to be collected.

(i) It uses effective and efficient statistical survey methodology (if applicable); and

(j) It makes appropriate use of information technology.

If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.

Certification Date: 05/17/2011

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