SUPPORTING STATEMENT
Revenue Procedures 2011-4, 2011-5, 2011-6, and 2011-8
CIRCUMSTANCES NECESSITATING COLLECTION OF INFORMATION
Section 601.201(a)(1) of the Statement of Procedural Rules (26 C.F.R. § 601.201(a)(1)) provides that it is the practice of the Internal Revenue Service ("Service") to answer inquiries of individuals and organizations, whenever appropriate in the interest of sound tax administration, as to their status for tax purposes and as to the tax effects of their acts or transactions. Under these revenue procedures, taxpayers can request letter rulings, determination letters and technical advice from the Service on how the tax laws apply to them. The Service requires information from taxpayers in order to process these requests and to determine the amount of any user fees.
USE OF DATA
The data will be used by the Service to evaluate a taxpayer's request for a private letter ruling, a technical advice memorandum, or a determination letter (including the requested deletions and retroactive effect, if any). In addition, the data collected under the user fee revenue procedure will be used to determine the correct amount of a particular user fee.
USE OF IMPROVED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO REDUCE BURDEN
IRS Publications, Regulations, Notices and Letters are to be electronically enabled on an as practicable basis in accordance with the IRS Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998.
EFFORTS TO IDENTIFY DUPLICATION
We have attempted to eliminate duplication within the agency wherever possible.
METHODS TO MINIMIZE BURDEN ON SMALL BUSINESSES OR OTHER SMALL ENTITIES
In the employee plans area, administrative programs have been established whereby certain businesses can initially obtain the approval as to the form of a plan, e.g., a master or prototype plan. Those businesses will then market the form plan to other businesses. If utilized, these programs tend to lessen the administrative costs associated with such plans to small businesses. With respect to user fees imposed where a private letter ruling is requested, if the assets of a plan are below a certain dollar amount, there is a reduced user fee.
With respect to exempt organization matters, there are reduced user fees when the combined gross income of the applicant and the applicant's spouse in an exempt organizations ruling request is below a certain dollar amount.
CONSEQUENCES OF LESS FREQUENT COLLECTION ON FEDERAL PROGRAMS OR POLICY ACTIVITIES
Not applicable.
SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES REQUIRING DATA COLLECTION TO BE INCONSISTENT WITH GUIDELINES IN 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2)
Various sections of the revenue procedures for private letter rulings, technical advice, and determination letters require information to be submitted before 30 days. These provisions are located throughout portions of 26 C.F.R. 601.201.
CONSULTATION WITH INDIVIDUALS OUTSIDE OF THE AGENCY ON AVAILABILITY OF DATA, FREQUENCY OF COLLECTION, CLARITY OF INSTRUCTIONS AND FORMS, AND DATA ELEMENTS
Revenue Procedure 2011-4, Revenue Procedure 2011-5, Revenue Procedure 2011-6, and Revenue Procedure 2011-8 were published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin on January 3, 2011.
We received no comments during the comment period in response to the Federal Register notice dated September 17, 2012 (77 FR 57196).
EXPLANATION OF DECISION TO PROVIDE ANY PAYMENT OR GIFT TO RESPONDENTS
Not applicable.
10 ASSURANCE OF CONFIDENTIALITY OF RESPONSES
Submissions under these revenue procedures are considered tax returns and tax return information, which are confidential as required by 26 U.S.C. § 6103. In general, certain matters relating to taxability and deductibility are disclosable under 26 U.S.C. 6110.
JUSTIFICATION OF SENSITIVE QUESTIONS
Not applicable.
ESTIMATED BURDEN OF INFORMATION COLLECTION
The total burden for this submission is 83,074 responses and 178,146 hours.
Estimates of the annualized cost to respondents for the hour burdens shown are not available at this time.
ESTIMATED TOTAL ANNUAL COST BURDEN TO RESPONDENTS
As suggested by OMB, our Federal Register notice dated September 17, 2012, requested public comments on estimates of cost burden that are not captured in the estimates of burden hours, i.e., estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information. However, we did not receive any response from taxpayers on this subject. As a result, estimates of the cost burdens are not available at this time.
ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Not applicable.
REASONS FOR CHANGE IN BURDEN
There are no changes being made to the paperwork burden previously approved by OMB.
We are making this submission to renew the OMB approval.
PLANS FOR TABULATION, STATISTICAL ANALYSIS AND PUBLICATION
Not applicable.
17. REASONS WHY DISPLAYING THE OMB EXPIRATION DATE IS INAPPROPRIATE
We believe that displaying the OMB expiration date is inappropriate because it could cause confusion by leading taxpayers to believe that the revenue procedures sunset as of the expiration date. Taxpayers are not likely to be aware that the Service intends to request renewal of the OMB approval and obtain a new expiration date before the old one expires.
EXCEPTIONS TO THE CERTIFICATION STATEMENT ON OMB FORM 83-I
Not applicable.
Note: The following paragraph applies to all of the collections of information in this submission:
An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless the collection of information displays a valid OMB control number. Books or records relating to a collection of information must be retained as long as their contents may become material in the administration of any internal revenue law. Generally, tax returns and tax return information are confidential, as required by 26 U.S.C. 6103.
OMB EXPIRATION DATE
We believe the public interest will be better served by not printing an expiration date on the form(s) in this package.
Printing the expiration date on the form will result in increased costs because of the need to replace inventories that become obsolete by passage of the expiration date each time OMB approval is renewed. Without printing the expiration date, supplies of the form could continue to be used.
The time period during which the current edition of the form(s) in this package will continue to be usable cannot be predicted. It could easily span several cycles of review and OMB clearance renewal. In addition, usage fluctuates unpredictably. This makes it necessary to maintain a substantial inventory of forms in the supply line at all times. This includes supplied owned by both the Government and the public. Reprinting of the form cannot be reliably scheduled to coincide with an OMB approval expiration date. This form may be privately printed by users at their own expense. Some businesses print complex and expensive marginally punched continuous versions, their expense, for use in their computers. The form may be printed by commercial printers and stocked for sale. In such cases, printing the expiration date on the form could result in extra costs to the users.
Not printing the expiration date on the form(s) will also avoid confusion among taxpayers who may have identical forms with different expiration dates in their possession.
For the above reasons we request authorization to omit printing the expiration date on the form(s) in this package.
| File Type | application/msword |
| Author | J11FB |
| Last Modified By | J11FB |
| File Modified | 2012-11-14 |
| File Created | 2011-07-22 |