1545-0988_supporting_statement_20140904

5

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

(Form 8609, 8609-A)

OMB #1545-0988

1. CIRCUMSTANCES NECESSITATING COLLECTION OF INFORMATION

Section 38 of the Internal Revenue Code allows a credit under section 42 of the Code to owners of certain low-income residential rental property. To qualify for this credit, the owner of the building(s) applies to the state housing credit agency for an allocation of the state's ceiling of the low-income housing credit. The housing credit agency issues the allocation to the owner using Part I of Form 8609. The building owner makes copies of the Form 8609 received from the state housing credit agency, completes all of Part II in the year the building is placed in service, certifies that the building continues to qualify for the credit each year of the compliance period (usually 15 years), and attaches the copy of Form 8609 to the building owner's income tax return.

2. USE OF DATA

The information on these forms is used by the IRS to compute and verify the tax credit claimed for low-income housing.

3. USE OF IMPROVED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO REDUCE BURDEN

We have no plans at this time to offer electronic filing because of the low volume compared to the cost of electronic enabling

.

4. EFFORTS TO IDENTIFY DUPLICATION

We have attempted to eliminate duplication within the agency wherever possible.

5. METHODS TO MINIMIZE BURDEN ON SMALL BUSINESSES OR OTHER SMALL ENTITIES

Not applicable.

6. CONSEQUENCES OF LESS FREQUENT COLLECTION ON FEDERAL PROGRAMS OR POLICY ACTIVITIES

Not applicable.

7. SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES REQUIRING DATA COLLECTION TO BE INCONSISTENT WITH GUIDELINES IN 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2)

Not applicable.

8. CONSULTATION WITH INDIVIDUALS OUTSIDE OF THE AGENCY ON AVAILABILITY OF DATA, FREQUENCY OF COLLECTION, CLARITY OF INSTRUCTIONS AND FORMS, AND DATA ELEMENTS

Periodic meetings are held between IRS personnel and representatives of the American Bar Association, the National Society of Public Accountants, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and other professional groups to discuss tax law and tax forms. During these meetings, there is an opportunity for those attending to make comments regarding Form 8609.

In response to the Federal Register notice, (79 FR10231) , dated February 24, 2014, we received no comments during the comment period regarding Form 8609 or Form 8609-A.

9. EXPLANATION OF DECISION TO PROVIDE ANY PAYMENT OR GIFT TO RESPONDENTS

Not applicable.

10. ASSURANCE OF CONFIDENTIALITY OF RESPONSES

Generally, tax returns and tax return information are confidential as required by 26 USC 6103.

11. JUSTIFICATION OF SENSITIVE QUESTIONS

In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, Treasury has published its complete Privacy Act systems of records notices, which include all maintained records systems as of January 2, 2014; six systems have been amended, altered, or added since April 20, 2010, when the complete notices were last published. See 79 F.R. 209-261 and 79 F.R. 183-206, which was published on January 2, 2014.

A privacy impact assessment (PIA) has been conducted for information collected under this request as part of the “Business Master File (BMF)” system and a Privacy Act System of Records notice (SORN) has been issued for this system under IRS 24.046-Customer Account Data Engine Business Master File. The Department of Treasury PIAs can be found at http://www.treasury.gov/privacy/PIAs/Pages/default.aspx.

Title 26 USC 6109 requires inclusion of identifying numbers in returns, statements, or other documents for securing proper identification of persons required to make such returns, statements, or documents and is the authority for social security numbers (SSNs) in IRS systems.

12. ESTIMATED BURDEN OF INFORMATION COLLECTION

The burden estimate is as follows:

Form	Number of Responses	Time per Response (hrs.)	Total Hours
Form 8609	41,046	18.29	750,732
Form 8609-A	300,000	11.03	3,309,000
Line 11 worksheet	18,000	1.70	30,600
Total			4,090,332

Estimates of the annualized cost to respondents for the hour burdens shown are not available at this time.

13. ESTIMATED TOTAL ANNUAL COST BURDEN TO RESPONDENTS

As suggested by OMB, a Federal Register notice (79 FR 10231), dated February 24, 2014, 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.

14. ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

The primary cost to the government consists of the cost of printing these forms. We estimate that the cost of printing the forms is $18,500.

15. REASONS FOR CHANGE IN BURDEN

There are no changes to the paperwork burden previously approved by OMB. This submission is for renewal purposes only.

16. 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 information collection sunsets 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 OMB approval expires.

18. 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.