Supporting Statement

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

OMB# 1545-0432

(Form 5495)

Request for Discharge from Personal Liability Under Internal Revenue Code Section 2204 or 6905

1. CIRCUMSTANCES NECESSITATING COLLECTION OF INFORMATION

Form 5495 provides guidance under sections 2204 and 6905 for executors of estates and fiduciaries of decedent’s trusts. The form, filed after regular filing of an Estate, Gift, or Income tax return for a decedent, is used by the executor or fiduciary to request discharge from personal liability for any deficiency for the tax and periods shown on the form.

2. USE OF DATA

The data collected will be used to determine if an executor or trust fiduciary should be relieved of liability for certain income, gift, and estate taxes of a decedent.

3. USE OF IMPROVED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO REDUCE BURDEN

There are no plans to provide electronic filing because electronic filing is not appropriate for the collection of information in this submission.

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

There are no methods to minimize burden on small businesses or other small entities.

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

Consequences of less frequent collection on federal programs or policy would result in executor or fiduciary requesting fraudulent discharge of personal liability and deficiency from certain tax of a decedent .

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

There are no special circumstances requiring data collection to be inconsistent with Guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).

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 various professional groups to discuss tax law and tax forms. During these meetings, there is an opportunity for those attending to make comments regarding the collection requirements under this form.

In response to the Federal Register notice (80 FR 55176) dated September 14, 2015, we received no comments from the public during the comment period for this form.

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

No payment or gift has been provided to any respondents.

10. ASSURANCE OF CONFIDENTIALITY OF RESPONSES

Generally, tax returns and tax return information are confidential as required by 26 U.S.C. 6103.

11. JUSTIFICATION OF SENSITIVE QUESTIONS

A privacy impact assessment (PIA) has been conducted for information collected under this request as part of the “Individual Master file (IMF)”, “Business Master file (BMF)” and a Privacy Act System of Records notice (SORN) has been issued for these systems under IRS 24.030 – Customer Account Data Engine (CADE) Individual Master File; IRS 24.046 - CADE Business Master File (BMF);IRS 34.037 - IRS Audit Trail and Security Records System. The Internal Revenue Service PIA’s can be found at https://www.irs.gov/uac/privacy-Impact-Assessments-PIA.

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

Estimated number Estimated time Total estimated

of responses per response burden hours

Form 5495.................................... 25,000 12.26 hours 306,500

13. ESTIMATED TOTAL ANNUAL COST BURDEN TO RESPONDENTS

There were no estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and

purchase of services provided to respondents.

14. ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

There are no estimated annualized cost to the federal government.

15. REASONS FOR CHANGE IN BURDEN

There were no changes to the burden previously approved by OMB.

We are making this submission to reinstate the OMB approval.

16. PLANS FOR TABULATION, STATISTICAL ANALYSIS AND PUBLICATION

There are no plans for tabulation statistical analysis and publication.

17. REASONS WHY DISPLAYING THE OMB EXPIRATION DATE IS INAPPROPRIATE

See attachment.

18. EXCEPTIONS TO THE CERTIFICATION STATEMENT ON OMB PRA SUBMISSION FORM

There are no exceptions to the certification statement.

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.