1545-2141_Supporting_Statement

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

(Notice 2009-31 and Revenue Procedure 2009-43)

OMB# 1545-2141

1. CIRCUMSTANCES NECESSITATING COLLECTION OF INFORMATION

The guidance in this notice implements temporary, elective relief under the Workers, Retirees, and Employers Relief Act of 2008 (WRERA), which was enacted this past December, for multiemployer pension plans from certain funding requirements. As required under the statute, the guidance prescribes procedures for making the election and filing the election with the Service, and describes notice requirements to participants and others of the election.

2. USE OF DATA

This notice provides guidance for sponsors of multiemployer defined benefit plans relating to the elections described in sections 204 and 205 of the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008, P.L. 110-458 (WRERA), and on the notice required to be provided if a plan sponsor makes an election under section 204

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 small entities affected by this collection.

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

Consequences of less frequent collection on federal programs or policy activities could consist of a decrease in the amount of taxes collected by the Service, inaccurate and untimely filing of tax returns, and an increase in tax violations.

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

This notice was published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin on April 20, 2009, on page 856.

We received no comments during the comment period in response to the Federal Register notice dated October 23, 2015 (80 FR 64506).

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 USC 6103.

11. JUSTIFICATION OF SENSITIVE QUESTIONS

A privacy impact assessment (PIA) has been conducted for information collected under this request as part of the “Business Master file (BMF)” and a Privacy Act System of Records notice (SORN) has been issued for these systems under IRS 22.062 – Electronic Filing Records; 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 http://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

This notice provides guidance for sponsors of multiemployer defined benefit plans relating to the elections described in sections 204 and 205 of the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008, P.L. 110-458 (WRERA), and on the notice required to be provided if a plan sponsor makes an election under section 204. Notice 2009-31 was published April 20, 2009, (2009-16 I.R.B. 860). Notice 2009-43 provides additional clarification.

We estimate the total number of respondents to be 1,600 and the total estimated annual burden of 1,600 hours.

We estimate it will take 1 hour per response to comply.

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

There is no estimated cost burden to respondents.

14. ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

There is no estimated annualized cost to the federal government.

15. REASONS FOR CHANGE IN BURDEN

There were no changes made to the document that resulted in any change to the burden previously reported to OMB.

We are making this submission to renew 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

We believe that displaying the OMB expiration date is inappropriate because it could cause confusion by leading taxpayers to believe that the regulations 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.

18. EXCEPTIONS TO THE CERTIFICATION STATEMENT ON OMB FORM 83-I

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.

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