1041-qft.2016 Sup

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

OMB Control Number 1545-1593

Form 1041-QFT, U.S. Income Tax Return for Qualified Funeral Trusts

1. CIRCUMSTANCES NECESSITATING COLLECTION OF INFORMATION

26 USC 671 provides that when the grantor or another person is treated as the

owner of any portion of a trust (grantor trusts), then the income, deductions,

and credits from that portion of the trust shall be included in figuring the

income and credits of the grantor or other person treated as owing that portion

of the trust. 26 USC 685 provides that in the case of qualified funeral trusts

that would otherwise be treated as grantor trusts, the trustee can elect to have

the trust not treated as a grantor trust and to pay the tax on the income earned

by the trust. 26 USC 685(f) provides that the Secretary may prescribe rules

for simplified reporting of all trusts having a single trustee.

2. USE OF DATA

Form 1041-QFT is used by IRS to verify that the income tax reported is correct.

The trustee can use the form to report information for a single qualified funeral trust (QFT) or for multiple QFTs having the same trustee.

3. USE OF IMPROVED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO REDUCE BURDEN

Low filing volume does not justify the cost of electronic enabling for Form 1041-QFT.

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

PROGRAMSOR POLICY ACTIVITIES

Consequences of less frequent collection on federal programs or policy activities could result in individuals not reporting their income subject to tax and not computing their tax liability correctly.

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 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 1041-QFT.

In response to the Federal Register notice dated February 10, 2016 (81 FR 7191), we received no comments during the comment period regarding Form 1041-QFT.

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 24.030- CADE Individual Master File; IRS-24.046 – CADE Business Master File (BMF) and Treas./IRS 34.037 IRS Audit Trail and Security Records System. The Internal Revenue Service PIAs 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

The burden estimate is as follows:

Number of Time per

Form Responses Response Total hours

1041-QFT 15,000 18.50 277,500

13. ESTIMATED TOTAL ANNUAL COST BURDEN TO RESPONDENTS

There are 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

The primary cost to the government consists of the cost of printing Form 1041-QFT.

We estimate that the cost of printing the form is $200.

15. REASONS FOR CHANGE IN BURDEN

There are no changes to the burden previously approved by OMB. We are making this submission to renewal purposes only.

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

There are no exceptions to the certification statement for this collection.

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 supplies 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, at 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.