2017-07-05 SS 1545-1362r

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Supporting Statement

Internal Revenue Service

(Form 8835)

Renewable Electricity, Refined Coal, and Indian Coal Production Credit

OMB-1545-1362

1. CIRCUMSTANCES NECESSITATING COLLECTION OF INFORMATION

Public Law 102-486, Section 1914 of the Energy Policy Act of 1992, amended Internal Revenue Code section 38 and added a new section 45, Electricity Produced from Certain Renewable Resources, as a component of the general business credit. Filers who claim the credit for electricity produced from renewable resources must file Form 8835.

2. USE OF DATA

The certification and recordkeeping requirements that sections 38 and 45 place on the filers of general business credits are used by the IRS to verify that the credits are being used properly and in accordance with the purposes of the Energy Policy Act. The information collected on Form 8835 is used to verify the correctness of the credit claimed.

3. USE OF IMPROVED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO REDUCE BURDEN

We are currently offering electronic filing for Form 8835.

4. EFFORTS TO IDENTIFY DUPLICATION

The information obtained through this collection is unique and is not already available for use or adaptation from another source.

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

Small businesses should not be disadvantaged as the form has been structured to request the least amount of information and still satisfy the requirements of the statute and the needs of the Service.

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

A less frequent collection of this information would not allow the IRS to verify that the credits are being used properly and in accordance with the purposes of the Energy Policy Act thereby not allowing the IRS to meet its mission.

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)

7. 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 8835.

In response to the Federal Register Notice dated May 8, 2017 (82 FR 21454), we received no comments during the comment period regarding Form 8835.

7. 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

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 Internal Revenue Service 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

Authority	Description	# of Respondents	# Responses per Respondent	Annual Responses	Hours per Response	Total Burden
IRC § 38 and 45	Form 8835	477	1	477	18.28	8720
Totals				477		8720

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

13. ESTIMATED TOTAL ANNUAL COST BURDEN TO RESPONDENTS

To ensure more accuracy and consistency across its information collections, IRS is currently in the process of revising the methodology it uses to estimate burden and costs. Once this methodology is complete, IRS will update this information collection to reflect a more precise estimate of burden and costs.

14. ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

The primary cost to the government consists of the cost of printing this form. We estimate that the cost of printing the form is $550.

15. REASONS FOR CHANGE IN BURDEN

Increase in overall burden is result of actual numbers of form 8835 attached to form 1041’s 2016 returns. We are making this submission to renew the OMB approval.

	Requested	Program Change Due to New Statute	Program Change Due to Agency Discretion	Change Due to Adjustment in Agency Estimate	Change Due to Potential Violation of the PRA	Previously Approved
Annual Number of Responses for this IC	477	0	0	431	0	46
Annual IC Time Burden (Hours)	8720	0	-203	7,878	0	1045

Burden was reduced by 203 burden hours due to agency discretion by streamlining Form 8835 to reduce the time needed to complete Form 8835. The Form 8835 had Part 1 removed in 2016 because the credit period for electricity produced at qualified facilities placed in service before October 23, 2004, expired and has not been extended from Public Law 110-10 Div B, 2.

Burden was increased by 7,878 due to a change in agency estimate by an increase in the number of filers of Form 8835.

Total annual burden hours increased by 7,675 hours.

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 form 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 one expires.

17. EXCEPTION 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.

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