In accordance
with 5 CFR 1320, OMB is filing comment and withholding approval at
this time. The agency shall examine public comment in response to
the proposed rulemaking and will include in the supporting
statement of the next ICR--to be submitted to OMB at the final rule
stage--a description of how the agency has responded to any public
comments on the ICR, including comments on maximizing the practical
utility of the collection and minimizing the burden.
Inventory as of this Action
Requested
Previously Approved
36 Months From Approved
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The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017
reduced tax levels applicable to corporate and individual income,
effective January 1, 2018. Pipelines subject to cost of service
regulation pursuant to Section 4 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA) and
Section 311 of the Natural Gas Policy Act (NGPA) are permitted to
include projected income taxes as part of the cost of service, and
are permitted the opportunity to recover those costs through their
rates. Pipelines are not required to reduce their rates to reflect
reduced income taxes. Proposed FERC-501G is required to implement
the statutory provisions governed by Section 4 of the NGA and
Section 311 of the NGPA that the pipelines’ currently effective
rates remain just and reasonable (NGA) or fair and equitable
(NGPA).
On December 22, 2017, the
President signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The Tax Cuts and Jobs
Act, among other things, lowers the federal corporate income tax
rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, effective January 1, 2018. This
means that, beginning January 1, 2018, companies subject to the
Commission’s jurisdiction will compute income taxes owed to the IRS
based on a 21 percent tax rate. The tax rate reduction will result
in less corporate income tax expense going forward. The tax rate
reduction will also result in a reduction in accumulated deferred
income taxes (ADIT) on the books of rate-regulated companies. The
amount of the reduction to ADIT that was collected from customers
but is no longer payable to the IRS is excess ADIT and should be
flowed back to ratepayers under general ratemaking principles. The
proposed new FERC-501G is a one-time information collection (with
various components) designed to provide the data to ensure natural
gas pipeline rates are just and reasonable. FERC-501G is a one-time
report (for which the various components are detailed in Question
12) with no continuing reporting requirement.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
RM18-11_NOPR_501G supporting statement3-23-2018.docx
NOPR RM18-11-fact-sheet.pdf
NGPA section 311 and Hinshaw Pipelines with Cost-Based Rates