The Internal Revenue Code (IRC), at 26
U.S.C. 5114, 5173, 5272, 5354, 5401, and 5711, requires certain
alcohol and tobacco industry proprietors to post a bond in
conformity with regulations issued by the Secretary of the Treasury
(Secretary) to ensure payment by the bonding company of Federal
excise taxes due on alcohol or tobacco products should a proprietor
default. When circumstances of a proprietor's operation change from
the original bond agreement, the TTB regulations authorized under
those IRC sections allow the proprietor to complete form TTB F
5000.18, Change in Bond (Consent of Surety), in lieu of obtaining a
new bond. Once executed by the proprietor and an approved surety
company, the form is filed with TTB, which retains it as long as
the revised bond agreement remains in force.
Previously reported amendments
to the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) have exempted many small alcohol
beverage industry proprietors from the IRC's provisions requiring
submission of a bond and thus the need to submit changes to bonds
on form TTB F 5000.18. Therefore, due to changes in agency
estimates resulting from the decrease in the number of alcohol
beverage industry proprietors submitting TTB F 5000.18, TTB is
decreasing this information collection’s estimated number of
respondents from 2,000 to 120. This results in a corresponding
decrease in the collection’s estimated number of annual responses,
from 2,000 to 120, and a decrease in its estimated annual burden
hours, from 2,000 to 120.
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.