Justification for non-substantive change

JUSTIFICATION

The BE-11 Annual Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad collects a variety of information on the finances and operations of U.S. parents and their foreign affiliates, including balance sheets, income statements, employment, trade, and research and development activities. The data are needed to measure the size and economic significance of U.S. direct investment abroad, measure changes in such investment, and assess its impact on the U.S. and foreign economies.

This request is for a nonsubstantive change of a currently approved collection. The 2020 BE-11, as proposed, incorporates three changes that were made to the 2019 BE-10, Benchmark Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad. The year following a benchmark year BEA incorporates any relevant changes made to the benchmark BE-10 to its annual counterpart, the BE-11. These changes are listed below:

• Item 7 on the BE-11A, which asks if the U.S. reporter is a bank, will be removed. This question was used in the past when reporting requirements for direct investment surveys were different for banks than other industries but is no longer needed.

• Items 12 and 13 on the BE-11B form, which collect the direct ownership interest held by “foreign persons in this affiliate’s country of location” and by “all other foreign persons,” will be combined into one item.

• Checkboxes will be added to the BE-11 Claim for Exemption for respondents to indicate the reason that an affiliate is exempt (see next page for question text). These options will be accompanied with the next steps, if any, respondents should follow to complete their submission. This change makes it easier for respondents to indicate which affiliates should be removed from the survey and reduces the need for follow-up contact.

The revision will not cause a change in the respondent burden hours. The estimated respondent burden for this collection will remain 325,750 hours as currently shown in the inventory maintained by OMB.

2020 BE-11, Annual Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad

TEXT OF MODIFIED QUESTION

Claim for not filing (new options highlighted in grey below)

a. Percent ownership at close of fiscal year 2020 — Enter to the nearest tenth of one percent .........

Name of affiliate:

Affiliate ID:

Sales, assets, and net income for this affiliate are all $60 million or less. Complete a.–d.

b. Total assets — Balance at close of fiscal year ....................................

This private fund affiliate meets the exemption criteria stated on page 2, Part II. B. (Answer to Part II. B has to be ‘Yes’.) DO NOT complete a.–d.

c. Annual sales or gross operating revenues, excluding sales taxes ......

This affiliate was liquidated, seized, or the U.S. reporter’s direct and indirect ownership interest in the affiliate otherwise fell below 10 percent as of __/__/____. DO NOT complete a.–d.

d. Net income (loss) ..................

This affiliate was sold on __/__/____. DO NOT complete a.–d. If it was sold to another U.S. entity, provide name and contact information for the new owner.

Name:

Address: