Notice 2005-24

same as or substantially similar to the
transaction for which the material advisor
has filed a Form 8264.
Questions also have arisen regarding whether the tolling provisions of
§ 1.6011–4(f) would apply to requests
from a potential material advisor for a
letter ruling. Until further guidance is
issued, if the advisor submits a request
for a letter ruling on or before the date
the return under § 6111 is due and fully
discloses all relevant facts relating to the
transaction, the obligation of the potential
material advisor to disclose the transaction will be suspended as provided in
§ 1.6011–4(f). However, a request for a
letter ruling by a potential material advisor
will not toll the disclosure provisions of
§ 1.6011–4 for taxpayers who participate
in the transaction. See § 1.6011–4(f) for
tolling provisions applicable to material
advisors and taxpayers.
Finally, questions have arisen regarding the nature of the statement relating to
the financial accounting treatment of the
item(s) giving rise to a significant book-tax
difference described in § 1.6011–4(b)(6).
In addition, some practitioners have erroneously concluded that Notice 2004–80
was intended to exclude persons who do
not provide accounting advice. The financial accounting statement described in
Notice 2004–80 includes statements made
by any material advisor, including accountants, lawyers, or investment advisors.
3. Effective Date of Notice 2004–80
Notice 2004–80 is effective for transactions with respect to which material
aid, assistance, or advice is provided after
October 22, 2004. Questions have arisen
regarding the definition of material aid, assistance, or advice provided after October
22, 2004. For purposes of the disclosure
required by § 6111, disclosure is required
for reportable transactions with respect
to which a material advisor makes a tax
statement (other than post-filing advice described in § 301.6112–1(c)(2)(iv)(A)) after
October 22, 2004, regardless of whether
any portion of the fee was received before
October 22, 2004, or whether the transaction was entered into before October 22,
2004. (For the timing of the disclosure,
see Section 2 of this notice, above.)

2005–12 I.R.B.

EFFECTIVE DATE
This notice is effective February 24,
2005, the date this notice was released to
the public.
EFFECT ON OTHER DOCUMENTS
This document clarifies and modifies
Notice 2004–80 and Notice 2005–17.
DRAFTING INFORMATION
The principal author of this notice
is Tara P. Volungis of the Office of the
Associate Chief Counsel (Passthroughs
& Special Industries). For further information regarding this notice, contact
Ms. Volungis at (202) 622–3080 (not a
toll-free call).

Modification of Notice 2005–4
Notice 2005–24

of the Finance Committee and the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee
noted that the conferees to the Act removed language from the bill that would
have changed the administration of refund
claims for gasoline sales charged on a
credit card. They further noted that the
intent of the conferees in removing this
language was “to retain the pre-JOBS Act
treatment of these claims and not to effect any changes with respect to sales on
oil company credit cards.” The letter also
notes that, if Treasury concludes that a
technical correction is needed to preserve
the rules in effect prior to 2005, the signatories “will facilitate the enactment of
such technical legislation at the earliest
opportunity.”
Treasury and the Service believe that it
would be appropriate to continue to apply
the oil company credit card rule until Congress has had an opportunity to address the
issue. Accordingly, the oil company credit
card rule will remain in effect until modified by a statutory change or by future
guidance on this issue.

Section 1. PURPOSE
This notice modifies Notice 2005–4,
2005–2 I.R.B. 289, by extending the transitional rule related to sales of gasoline on
oil company credit cards and by making
several corrections to Notice 2005–4. Notice 2005–4 provides guidance on certain
excise tax provisions in the Internal Revenue Code that were added or affected by
the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004
(Pub. L. 108–357) (Act).
Section 2. GASOLINE; SALES ON OIL
COMPANY CREDIT CARDS
Section 7 of Notice 2005–4 provides
guidance on § 6416(a)(4), as amended by
the Act. Section 7(a)(1)(ii) provides that
the pre-2005 rules relating to sales of gasoline to state and local governments and
nonprofit educational organizations on oil
company credit cards issued to those entities will generally apply to sales before
March 1, 2005. The notice also states that
Congress may wish to address this issue
before March 1, 2005, and that Treasury
and the Service would assist Congress in
designing an administrable alternative.
In a February 25, 2005, letter to Treasury, the chairman and ranking member

757

Section 3. CORRECTIONS TO NOTICE
2005–4
(a) Aviation-grade kerosene; certificate
for commercial aviation and exempt use.
In § 4(g)(2), which contains a model certificate for persons buying aviation-grade
kerosene for commercial aviation or nontaxable use, “
for export;” is removed from the list in the certificate
of possible uses of the aviation-grade
kerosene to which the certificate relates.
(b) Aviation-grade kerosene; claims by
registered ultimate vendors (nontaxable
uses)—(i) In § 4(h)(6)(ii), which contains
a model waiver for ultimate purchasers of
aviation-grade kerosene used in nontaxable uses, “
for use on a farm for
farming purposes;” and “
for the exclusive use of a state;” are removed from
the list in the waiver of possible uses of
the aviation-grade kerosene to which the
waiver relates. For rules relating to claims
by registered ultimate vendors of kerosene
(including aviation-grade kerosene) for
farming and state use, see § 48.6427–9
of the Manufacturers and Retailers Excise
Tax Regulations.
(ii) In § 4(h)(6)(ii), “
other nontaxable use (Describe nontaxable use)

March 21, 2005

;” is added to the waiver immediately before the last item in the list of possible uses of the aviation-grade kerosene
to which the waiver relates.
(c) Gasoline; claims by registered ultimate vendors. In § 7(a)(1)(ii), first sentence, the language “based on a price that
excludes the tax” is removed and “based
on a price that includes the tax” is added in
its place.
Section 4. EFFECT ON OTHER
DOCUMENTS
Notice 2005–4 is modified as described
in §§ 2 and 3 of this notice.
Section 5. EFFECTIVE DATE
This notice is effective January 1, 2005,
the effective date of Notice 2005–4.

ation-grade kerosene) or Ms. Athy (concerning all other issues) at (202) 622–3130
(not a toll-free call).

Weighted Average Interest
Rates Update
Notice 2005–26
This notice provides guidance as to the
corporate bond weighted average interest
rate and the permissible range of interest
rates specified under § 412(b)(5)(B)(ii)(II)
of the Internal Revenue Code. In addition, it provides guidance as to the
interest rate on 30-year Treasury securities under § 417(e)(3)(A)(ii)(II), and the
weighted average interest rate and permissible ranges of interest rates based on the
30-year Treasury securities rate.

Section 6. DRAFTING INFORMATION
The principal authors of this notice
are Susan Athy and Deborah Karet of the
Office of the Associate Chief Counsel
(Passthroughs and Special Industries). For
further information regarding this notice,
please contact Ms. Karet (concerning avi-

CORPORATE BOND WEIGHTED
AVERAGE INTEREST RATE
Sections 412(b)(5)(B)(ii) and 412(l)
(7)(C)(i), as amended by the Pension
Funding Equity Act of 2004, provide that
the interest rates used to calculate current

Month

Year

Corporate
Bond
Weighted
Average

March

2005

6.03

For Plan Years
Beginning in:

30-YEAR TREASURY SECURITIES
WEIGHTED AVERAGE INTEREST
RATE
Section 417(e)(3)(A)(ii)(II) defines
the applicable interest rate, which must
be used for purposes of determining the
minimum present value of a participant’s
benefit under § 417(e)(1) and (2), as the
annual rate of interest on 30-year Treasury
securities for the month before the date
of distribution or such other time as the
Secretary may by regulations prescribe.
Section 1.417(e)–1(d)(3) of the Income

March 21, 2005

Tax Regulations provides that the applicable interest rate for a month is the annual
interest rate on 30-year Treasury securities as specified by the Commissioner for
that month in revenue rulings, notices or
other guidance published in the Internal
Revenue Bulletin.
Section 404(a)(1) of the Code, as
amended by the Pension Funding Equity Act of 2004, permits an employer
to elect to disregard subclause (II) of
§ 412(b)(5)(B)(ii) to determine the max-

758

liability and to determine the required
contribution under § 412(l) for plan years
beginning in 2004 or 2005 must be within
a permissible range based on the weighted
average of the rates of interest on amounts
invested conservatively in long term investment grade corporate bonds during the
4-year period ending on the last day before
the beginning of the plan year.
Notice 2004–34, 2004–18 I.R.B. 848,
provides guidelines for determining the
corporate bond weighted average interest
rate and the resulting permissible range
of interest rates used to calculate current
liability. That notice establishes that the
corporate bond weighted average is based
on the monthly composite corporate bond
rate derived from designated corporate
bond indices.
The composite corporate bond rate for
February 2005 is 5.36 percent. Pursuant
to Notice 2004–34, the Service has determined this rate as the average of the
monthly yields for the included corporate
bond indices for that month.
The following corporate bond weighted
average interest rate was determined for
plan years beginning in the month shown
below.

90% to 100%
Permissible
Range
5.43 to 6.03
imum amount of the deduction allowed
under § 404(a)(1).
The rate of interest on 30-year Treasury
securities for February 2005 is 4.55 percent. Pursuant to Notice 2002–26, 2002–1
C.B. 743, the Service has determined this
rate as the monthly average of the daily determination of yield on the 30-year Treasury bond maturing in February 2031.
The following 30-year Treasury rates
were determined for the plan years beginning in the month shown below.

2005–12 I.R.B.