44032 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 159 / Monday, August 18, 1997 / Notices

(Sub-No. 2X) and must be sent to: (1)

Surface Transportation Board, Office of

the Secretary, Case Control Unit, 1925 K

Street, NW., Washington, DC 20423–

0001, and (2) Gary Laakso, Minnesota

Northern Railroad, Inc., 301 Yamato

Road, Suite 1190, Boca Raton, FL 33431.

Persons seeking further information

concerning abandonment procedures

may contact the Board’s Office of Public

Services at (202) 565–1592 or refer to

the full abandonment or discontinuance

regulations at 49 CFR part 1152.

Questions concerning environmental

issues may be directed to the Board’s

Section of Environmental Analysis

(SEA) at (202) 565–1545. [TDD for the

hearing impaired is available at (202)

565–1695.]

An environmental assessment (EA) (or

environmental impact statement (EIS), if

necessary) prepared by SEA will be

served upon all parties of record and

upon any agencies or other persons who

commented during its preparation.

Other interested persons may contact

SEA to obtain a copy of the EA (or EIS).

EAs in these abandonment proceedings

normally will be available within 60

days of the filing of the petition. The

deadline for submission of comments on

the EA will generally be within 30 days

of its service.

Decided: August 8, 1997.

By the Board, David M. Konschnik,

Director, Office of Proceedings.

Vernon A. Williams,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97–21824 Filed 8–15–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4915–00–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Proposed Collection; Comment

Request

AGENCY: Financial Crimes Enforcement

Network, Treasury.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: In order to comply with the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

concerning new information collection

requirements, the Financial Crimes

Enforcement Network (‘‘FinCEN’’) is

soliciting comments concerning a

proposed new Treasury Form TD F 90–

22.49, Suspicious Activity Report by

Casinos (‘‘SARC’’), which will be used

by Nevada casinos, effective October 1,

1997, to file with FinCEN reports of

potentially suspicious transactions and

activities that may occur by, at, or

through a Nevada casino.

DATES: Written comments must be

received on or before October 17, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments

to the Financial Crimes Enforcement

Network, Office of Program

Development, Attn.: SARC Comments,

Suite 200, 2070 Chain Bridge Road,

Vienna, VA 22182–2536. Comments

may also be submitted by Internet email to RegComments@fincen.treas.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Requests for additional information or

for a copy of the draft form should be

directed to Leonard Senia, Senior

Financial Enforcement Officer, Office of

Program Development, (703) 905–3931,

or by inquiry to the Internet e-mail

address shown above. A copy of the

draft SARC form can be obtained

through the Internet at http://

www.ustreas.gov/treasury/bureaus/

fincen. Once the SARC form is issued as

a final form, a copy of it, as well as all

forms required by the Bank Secrecy Act,

can be obtained through the Internet at

http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/formspubs/forms.html.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Currency and Foreign Transactions

Reporting Act (commonly known as the

Bank Secrecy Act) Titles I and II of Pub.

L. 91–508, as amended, codified at 12

U.S.C. 1829b, 12 U.S.C. 1951–1959, and

31 U.S.C. 5311–5314, 5316–5326, 5328–

5330, specifically authorizes the

Secretary of the Treasury, inter alia, to

issue regulations that require domestic

financial institutions to report

suspicious transactions. See 31 U.S.C.

5318(g). The authority of the Secretary

to administer the Bank Secrecy Act

(‘‘BSA’’) regulations has been delegated

to the Director of FinCEN.

The BSA defines financial institutions

to include casinos. See 31 U.S.C.

5312(a)(2)(X) and 31 CFR

103.11(n)(7)(i). Nevada Gaming

Commission Regulation 6A, Section

100, requires Nevada casinos to report

suspicious transactions to FinCEN as

part of its continuing responsibilities

pursuant to a May 1985 cooperative

agreement between the State of Nevada

and the U.S. Department of the

Treasury. That agreement obligates

Nevada to implement a state casino

regulatory system which substantially

meets federal regulatory requirements

designed to address money laundering

and other financial crimes which may

occur at casinos.

FinCEN is proposing a new

information collection requirement

pertaining to the reporting of suspicious

transactions to permit a federal form to

be used to satisfy Nevada Regulation

6A. Under the new requirement,

contained in Section 100 of that

Regulation, which will become effective

on October 1, 1997, Nevada casinos

must file their reports of suspicious

transactions with FinCEN, using the

SARC form, and its accompanying

instructions.

The information collection

requirement contained in this notice

supports one of the purposes of the

Paperwork Reduction Act (‘‘PRA’’) of

1995 which is to ‘‘strengthen the

partnership between the Federal

Government and State, local, and tribal

governments by minimizing the burden

and maximizing the utility of

information created, collected,

maintained, used, disseminated, and

retained by or for the Federal

Government’’ (see 44 U.S.C. 3501(6)).

This goal is accomplished, in part,

through the creation of a single

reporting form for suspicious casino

transactions and activities—Treasury

Form TD F 90–22.49 (SARC).

As previously mentioned, Nevada

casino licensees must use the SARC in

satisfying the new suspicious activity

reporting requirement contained in

Nevada State Regulation 6A, Section

100. FinCEN intends to issue a notice of

proposed rulemaking, sometime in

1997, that would require non-Nevada

casinos or card clubs subject to the

requirements of the BSA and its

implementing regulations to report

suspicious activity. Until such a rule is

published as a final rule in the Federal

Register and takes effect, casinos and

card clubs in jurisdictions other than

Nevada are encouraged to file the SARC

form to report suspicious activity. Once

FinCEN has issued a notice of proposed

rulemaking on suspicious transaction

reporting by casinos, it will prepare a

subsequent PRA notice to permit

persons in other jurisdictions to

comment on a SARC. FinCEN

anticipates the form will be modified

slightly to accommodate the nationwide

extension of suspicious activity

reporting to casinos and card clubs.

Reports filed by Nevada casinos and

any reports filed voluntarily by other

casinos and card clubs will be fully

subject to the protection from liability

contained in 31 U.S.C. 5318(g)(3) and

the provision contained in 31 U.S.C.

5318(g)(2) which prohibits notification

of any person involved in the

transaction that a suspicious activity

report has been filed.

Information collected on the SARC

will be made available, in accordance

with strict safeguards, to appropriate

criminal law enforcement and

regulatory personnel for use in the

official performance of their duties. The

information collected is used for

regulatory purposes and in

investigations and proceedings

involving international and domestic
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 159 / Monday, August 18, 1997 / Notices 44033

money laundering, tax violations, fraud,

and other financial crimes.

FinCEN has requested that a different

OMB Control Number be assigned for

this collection requirement than the

OMB Control Number assigned for

Treasury Form TD F 90–22.47,

Suspicious Activity Report, which is

applicable to banks and other

depository institutions. This will

facilitate FinCEN’s oversight over its

BSA information collection

requirements by obtaining a unique

OMB Control Number for each specific

form.

In accordance with requirements of

the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,

44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A), and its

implementing regulations, 5 CFR part

1320, the following information

concerning the collection of information

on Treasury Form TD F 90–22.49, is

presented to assist those persons

wishing to comment on the information

collection.

Title: Suspicious Activity Report by

Casinos (‘‘SARC’’).

Form Number: Treasury Form TD F

90–22.49.

OMB Number: To be assigned.

Description of Respondents: Initially,

all Nevada casinos, with gross annual

gaming revenue in excess of $10 million

and having an annual table games

statistical win in excess of $2 million.

Estimated Number of Respondents:

94.

Estimated Number of Annual

Responses: 1,700.

Frequency: As required.

Estimate of Burden: Reporting average

of 31 minutes per response;

recordkeeping average of 5 minutes per

response. No regulatory burden is

imposed by federal regulation in this

case because state regulation imposes

the regulatory burden.

Estimate of Total Annual Burden on

Respondents: Reporting burden estimate

= 878 hours; recordkeeping burden

estimate = 142 hours. Estimated

combined total of 1,020 hours.

Estimate of Total Annual Cost to

Respondents for Hour Burdens: Based

on $20 per hour, the total cost to the

public is estimated to be $20,400.

Estimate of Total Other Annual Costs

to Respondents: None.

Type of Request: New information

collection.

Request for Comments

FinCEN specifically invites comments

on the following subjects: (a) Whether

the proposed collection of information

is necessary for the proper performance

of the mission of FinCEN, including

whether the information shall have

practical utility; (b) the accuracy of

FinCEN’s estimate of the burden of the

proposed collection of information; (c)

ways to enhance the quality, utility, and

clarity of the information to be

collected; and (d) ways to minimize the

burden of the collection of information

on respondents, including through the

use of automated collection techniques

or other forms of information

technology.

In addition, the Paperwork Reduction

Act of 1995 requires agencies to

estimate the total annual cost burden to

respondents or recordkeepers resulting

from the collection of information.

Thus, FinCEN also specifically requests

comments to assist with this estimate. In

this connection, FinCEN requests

commenters to identify any additional

costs associated with the completion of

the form. These comments on costs

should be divided into two parts: (1)

Any additional costs associated with

reporting; and (2) any additional costs

associated with recordkeeping.

Responses to the questions posed by

this notice will be summarized and

included in the request for Office of

Management and Budget approval. All

comments will become a matter of

public record.

Dated: August 12, 1997.

Stanley E. Morris,

Director, Financial Crimes Enforcement

Network.

[FR Doc. 97–21815 Filed 8–15–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4820–03–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Internal Revenue Service

[IA–56–87 and IA–53–87]

Proposed Collection; Comment

Request for Regulation Project

AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service (IRS),

Treasury.

ACTION: Notice and request for

comments.

SUMMARY: The Department of the

Treasury, as part of its continuing effort

to reduce paperwork and respondent

burden, invites the general public and

other Federal agencies to take this

opportunity to comment on proposed

and/or continuing information

collections, as required by the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Pub.

L. 104–13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).

Currently, the IRS is soliciting

comments concerning an existing final

regulation, IA–56–87 and IA–53–87 (TD

8416), Minimum Tax—Tax Benefit Rule

(§§ 1.58–9(c)(5)(iii)(B), and 1.58–9(e)(3)).

DATES: Written comments should be

received on or before October 17, 1997

to be assured of consideration.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments

to Garrick R. Shear, Internal Revenue

Service, room 5571, 1111 Constitution

Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20224.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Requests for additional information or

copies of the information collection

should be directed to Carol Savage,

(202) 622–3945, Internal Revenue

Service, room 5569, 1111 Constitution

Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20224.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: Minimum Tax—Tax Benefit

Rule.

OMB Number: 1545–1093.

Regulation Project Number: IA–56–87

and IA–53–87.

Abstract: Section 58(h) of the Internal

Revenue Code provides that the

Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe

regulations that adjust tax preference

items where such items provided no tax

benefit for any taxable year. This

regulation provides guidance for

situations where tax preference items

did not result in a tax benefit because

of available credits and describes how to

claim a credit or refund of minimum tax

paid on such preferences.

Current Actions: There is no change to

this existing regulation.

Type of Review: Extension of a

currently approved collection.

Affected Public: Business or other forprofit organizations.

Estimated Number of Respondents:

200.

Estimated Time Per Respondent: 12

minutes.

Estimated Total Annual Burden

Hours: 40.

The following paragraph applies to all

of the collections of information covered

by this notice:

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.

REQUEST FOR COMMENTS: Comments

submitted in response to this notice will

be summarized and/or included in the

request for OMB approval. All

comments will become a matter of

public record. Comments are invited on:

(a) Whether the collection of

information is necessary for the proper