Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 210 / Wednesday, October 31, 2007 / Proposed Rules 61583 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

Internal Revenue Service 

26 CFR Part 300 

[REG–134923–07] 

RIN 1545–BG88 

User Fees Relating to Enrollment to 

Perform Actuarial Services 

AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), 

Treasury. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking 

and notice of public hearing. 

SUMMARY: This document contains 

proposed regulations relating to user 

fees for the initial and renewed 

enrollment to become an enrolled 

actuary. The charging of user fees is 

authorized by the Independent Offices 

Appropriations Act (IOAA) of 1952. 

This document also contains a notice of 

public hearing on these proposed 

regulations. 

DATES: Written or electronic comments 

must be received by November 30, 2007. 

Outlines of topics to be discussed at 

the public hearing scheduled for 

November 26, 2007, at 10 a.m., must be 

received by November 19, 2007. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments to: 

CC:PA:LPD:PR (REG–134923–07), room 

5203, Internal Revenue Service, P.O. 

Box 7604, Ben Franklin Station, 

Washington, DC 20044. Submissions 

may be hand-delivered Monday through 

Friday between the hours of 8 a.m. and 

4 p.m. to CC:PA:LPD:PR (REG–134923–

07), Courier’s Desk, Internal Revenue 

Service, 1111 Constitution Avenue, 

NW., Washington, DC. Alternatively, 

submissions may be sent electronically 

via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 

www.regulations.gov (IRS REG–134923–

07). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Concerning submissions of comments 

and/or to be placed on the building 

access list to attend the hearing Richard 

A.Hurst@irscounsel.treas.gov or at (202) 

622–7180; concerning cost 

methodology, Eva J. Williams at (202) 

435–5514; concerning the proposed 

regulations, Joel Rutstein at (202) 622–

4940 (not toll-free numbers). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The Employee Retirement Income 

Security Act of 1974 (Pub. L. 93–406) 

ordered the Secretary of Labor and the 

Secretary of Treasury to establish a Joint 

Board for the Enrollment of Actuaries. 

29 U.S.C. 1241. The Joint Board shall, 

by regulation, establish reasonable 

standards and qualifications for persons 

performing actuarial services and the 

Joint Board shall enroll such individuals 

who, upon application, satisfy such 

standards and qualifications. 29 U.S.C. 

1242(a). The regulations at 20 CFR Part 

901, Subpart B address eligibility for 

enrollment and renewal of enrollment. 

Pursuant to the Joint Board’s bylaws, the 

Secretary of the Treasury is to appoint 

an Executive Director to the Board who 

has the delegated authority to 

administer the Board’s enrollment 

program. The Secretary of the Treasury 

has delegated these functions to the 

Internal Revenue Service and the costs 

of these activities are borne by the 

Service. 

20 CFR 901.11(d)(4) provides for a 

reasonable non-refundable fee for 

applications for renewal of enrollment. 

Form 5434–A, ‘‘Application for Renewal 

of Enrollment’’ presently states that the 

renewal fee is $25. Proposed 26 CFR 

300.7 and 300.8 establish separate $250 

user fees for the enrollment and renewal 

of enrollment process. These fees 

represent the IRS’s costs in 

administering the program, and the 

$250 fee for renewal of enrollment will 

supplant the $25 fee. 

Authority 

The IOAA of 1952 (31 U.S.C. 9701) 

authorizes agencies to prescribe 

regulations that establish charges for 

services provided by the agency. The 

charges must be fair and be based on the 

costs to the Government, the value of 

the service to the recipient, the public 

policy or interest served, and other 

relevant facts. The IOAA of 1952 

provides that regulations implementing 

user fees are subject to policies 

prescribed by the President, which are 

currently set forth in OMB Circular A–

25, 58 FR 38142 (July 15, 1993) (the 

OMB Circular). 

The OMB Circular encourages user 

fees for government-provided services 

that confer benefits on identifiable 

recipients over and above those benefits 

received by the general public. Under 

the OMB Circular, an agency that seeks 

to impose a user fee for governmentprovided services must calculate its full 

cost of providing those services. In 

general, a user fee should be set at an 

amount in order for the agency to 

recover the cost of providing the special 

service, unless the Office of 

Management and Budget grants an 

exception. Pursuant to the guidelines in 

the OMB Circular, the IRS has 

calculated its cost of providing services 

under the enrolled actuaries program. 

The IRS has determined that the full 

cost of administering the enrollment 

and re-enrollment processes is $250 per 

enrolled actuary per process. 

The proposed user fees will be 

implemented under the authority of the 

IOAA of 1952 and the OMB Circular. 

Proposed Effective Date 

These regulations are proposed to 

apply 30 days after the date of 

publication in the Federal Register of 

the final regulations. 

Special Analyses 

It has been determined that this notice 

of proposed rulemaking is not a 

significant regulatory action as defined 

in Executive Order 12866. Therefore, a 

regulatory assessment is not required. It 

is hereby certified that these regulations 

will not have a significant economic 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities. Accordingly, a regulatory 

flexibility analysis is not required. This 

certification is based on the information 

that follows. These proposed rules affect 

enrolled actuaries, of which there are 

currently 4,600 active. The economic 

impact of these regulations on any small 

entity would result from a small entity, 

including a sole proprietor, being 

required to pay a fee prescribed by these 

regulations in order to obtain a 

particular service. The appropriate 

NAICS codes for enrolled actuaries 

relate to Insurance—Other (524298) and 

Administrative and General 

Management Consulting, Including 

Financial Consulting (541611). Entities 

identified under these codes are 

considered small under the SBA size 

standards (13 CFR 121.201) if their 

annual revenue is less than $6.5 million. 

The IRS estimates that as many as 2,070 

enrolled actuaries may be operating as 

or employed by small entities. 

Therefore, the IRS has determined that 

these proposed rules will affect a 

substantial number of small entities. 

The dollar amounts of the fees are not, 

however, substantial enough to have a 

significant economic impact on any 

entity subject to the fees. The amounts 

of the fees are commensurate with, if 

not less than, the amount charged by 

professional organizations. Persons who 

elect to apply for enrollment or renewal 

of enrollment also receive benefits from 

obtaining the enrolled actuary 

designation. Pursuant to section 7805(f) 

of the Internal Revenue Code, this 

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking will be 

submitted to the Chief Counsel for 

Advocacy of the Small Business 

Administration for comment on its 

impact. 

Comments and Public Hearing 

Before these proposed regulations are 

adopted as final regulations, 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with PROPOSALS-1
61584 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 210 / Wednesday, October 31, 2007 / Proposed Rules 

consideration will be given to any 

written (a signed original and eight (8) 

copies) or electronic comments that are 

submitted timely to the IRS. The IRS 

and Treasury Department request 

comments on the substance of the 

proposed regulations, as well as on the 

clarity of the proposed rules and how 

they can be made easier to understand. 

All comments will be available for 

public inspection and copying. 

A public hearing has been scheduled 

after date of hearing listed above for 

November 26, 2007 at 10 a.m. in room 

3716. Due to building security 

procedures, all visitors must present 

photo identification to enter the 

building. Because of access restrictions, 

visitors will not be admitted beyond the 

immediate entrance area more than 30 

minutes before the hearing starts. For 

information about having your name 

placed on the building access list to 

attend the hearing, see the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section of this 

preamble. 

The rules of 26 CFR 601.601(a)(3) 

apply to the hearing. Persons who wish 

to present oral comments at the hearing 

must submit electronic or written 

comments by November 30, 2007 and an 

outline of the comments to be discussed 

and the time to be devoted to each topic 

(signed original and eight (8) copies) by 

November 19, 2007. A period of ten (10) 

minutes will be allotted to each person 

for making comments. An agenda 

showing the scheduling of the speakers 

will be prepared after the deadline for 

receiving outlines has passed. Copies of 

the agenda will be available free of 

charge at the hearing. 

Drafting Information 

The principal author of these 

regulations is Joel S. Rutstein of the 

Office of the Associate Chief Counsel 

(Procedure & Administration). 

List of Subjects in 26 CFR Part 300 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements, User fees. 

Proposed Amendments to the 

Regulations 

Accordingly, 26 CFR part 300 is 

proposed to be amended as follows: 

PART 300—USER FEES 

Paragraph 1. The authority citation 

for part 300 continues to read as 

follows: 

Authority: 31 U.S.C. 9701. 

Par. 2. Section 300.0 is amended as 

follows: 

1. Paragraphs (b)(7) and (b)(8) are 

added. 

2. Paragraph (c) is revised. 

The additions and revision read as 

follows: 

§ 300.0 User fees, in general. 

* * * * * 

(b) * * * 

(7) Enrolling an enrolled actuary. 

(8) Renewing the enrollment of an 

enrolled actuary. 

(c) Effective/applicability date. This 

part 300 is applicable March 16, 1995, 

except that the user fee for processing 

offers in compromise is applicable 

November 1, 2003; the user fee for the 

special enrollment examination, 

enrollment, and renewal of enrollment 

for enrolled agents is applicable 

November 6, 2006; the user fee for 

entering into installment agreements on 

or after January 1, 2007, is applicable 

January 1, 2007; the user fee for 

restructuring or reinstatement of an 

installment agreement on or after 

January 1, 2007, is applicable January 1, 

2007; and the user fee for the enrollment 

and renewal of enrollment for enrolled 

actuaries is applicable thirty days after 

the date of publication in the Federal 

Register of the final regulations. 

Par. 3. Section 300.7 is added to read 

as follows: 

§ 300.7 Enrollment of enrolled actuary fee. 

(a) Applicability. This section applies 

to the initial enrollment of enrolled 

actuaries with the Joint Board for the 

Enrollment of Actuaries pursuant to 20 

CFR part 901. 

(b) Fee. The fee for initially enrolling 

as an enrolled actuary with the Joint 

Board for the Enrollment of Actuaries is 

$250.00. 

(c) Person liable for the fee. The 

person liable for the enrollment fee is 

the applicant filing for enrollment as an 

enrolled actuary with the Joint Board for 

the Enrollment of Actuaries. 

Par. 4. Section 300.8 is added to read 

as follows: 

§ 300.8 Renewal of enrollment of enrolled 

actuary fee. 

(a) Applicability. This section applies 

to the renewal of enrollment of enrolled 

actuaries with the Joint Board for the 

Enrollment of Actuaries pursuant to 20 

CFR Part 901. 

(b) Fee. The fee for renewal of 

enrollment as an enrolled actuary with 

the Joint Board for the Enrollment of 

Actuaries is $250.00. 

(c) Person liable for the fee. The 

person liable for the renewal of 

enrollment fee is the person renewing 

their enrollment as an enrolled actuary 

with the Joint Board for the Enrollment 

of Actuaries. 

Linda E. Stiff, 

Deputy Commissioner for Services and 

Enforcement. 

[FR Doc. 07–5428 Filed 10–26–07; 4:29 pm] 

BILLING CODE 4830–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 

SECURITY 

Coast Guard 

33 CFR Part 165 

[Docket No. USCG–2007–29354] 

RIN 1625–AA87 

Security Zone; Nawiliwili Harbor, 

Kauai, HI 

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking; 

extension of comment period. 

SUMMARY: The Coast Guard is extending 

the comment period for its notice of 

proposed rulemaking published October 

3, 2007, to create a security zone in the 

waters of Nawiliwili Harbor, Kauai, and 

on the land of the jetty south of 

Nawiliwili Park, including the jetty 

access road commonly known as Jetty 

Road. The proposed security zone is 

intended to enable the Coast Guard and 

its law enforcement partners to better 

protect people, vessels, and facilities in 

and around Nawiliwili Harbor in the 

face of non-compliant obstructers who 

have impeded, and threaten to continue 

impeding, the safe passage of the Hawaii 

Superferry in Nawiliwili Harbor. The 

proposed rule complements, but does 

not replace or supersede, existing 

regulations that establish a moving 100- 

yard security zone around large 

passenger vessels like the Hawaii 

Superferry. 

DATES: Comments and related material 

must reach the Coast Guard on or before 

November 20, 2007. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

and related material, identified by Coast 

Guard docket number USCG–2007–

29354, in any of the three methods 

listed below. To avoid duplication, 

please use only one of the following 

methods: 

(1) Mail: Lieutenant Sean Fahey, Coast 

Guard District 14 (dl), PJKK Federal 

Building, 300 Ala Moana Blvd., 

Honolulu, HI 96850. 

(2) Electronically: E-mail to 

Lieutenant Sean Fahey at 

Sean.C.Fahey@uscg.mil using the 


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