e-News for Tax Professionals Issue 2013-21

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Issue Number:  2013-21

Inside This Issue

1. IRS Grants Tax Relief to Oklahoma Tornado Victims; Return Filing and Tax Payment Deadlines Extended to Sept. 30
2. A Reminder of U.S. Tax Obligations for Those with Foreign Assets
3. Interest Rates Unchanged for the Third Quarter
4. Modernized e-File (MeF) Scheduled Downtime - May 2013
5. EMS Annual Memorial Day Power Outage in Martinsburg and Memphis
6. Do You Have Clients Filing FBARs?
7. Technical Guidance

After Monday’s devastating tornado in the Oklahoma City area, the Internal Revenue Service today provided tax relief to individuals and businesses affected by this and other severe storms occurring in parts of Oklahoma.

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U.S. citizens and resident aliens, including those with dual citizenship who have lived or worked abroad during all or part of 2012, may have a U.S. tax liability and a filing requirement in 2013.

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The Internal Revenue Service announced that interest rates will remain unchanged for the calendar quarter beginning July 1. The rates will be:

• three percent for overpayments [two percent in the case of a corporation];
• three percent for underpayments;
• five percent for large corporate underpayments; and
• one-half percent for the portion of a corporate overpayment exceeding $10,000.

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Because of the current budget situation, the IRS plans to close on May 24, June 14, July 5, July 22 and Aug. 30. The Modernized e-File (MeF) system will not be available on these dates. For all of these dates, the MeF system (Production and ATS environments) will be unavailable from 10:00 p.m. ETthe prior day until 9:00 a.m.ET the following day. For example, when the closure falls on a Friday, the system will be unavailable from 10:00 p.m. on Thursday until 9:00 a.m. on Saturday.

The initial closure date of May 24 coincides with the annual Memphis Memorial Day Power Outage. The IRS recommends reviewing the following schedule to prevent issues with returns sent prior to the downtime:

MeF Production & ATS Downtime:

Shutdown is scheduled to begin on Thursday, May 23 at 10:00 p.m.ET and end at 9:00 amET on Tuesday, May 28.

Important Note: States that schedule retrieval of their state submissions may have to adjust their schedules to retrieve submissions in time to validate returns and submit acknowledgements by 10:00 p.m.ET on May 23. Anything not retrieved by 10:00 p.m.ET cannot be accessed again until MeF reopens May 28.

Deadlines on Thursday, May 23                 

Transmitters:
      Transmitting Submissions (State & Federal)             8:00 p.m. ET
      Retrieving Acknowledgements                                10:00 p.m. ET

States:
      Transmitting Acknowledgements                             9:30 p.m. ET

Start Up on Tuesday, May 28
Transmitters & States                                                    9:00 a.m. ET

Please monitor the MeF Status Page for any updates.

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The Electronic Management System (EMS) located at both Martinsburg, W. Va.,  and Memphis, Tenn., will be unavailable from Thursday, May 23 at 11 p.m. ET through Tuesday, May 28 at 10:00 a.m. ET.

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Paper filings of TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) for 2012 must be received by June 30. The form can be e-filed no later than June 30. 

If you have FBAR questions, please email FBARquestions@irs.gov.

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Revenue Ruling 2013-10 announces the rates of interest, it will appear in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2013-26, dated June 24, 2013.

Notice 2013-35 requests comments on whether the changes that have occurred in bank regulatory standards require amendment of regulations and whether applying the conclusive presumption regulations as currently formulated is still consistent with the principles of section 166.  The Notice also requests comments on the types of entities that should be permitted to apply a conclusive presumption of worthlessness on debt instruments they hold.  Comments received will determine whether the existing conclusive presumption regulations should be revised, and the content of any such revisions.  

Notice 2013-35 will be published in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2013-24

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