Section 1. Scope

This notice announces that the Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) will extend the effective date of the section 1441 withholding regulations. As extended, those regulations will apply to certain payments made to foreign persons after December 31, 1999. This notice also provides new transition rules for satisfying the withholding certificate or statement requirements under the withholding regulations. Finally, this notice describes the general procedure the IRS will follow in entering into qualified intermediary withholding agreements in order to expedite the process of making such agreements as widely available as possible.