INCOME TAX

Rev. Rul. 2005–74, page 1153. Employee relocation costs. This ruling addresses the tax treatment of costs an employer incurs in connection with three different home purchase programs the employer may offer to employees who are being relocated. Transactions under the three programs are analyzed to determine whether, based on the benefits and burdens of ownership of an employee’s home, the transactions are treated for tax purposes as a sale of the home by the employee to the employer followed by a separate sale by the employer to a third party buyer, or as one sale by the employee to the third party buyer facilitated by the employer.

Rev. Rul. 2005–78, page 1157. Interest rates; underpayments and overpayments. The rate of interest determined under section 6621 of the Code for the calendar quarter beginning January 1, 2006, will be 7 percent for overpayments (6 percent in the case of a corporation), 7 percent for underpayments, and 9 percent for large corporate underpayments. The rate of interest paid on the portion of a corporate overpayment exceeding $10,000 will be 4.5 percent.

Notice 2005–90, page 1163. This notice announces that Treasury and the Service intend to exercise regulatory authority under section 901(1)(3) of the Code not to apply the credit disallowance rules of section 901(1) to foreign withholding taxes on royalties received in “ordinary course” back-to-back computer software licensing arrangements. The notice solicits comments on the exception as well as related issues under sections 901(1) and 901(k).