Bulletin No. 2015–13 March 30, 2015

Announcement 2015–7, page 823. The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) announces recent disciplinary sanctions involving attorneys, certified public accountants, enrolled agents, enrolled actuaries, enrolled retirement plan agents, and appraisers. These individuals are subject to the regulations governing practice before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which are set out in Title 31, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 10, and which are published in pamphlet form as Treasury Department Circular No. 230. The regulations prescribe the duties and restrictions relating to such practice and prescribe the disciplinary sanctions for violating the regulations.

Rev. Proc. 2015–23, page 820. The proposed revenue procedure provides issuers of qualified mortgage bonds, as defined in section 143(a) of the Internal Revenue Code, and issuers of mortgage credit certificates as defined in section 25(c), with the United States median gross income figure most recently computed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The proposed revenue procedure also provides these issuers with guidance concerning the area median gross incomes as computed by HUD. Issuers of qualified mortgage bonds (QMB) and mortgage credit certificates (MCC) must use these income figures in determining whether the income limitation placed on the beneficiaries of the mortgages and certificates may be increased because the residences to be financed are located in high housing cost areas. See sections 25(c)(A)(iii)(IV) and 143(f)(5).

Rev. Proc. 2015–24, page 822. Corrections to Rev. Proc. 2014–59, which prescribes the loss payment patterns and discount factors for the 2014 accident year. These factors are used to compute discounted unpaid losses under § 846 of the Internal Revenue Code.

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Notice 2015–25, page 814. Beginning of Construction for Sections 45 and 48. This notice updates the guidance provided in Notice 2013–29, Notice 2013–60, and Notice 2014–46, to reflect the statutory extension by the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014, and also extends the date for the deemed satisfaction of the Continuous Construction or Continuous Efforts Tests.

Notice 2015–26, page 814. This notice explains how a State or local government amends the nomination of an empowerment zone to provide for a new termination date of December 31, 2014.

T.D. 9713, page 802. The final regulations provide guidance under section 6049 for broker reporting of bond premium and acquisition premium. The temporary regulations provide guidance under sections 6045, 6045A, and 6049 for broker reporting of certain transactions involving debt instruments and options, including the treatment of certain holder elections for reporting a taxpayer’s adjusted basis in a debt instrument, transfer reporting for section 1256 options and debt instruments, and the reporting of original issue discount on tax-exempt obligations.