SECTION 4. REQUEST FOR

COMMENTS

Treasury and the IRS request comments on the proposed rules described in this notice and on any additional issues that should be addressed by the regulations, including the following:

(a) The time and manner for reporting certain life insurance contract transactions under § 6050Y, including the timing of reporting under the transition relief for

reportable policy sales and payment of reportable death benefits occurring prior to the issuance of final regulations;

(b) Identification of the “acquirer” in a reportable policy sale for purposes of § 6050Y reporting; whether for purposes of § 6050Y there might be more than one person taking title or possession for state law purposes of an insurance contract or acquiring a beneficial interest in a life insurance contract with respect to a series of transfers involving a reportable policy sale and, if so, how § 6050Y should apply; and whether the proposed definition of “acquirer” would lead to duplicate reporting of payments in reportable policy sales;

(c) If each person who takes possession or title as owner or beneficial owner of a life insurance contract as part of a series of transactions is required to report under § 6050Y(a), should the proposed regulations allow each person’s reporting obligation to be discharged through one unified reporting by one of the persons or a third party information reporting contractor;

(d) The application of the rules in § 6050Y(a) to the series of prearranged transfers of an insurance contract as part of the initial reportable policy sale, also known as a secondary market sale, and whether these title and ownership transfers should be aggregated into one reportable policy sale or whether each transfer should be treated as a separate reporting event for purposes of § 6050Y(a);

(e) The application of the rules in § 6050Y(a) to a reportable policy sale that occurs after an initial reportable policy sale, also known as a tertiary market policy sale;

(f) Identification of “payment recipients” in reportable policy sales, other than the seller, for purposes of § 6050Y(a); whether requiring reporting of payments to such persons would duplicate existing information reporting; whether payments to multiple payment recipients in a reportable policy sale should be reported on a single return; and what information reported on the return should be provided to each payment recipient;

(g) Whether there could be payments to payment recipients other than the seller in a reportable policy sale that are not selling expenses, and if so, whether the seller’s net proceeds would include or be

Bulletin No. 2018–20 589 May 14, 2018

net of those amounts, and the extent to which the acquirer would have knowledge of all such payments;

(h) The definition of “reportable policy sale” set forth in § 101(a)(3)(B) and the need for additional guidance regarding the definition (for example, the types of transactions covered by the term, as well as the extent to which the definition should exclude sales or acquisitions effected by transferors and transferees outside the U.S.), as well as how to distinguish viatical settlements from other life settlement transactions for information reporting purposes;

(i) The rules under § 6050Y(b), including the definition of “issuer,” “seller,” and of “notice of a transfer to a foreign person”;

(j) The definition of “buyer” for purposes of § 6050Y(c), including whether it should include the beneficial owner of the life insurance contract and the person holding title or possession for state law purposes, and identification of the person or persons holding the information necessary to determine the investment in the contract made by the “buyer”;

(k) The definition of “investment in the contract” for purposes of §§ 6050Y(b) and (c);

(l) Documentation requirements that should be applied by acquirers and issuers to determine whether a payment recipient/ seller is a non-U.S. person for purposes of excluding their respective reporting under § 6050Y, including addressing any foreign sellers that might be included in the reporting and presumption rules to be applied in the absence of reliable documentation establishing a seller’s non-U.S. status (to the extent permitted for excluding reporting); and

(m) Rules to coordinate any of the provisions of § 6050Y with other sections of the Code addressing withholding and reporting requirements, including coordination with the provisions of chapters 3 and 4 of the Code. Comments should be submitted in writing on or before June 13, 2018, and should contain reference to this Notice 2018–41. All comments will be available for public inspection and copying. Comments may be submitted in one of three ways:

(1) By mail to Internal Revenue Ser vice, CC:PA:LPD:PR (Notice 2018–41), Room 5203, P.O. Box 7604, Ben Franklin Station, Washington, DC 20044. (2) Electronically to Notice.Comments@

irscounsel.treas.gov. Please include “Notice 2018–41” in both the body of the comment and on the subject line of any electronic communications. (3) By hand-delivery Monday through

Friday between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. to CC:PA:LPD:PR (Notice 2018–41), Courier’s Desk, Internal Revenue Service, 1111 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20224.

DRAFTING INFORMATION

The principal author of this notice is Kathryn M. Sneade of the Office of Associate Chief Counsel (Financial Institutions & Products). For further information regarding this notice, contact Ms. Sneade at (202) 317-6995 (not a toll-free number).

Section 101.—Certain death benefits

26 C.F.R. 1.101-1: Exclusion from gross income of proceeds of life insurance contracts payable by reason of death. Information reporting obligations with respect to amounts paid by reason of the death of the insured under a life insurance contract that has been transferred in a reportable policy sale. See Notice 201841, page 584.

Public Comment Invited on Recommendations for 2018–2019 Priority Guidance Plan

Notice 2018–43

The Department of the Treasury (Treasury Department) and the Internal Revenue Service (Service) invite public comment on recommendations for items that should be included on the 2018–2019 Priority Guidance Plan.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy and the Service use the Priority Guidance Plan each year to identify

and prioritize the tax issues that should be addressed through regulations, revenue rulings, revenue procedures, notices, and other published administrative guidance. The 2018–2019 Priority Guidance Plan will identify guidance projects that the Treasury Department and the Service intend to work on as priorities during the period from July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019. The Treasury Department and the Service recognize the importance of public input in formulating a Priority Guidance Plan that focuses resources on guidance items that are most important to taxpayers and tax administration. Published guidance plays an important role in increasing voluntary compliance by helping to clarify ambiguous areas of the tax law. The published guidance process is most successful if the Treasury Department and the Service have the benefit of the experience and knowledge of taxpayers and practitioners who must apply the rules implementing the internal revenue laws.

On December 22, 2017, P.L. 115–97, “An Act to provide for the reconciliation pursuant to titles II and V of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018,” commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the Act), was enacted. Since that time the Treasury Department and the Service have focused their efforts on guidance projects necessary to implement the Act.

The Treasury Department and the Service expect to continue to concentrate on guidance implementing the Act for the balance of the current plan year and during the 2018–2019 plan year. As a result, the Treasury Department and the Service do not expect to be able to complete a number of the guidance projects on the 2017–2018 Priority Guidance Plan, but they currently expect that many of these projects will be carried over to the 2018–2019 Priority Guidance Plan.

In reviewing recommendations and selecting additional projects for inclusion on the 2018–2019 Priority Guidance Plan, the Treasury Department and the Service will consider the following:

1. Whether the recommended guidance resolves significant issues relevant to many taxpayers;
2. Whether the recommended guidance reduces controversy and lessens the burden on taxpayers or the Service;

May 14, 2018 590 Bulletin No. 2018–20

ily coverage under a high deductible health plan (HDHP) for calendar year 2018 announced in Revenue Procedure 2018–18, 2018–10 I.R.B. 392. For 2018, taxpayers may treat $6,900 as the annual limitation on the deduction for an individual with family coverage under an HDHP pursuant to section 223(b)(2)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code. This revenue procedure makes no other changes to Rev. Proc. 2018–18.