FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Contact: (202) 225-7601
November 15, 1999
No. OV-13
Congressman Amo Houghton (R-NY), Chairman, Subcommittee on Oversight of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee is requesting written public comments for the record from all interested parties on the recommendations made by the recent studies on penalty and interest provisions in the Internal Revenue Code completed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Joint Committee on Taxation.
BACKGROUND:
In 1988 and 1989, the Subcommittee reviewed the penalty and interest provisions in the tax code. This review culminated in an overhaul of the penalty and interest regimes with the enactment of the Improved Penalty Administration and Compliance Tax Act, included in the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989 (P.L. 101-239).
In the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-206), Congress directed the Treasury and the Joint Committee on Taxation to conduct studies to examine whether the current penalty and interest provisions: (1) encourage voluntary compliance, (2) operate fairly, (3) are effective deterrents to undesired behavior, and (4) are designed in a manner that promotes efficient and effective administration of the provisions by the IRS.
The Joint Committee on Taxation completed and released its study, Study of Present-Law Penalty and Interest Provisions as Required by Section 3801 of the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (Including Provisions Relating to Corporate Tax Shelters), on July 22, 1999. The Treasury completed its report, Penalty and Interest Provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, on October 25, 1999.
The Subcommittee had previously scheduled a hearing on this topic for November 9, but it has been postponed and will be rescheduled at a later date. (See Subcommittee press release No. OV-12, dated October 25, 1999, and OV-12-Revised, dated November 9, 1999.)
DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS:
Any person or organization wishing to submit a written statement for the printed record should submit six (6) single-spaced copies of their statement, along with an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect 5.1 format, with their name, address, and comments date noted on label, by the close of business, Monday, December 6, 1999, to A.L. Singleton, Chief of Staff, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, 1102 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515.
FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:
Each statement presented for printing to the Committee by a witness, any written statement or exhibit submitted for the printed record or any written comments in response to a request for written comments must conform to the guidelines listed below. Any statement or exhibit not in compliance with these guidelines will not be printed, but will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
1. All statements and any accompanying exhibits for printing must be submitted on an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect 5.1 format, typed in single space and may not exceed a total of 10 pages including attachments. Witnesses are advised that the Committee will rely on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record.
2. Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material will not be accepted for printing. Instead, exhibit material should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased. All exhibit material not meeting these specifications will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
3. A witness appearing at a public hearing, or submitting a statement for the record of a public hearing, or submitting written comments in response to a published request for comments by the Committee, must include on his statement or submission a list of all clients, persons, or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears.
4. A supplemental sheet must accompany each statement listing the name, company, address, telephone and fax numbers where the witness or the designated representative may be reached. This supplemental sheet will not be included in the printed record.
The above restrictions and limitations apply only to material being submitted for printing. Statements and exhibits or supplementary material submitted solely for distribution to the Members, the press, and the public during the course of a public hearing may be submitted in other forms.