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the proposed action and alternatives for
the following resource areas:
Greenhouse gas emissions; climate
change; air pollutant emissions
(including Clean Air Act criteria
pollutant emissions); human health;
water conservation; cultural and historic
resources; and disproportionately high
and adverse impacts to low-income and
minority populations (environmental
justice).
IV. Request for Comments
FHFA invites comments on all of the
issues and questions discussed above,
and will consider all comments in
developing any proposed rule that
FHFA may issue concerning the
Enterprises’ dealing in mortgages on
properties participating in PACE
programs. As to all questions
enumerated above, commenters should
provide supporting data and
documentation for each of their
responses, as these will assist FHFA in
its consideration of comments.
Studies addressing relevant aspects of
PACE programs may be submitted for
the agency’s consideration. FHFA is
interested in studies analyzing:
• The effect of PACE-funded
improvements on the value of the
underlying property, including
differential effects over time and across
markets;
• The comparative costs of PACE
programs with other means of financing
such as home equity loans, refinance
transactions, and leasing programs;
• Payback periods for projects eligible
for PACE funding, considering costs,
energy savings, and risks (including risk
of changes in energy pricing or in the
level of subsidies or tax credits
available);
• The economic life of PACE-funded
improvements, particularly in relation
to the term of the PACE loan;
• Default rates of PACE and nonPACE loans based on populations with
comparable borrower, loan and property
characteristics; and
• Other subjects relating to PACE and
the financial risks PACE programs pose
to mortgage holders such as the
Enterprises.
All study-related submissions should
provide the complete study protocol;
the date(s) the study was proposed,
initiated, completed, and published or
otherwise reported; all key assumptions;
the sample size; the data; the results
(including sensitivity of reported results
to key assumptions); and any published
report of the study. Study-related
submissions should also identify the
persons who developed, implemented,
and published or otherwise reported the
study, as well as the principal sources

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of funding for the study. All data should
be provided in a reasonably accessible
computer-readable format, such as
Microsoft Excel files.
Dated: January 19, 2012.
Edward J. DeMarco,
Acting Director, Federal Housing Finance
Agency.
[FR Doc. 2012–1345 Filed 1–25–12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8070–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Internal Revenue Service
26 CFR Part 301
[REG–208274–86]
RIN 1545–AJ93

Information Reporting by Passport
Applicants
Internal Revenue Service (IRS),
Treasury.
ACTION: Withdrawal of notice of
proposed rulemaking; notice of
proposed rulemaking.
AGENCY:

This document contains
proposed regulations that provide
information reporting rules for certain
passport applicants. These regulations
do not provide information reporting
rules for individuals applying to become
permanent residents (green card
holders). This document also withdraws
the notice of proposed rulemaking (57
FR 61373) published in the Federal
Register on December 24, 1992.
DATES: Comments and requests for a
public hearing must be received by
April 25, 2012.
ADDRESSES: Send submissions to
CC:PA:LPD:PR (REG–208274–86), Room
5205, Internal Revenue Service, P.O.
Box 7604, Ben Franklin Station,
Washington, DC 20044. Submissions
may be hand-delivered Monday through
Friday between the hours of 8 a.m. and
4 p.m. to CC:PA:LPD:PR (REG–208274–
86), Courier’s Desk, Internal Revenue
Service, 1111 Constitution Avenue NW.,
Washington, DC, or sent electronically
via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at
http://www.regulations.gov (IRS REG–
208274–86).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Concerning the proposed regulations,
Lynn Dayan or Quyen Huynh at (202)
622–3880; concerning submissions of
comments and requests for public
hearing, Oluwafunmilayo Taylor, (202)
622–7180 (not toll-free numbers).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
SUMMARY:

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Paperwork Reduction Act
The collections of information
contained in this notice of proposed
rulemaking have been submitted to the
Office of Management and Budget for
review in accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44
U.S.C. 3507(d)) and, pending receipt
and evaluation of public comments
approved by the Office of Management
and Budget under control number 1545–
1359. Comments on the collections of
information should be sent to the Office
of Management and Budget, Attn: Desk
Officer for the Department of the
Treasury, Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs, Washington, DC
20503, with copies to the Internal
Revenue Service, Attn: IRS Reports
Clearance Officer,
SE:W:CAR:MP:T:T:SP, Washington, DC
20224. Comments on the collection of
information should be received by
March 26, 2012. Comments are
specifically requested concerning:
Whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of the duties of the Internal
Revenue Service, including whether the
information will have practical utility;
The accuracy of the estimated burden
associated with the proposed collection
of information;
How the quality, utility, and clarity of
the information to be collected may be
enhanced;
How the burden of complying with
the proposed collection of information
may be minimized, including through
the application of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information
technology; and
Estimates of capital or start-up costs
and costs of operation, maintenance,
and purchase of service to provide
information.
The collection of information in these
proposed regulation is in § 301.6039E–
1(b). The information is required to be
provided by individuals who apply for
a United States passport or a renewal of
a United States passport. The
information provided by passport
applicants will be used by the IRS for
tax compliance purposes.
Estimated total annual reporting
burden: 1,213,354 hours.
Estimated average annual burden
hours per respondent: four to ten
minutes.
Estimated number of respondents:
12,133,537.
Estimated annual frequency of
responses: one.
An agency may not conduct or
sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a collection of information
unless it displays a valid control

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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 17 / Thursday, January 26, 2012 / Proposed Rules
number assigned by the Office of
Management and Budget.
Books or records relating to a
collection of information must be
retained as long as their contents may
become material in the administration
of any internal revenue law. Generally,
tax returns and tax return information
are confidential, as required by 26
U.S.C. 6103.

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Background
This document contains proposed
amendments to 26 CFR part 301 under
section 6039E of the Internal Revenue
Code. Section 6039E provides rules
concerning information reporting by
U.S. passport and permanent resident
applicants, and requires specified
Federal agencies to provide certain
information to the IRS.
On December 24, 1992, the Treasury
Department and the IRS published a
notice of proposed rulemaking (REG–
208274–86, 1993–1 CB 822) in the
Federal Register (57 FR 61373) under
section 6039E (the 1992 proposed
regulations). The 1992 proposed
regulations provided guidance for both
passport and permanent resident
applicants to comply with information
reporting rules under section 6039E,
and indicated the responsibilities of
specified Federal agencies to provide
certain information to the IRS. No
requests were received to testify on the
1992 proposed regulations and,
accordingly, no public hearing was
held. One written comment letter
responding to the 1992 proposed
regulations was received, which
recommended modifications to Form
9003, ‘‘Additional Questions to be
Completed by All Applicants for
Permanent Residence in the United
States.’’ Because Form 9003 is no longer
in use and these proposed regulations
do not address information reporting
rules for permanent resident applicants,
the comment was not considered in
drafting these regulations. The proposed
regulations do not provide rules
concerning information reporting by
individuals applying to become
permanent residents; therefore such
individuals are not within the scope of
the proposed regulations.
The information required to be
provided by passport applicants under
section 6039E is collected on the U.S.
passport application form submitted by
such applicants to the Department of
State.
The proposed regulations also
withdraw the 1992 proposed
regulations.

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Explanation of Provisions
The proposed regulations set forth
rules concerning information reporting
by passport applicants under section
6039E. Section 301.6039E–1(a) requires
an individual applying for a U.S.
passport (passport applicant), other than
an individual who applies for an official
passport, diplomatic passport or
passport for use on other official U.S.
government business, to provide certain
information with his or her passport
application.
Section 301.6039E–1(b)(1) describes
the required information to be provided
by passport applicants: The applicant’s
full name and, if applicable, previous
name; address of regular or principal
place of residence within the country of
residence and, if different, mailing
address; taxpayer identifying number
(TIN); and date of birth. Section
301.6039E–1(b)(2) provides that the
required information must be submitted
with the passport application, regardless
of where the applicant resides at the
time it is submitted.
Section 301.6039E–1(c) provides
guidance on the circumstances under
which the IRS may impose a $500
penalty amount on any passport
applicant who fails to provide the
required information.
Section 301.6039E–1 is proposed to
be applicable to passport applications
submitted after the date of publication
of the Treasury decision adopting these
rules as final regulations in the Federal
Register.
Special Analyses
It has been determined that this notice
of proposed rulemaking is not a
significant regulatory action as defined
in Executive Order 12866. Therefore, a
regulatory assessment is not required. It
also has been determined that section
553(b) of the Administrative Procedure
Act (5 U.S.C. chapter 5) does not apply
to these regulations, and because the
regulations do not impose a collection
of information on small entities, the
Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C.
chapter 6) does not apply. Pursuant to
section 7805(f) of the Internal Revenue
Code, this regulation has been
submitted to the Chief Counsel for
Advocacy of the Small Business
Administration for comment on its
impact on small business.
Comments and Request for Public
Hearing
Before these proposed regulations are
adopted as final regulations,
consideration will be given to any
comments that are submitted timely to
the IRS as prescribed in this preamble

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3965

under the ADDRESSES heading. The IRS
and the Treasury Department request
comments on all aspects of the proposed
rules. All comments will be available for
public inspection and copying. A public
hearing will be scheduled if requested
in writing by any person that timely
submits written comments. If a public
hearing is scheduled, notice of the date,
time, and place for the public hearing
will be published in the Federal
Register.
Drafting Information
The principal author of these
regulations is Quyen P. Huynh of the
Office of Associate Chief Counsel
(International). However, other
personnel from the IRS and the Treasury
Department participated in their
development.
List of Subjects in 26 CFR Part 301
Administrative practice and
procedure, Alimony, Bankruptcy, Child
support, Continental shelf, Courts,
Crime, Employment taxes, Estate taxes,
Excise taxes, Gift taxes, Income taxes,
Investigations, Law enforcement, Oil
pollution, Penalties, Pensions,
Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements, Seals and insignia,
Statistics, Taxes.
Withdrawal of Proposed Regulations
Accordingly, under the authority of
26 U.S.C. 7805, the notice of proposed
rulemaking (INTL–978–86; REG–
208274–86) that was published in the
Federal Register on December 24, 1992
(57 FR 61373) is withdrawn.
Proposed Amendments to the
Regulations
Accordingly, 26 CFR part 301 is
proposed to be amended as follows:
PART 301—PROCEDURE AND
ADMINISTRATION
Paragraph 1. The authority citation
for part 301 is amended by adding an
entry in numerical order to read in part
as follows:
Authority: 26 U.S.C. 7805 * * *
Section 301.6039E–1 also issued under 26
U.S.C. 6039E.

Par. 2. Section 301.6039E–1 is added
to read as follows:
§ 301.6039E–1 Information reporting by
passport applicants.

(a) In general. Every individual who
applies for a U.S. passport (passport
applicant), other than an individual
who applies for a U.S. passport for use
in diplomatic, military, or other official
U.S. government business, shall include
with his or her passport application the

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information described in paragraph (b)
of this section.
(b) Required information—(1) In
general. The information required under
paragraph (a) of this section shall
include the following information:
(i) The passport applicant’s full name
and, if applicable, previous name;
(ii) Address of the passport
applicant’s regular or principal place of
residence within the country of
residence and, if different, mailing
address;
(iii) The passport applicant’s taxpayer
identifying number (TIN), if such a
number has been issued to the passport
applicant. A TIN means the individual’s
social security number (SSN) issued by
the Social Security Administration. A
passport applicant who does not have
an SSN must enter zeros in the
appropriate space on the passport
application; and
(iv) The passport applicant’s date of
birth.
(2) Time for furnishing information. A
passport applicant must provide the
information required by this section at
the time of submitting his or her
passport application, whether by
personal appearance or mail, to the
Department of State (including United
States Embassies and Consular posts
abroad).
(c) Penalties—(1) In general. If the
information required by paragraph (b)(1)
of this section is incomplete or
incorrect, or the information is not
timely filed, then the passport applicant
shall be subject to a penalty equal to
$500 per application. Before assessing a
penalty under this section, the IRS will
ordinarily provide to the passport
applicant written notice of the potential
assessment of the $500 penalty,
requesting the information being sought,
and offering the applicant an
opportunity to explain why such
information was not provided at the
time the passport application was
submitted. A passport applicant has 60
days (90 days if the notice is addressed
to an applicant outside the United
States) to respond to the notice. If, after
considering all the surrounding
circumstances, the passport applicant
demonstrates to the satisfaction of the
Commissioner or his delegate that the
failure is due to reasonable cause and
not due to willful neglect, then the IRS
will not assess the penalty.
(2) Example. The following example
illustrates the provisions of paragraph
(c) this section.
Example. C, a citizen of the United States,
makes an error in supplying information on
his passport application. Based on the nature
of the error and C’s timely response to correct
the error after being contacted by the IRS,

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and considering all the surrounding
circumstances, the Commissioner concludes
that the mistake is due to reasonable cause
and not due to willful neglect. Accordingly,
no penalty is assessed.

(d) Effective/applicability date. The
rules of this section apply to passport
applications submitted after the date of
publication of the Treasury decision
adopting these rules as final regulations
in the Federal Register.
Steven T. Miller,
Deputy Commissioner for Services and
Enforcement.
[FR Doc. 2012–1567 Filed 1–25–12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4830–01–P

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA–R05–OAR–2011–0598; FRL–9622–6]

Approval and Promulgation of Air
Quality Implementation Plans; Illinois;
Regional Haze
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
AGENCY:

EPA is proposing to approve
revisions to the Illinois State
Implementation Plan (SIP) addressing
regional haze for the first
implementation period. Illinois
submitted its regional haze plan on June
24, 2011. The Illinois regional haze plan
addresses Clean Air Act (CAA) section
169B and Regional Haze Rule
requirements for states to remedy any
existing and prevent future
anthropogenic impairment of visibility
at mandatory Class I areas. EPA is also
proposing to approve two state rules
and incorporating two permits into the
SIP.
DATES: Comments must be received on
or before February 27, 2012.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments,
identified by Docket ID No. EPA–R05–
OAR–2011–0598, by one of the
following methods:
1. www.regulations.gov: Follow the
on-line instructions for submitting
comments.
2. Email: blakley.pamela@epa.gov.
3. Fax: (312) 692–2450.
4. Mail: Pamela Blakley, Chief,
Control Strategies Section, Air Programs
Branch (AR–18J), U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, 77 West Jackson
Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604.
5. Hand Delivery: Pamela Blakley,
Chief, Control Strategies Section, Air
Programs Branch (AR–18J), U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, 77
SUMMARY:

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West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago,
Illinois 60604. Such deliveries are only
accepted during the Regional Office
normal hours of operation, and special
arrangements should be made for
deliveries of boxed information. The
Regional Office official hours of
business are Monday through Friday,
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding
Federal holidays.
Instructions: Direct your comments to
Docket ID No. EPA–R05–OAR–2011–
0598. EPA’s policy is that all comments
received will be included in the public
docket without change and may be
made available online at
www.regulations.gov, including any
personal information provided, unless
the comment includes information
claimed to be Confidential Business
Information (CBI) or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute.
Do not submit information that you
consider to be CBI or otherwise
protected through www.regulations.gov
or email. The www.regulations.gov Web
site is an ‘‘anonymous access’’ system,
which means EPA will not know your
identity or contact information unless
you provide it in the body of your
comment. If you send an email
comment directly to EPA without going
through www.regulations.gov your email
address will be automatically captured
and included as part of the comment
that is placed in the public docket and
made available on the Internet. If you
submit an electronic comment, EPA
recommends that you include your
name and other contact information in
the body of your comment and with any
disk or CD–ROM you submit. If EPA
cannot read your comment due to
technical difficulties and cannot contact
you for clarification, EPA may not be
able to consider your comment.
Electronic files should avoid the use of
special characters, any form of
encryption, and be free of any defects or
viruses. For additional instructions on
submitting comments, go to Section I of
this document.
Docket: All documents in the docket
are listed in the www.regulations.gov
index. Although listed in the index,
some information is not publicly
available, e.g., CBI or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute.
Certain other material, such as
copyrighted material, will be publicly
available only in hard copy. Publicly
available docket materials are available
either electronically in
www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at
the Environmental Protection Agency,
Region 5, Air and Radiation Division, 77
West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago,
Illinois 60604. This facility is open from
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through

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