Drawback of Internal Revenue Excise Tax

AGENCIES:

Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security; Department of the Treasury.

ACTION:

Notice of proposed rulemaking; extension of comment period.

SUMMARY:

This document provides an additional 30 days for interested parties to submit comments on the proposal to amend title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations to preclude the filing of substitution drawback claims for internal revenue excise tax paid on imported merchandise in situations where no excise tax was paid upon the substituted merchandise or where the substituted merchandise is the subject of a different claim for refund or drawback of excise tax under any provision of the Internal Revenue Code. The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on October 15, 2009, with comments due on or before November 16, 2009. A related proposed rulemaking prepared by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) within the Department of the Treasury was published in the same edition of the Federal Register, with comments due on or before December 14, 2009. In an effort to provide the public with equal opportunity to comment on these related proposals, CBP is extending the comment period to December 14, 2009.

DATES:

Comments on the proposed rule must be received on or before December 14, 2009.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments, identified by USCBP docket number, by one of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments via docket number USCBP-2009-0021.
• Mail: Trade and Commercial Regulations Branch, Regulations and Rulings, Office of International Trade, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 799 9th Street, NW. (Mint Annex), Washington, DC 20229-1179.

Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name and USCBP docket number for this proposed rulemaking. All comments received will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov,, including any personal information provided. For detailed instructions on submitting comments and additional information on the rulemaking process, see the “Public Participation” heading of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov. Submitted comments may also be inspected during regular business days between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at the Trade and Commercial Regulations Branch, Regulations and Rulings, Office of International Trade, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 799 9th Street, NW., 5th Floor, Washington, DC. Arrangements to inspect submitted comments should be made in advance by calling Joseph Clark at (202) 325-0118.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

William Rosoff, Entry Process and Duty Refunds, Regulations and Rulings, Office of International Trade, (202) 325-0047.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Public Participation

Interested persons are invited to participate in this rulemaking by submitting written data, views, or arguments on all aspects of the proposed rule. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) also invites comments that relate to the economic, environmental, or federalism effects that might result from this proposed rule. If appropriate to a specific comment, the commenter should reference the specific portion of the proposed rule, explain the reason for any recommended change, and include data, information, or authority that support such recommended change.

Background

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published a document in the Federal Register (74 FR 52928) on October 15, 2009 proposing to amend title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations to preclude the filing of substitution drawback claims for internal revenue excise tax paid on imported merchandise in situations where no excise tax was paid upon the substituted merchandise or where the substituted merchandise is the subject of a different claim for refund or drawback of excise tax under any provision of the Internal Revenue Code. The document solicited public comment on the proposed amendments, and requested that submitted comments be received by CBP on or before November 16, 2009.

A related proposed rulemaking prepared by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) within the Department of the Treasury was published in the same edition of the Federal Register (74 FR 52937, October 15, 2009). Comments on TTB's proposed rule are due on or before December 14, 2009.

Extension of Comment Period

On October 21, 2009, CBP received a written submission from the trade requesting that the 30-day comment period be extended to align with the 60-day period designated in the TTB proposed rule so as to provide adequate time to prepare comments. Upon review, a decision has been made to grant the request in order to provide the public with equal opportunity to comment on the related proposals. Accordingly, the comment period is extended to December 14, 2009, and comments must be received by CBP on or before that date.