TD 27-10 Organization and Functions of the Ofice of the Assistant Secretary (Tax Policy)

TREASURY DIRECTIVE: 27-10

Date: October 15, 1990

Sunset Review: TBD

Expiration Date: TBD

SUBJECT: Organization and Functions of the Office of the Assistant Secretary (Tax Policy)

1. PURPOSE. This directive describes the organization and functions of the Assistant Secretary (Tax Policy).

2. THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY (TAX POLICY) reports through the Deputy Secretary to the Secretary and is responsible for the following functions.

a. Assists the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of the Treasury through the development and implementation of Federal tax policies and programs.

b. Provides official estimates of all government receipts for the President's budget, for fiscal policy decisions, and for Treasury cash management decisions.

c. Develops and reviews regulations and rulings to administer the tax code.

d. Negotiates tax treaties for the United States.

e. Provides economic and legal policy analysis for domestic and international tax policy decisions.

f. Prepares congressionally and Presidentially mandated reports of tax policy issues.

g. Analyzes and monitors class lives of business assets for depreciation purposes.

3. ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE. Under the supervision of the Assistant Secretary are two Deputy Assistant Secretaries: Tax Policy and Tax Analysis. The structural organization and functions designed to accommodate the mission of the Office of the Assistant Secretary (Tax Policy) are as follows.

a. The Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary (Tax Policy) serves as deputy to the Assistant Secretary in the conduct of the above functions and acts for the Assistant Secretary in that official's absence. The Tax Legislative Counsel, the International Tax Counsel, and the Benefits Tax Counsel provide counsel directly to the Assistant Secretary (Tax Policy) but are supervised by the General Counsel as part of the Department's Legal Division.

(1) The Office of the Tax Legislative Counsel is responsible for providing the Assistant Secretary (Tax Policy) with legal and policy analysis and assistance on matters of domestic taxation, including:

(a) formulating the Administration's tax initiatives;

(b) commenting on tax policy aspects of proposals and initiatives of other executive departments;

(d) assisting congressional staff in drafting legislative language and preparing legislative history, including relevant committee reports;

(e) assisting in the development of regulations, rulings, and other administrative guidance and advising the Assistant Secretary regarding any policy issues that arise as the regulations are developed; and

(f) undertaking policy studies and serving on Treasury or interagency task forces on issues related to the Office's area of responsibility.

(2) The Office of the International Tax Counsel is responsible for providing the Assistant Secretary (Tax Policy) with legal and policy analysis and assistance on matters of international taxation, including:

(a) developing recommendations for Treasury legislative initiatives and formulating of Treasury positions on other legislative proposals involving international taxation;

(b) preparing testimony on international taxation issues for presentation before congressional tax writing committees;

(c) overseeing the development of the policy aspects of all Internal Revenue Service administrative lawmaking pronouncements involving international tax issues, including rulings, regulations, and announcements;

(d) conducting the Treasury's tax treaty and tax information exchange agreement program, including negotiating with foreign governments, supplying legal and policy input to the ratification process, and establishing general treaty policy;

(e) participating in international meetings of government tax authorities; and

(f) undertaking policy studies and serving on Treasury or interagency task forces on issues related to the Office's areas of responsibility.

(3) The Office of the Benefits Tax Counsel is responsible for providing the Assistant Secretary (Tax Policy) with legal and policy analysis and assistance on matters relating to the taxation and regulation of employee benefits programs, both private and public, including:

(a) formulating and reviewing legislative proposals relating to private and public employee benefits issues;

(b) preparing testimony on private and public employee benefits issues for presentation before congressional tax writing committees;

(c) overseeing policy aspects of Internal Revenue Service administrative guidance documents involving employee benefit issues, including rulings, regulations, and announcements;

(d) commenting and advising on policy aspects of proposals and initiatives of other executive departments relating to private and public employee benefits issues;

(e) undertaking policy studies and serving on Treasury or interagency task forces on issues related to the Office's areas of responsibility; and

(f) assisting congressional staff in drafting legislative language and preparing legislative history, including committee reports, on private and public employee benefits issues.

b. The Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary (Tax Analysis) serves as deputy to the Assistant Secretary (Tax Policy) in the conduct of the functions listed in paragraph 2. and provides economic analysis to facilitate the development, analysis, and implementation of tax policies and programs. Within this Office is the Office of Tax Analysis.

The Office of Tax Analysis is responsible for providing the Assistant Secretary (Tax Policy) with economic and policy analysis and assistance on matters of domestic and international taxation, including:

(1) providing economic analyses of tax legislation and studying the effects of the existing tax law and alternative tax programs;

(2) preparing testimony for Treasury officials, writing Presidentially and congressionally mandated reports, and serving on interagency task forces on issues related to the Office's areas of responsibility;

(3) providing official Administration estimates of all current and future levels of Federal Government receipts for the President's Annual Budget and interim budget revisions, actual and proposed tax legislation, earmarked revenue allocated to various Federal trust funds, Treasury cash management decisions, and the Tax Expenditure Budget and working with the Office of the Assistant Secretary (Management) to estimate funding proposals for bureaus within the Treasury whose activities directly affect budget receipts;

(4) assisting in the development and review of tax regulations and tax forms and overseeing the IRS Statistics of Income Division tax return studies;

(5) participating in the Treasury's tax treaty and tax information exchange agreement program, and in international meetings of government tax authorities:

(6) conducting specialized statistical and econometric studies of depreciation of assets and furnishing Treasury officials with analyses and recommendations regarding the assignment or revisions of asset classifications and class lives; and

(7) assembling statistical and analytical information, data bases, models, and econometric and statistical techniques to analyze tax policy issues through the development and maintenance of large microdata files of tax returns, economic databases, and major simulation models for analyzing the economic effects of alternative tax proposals and tax systems.

4. REFERENCES.

a. Treasury Order (TO) 111-01, "Issues of Tax Policy," dated March 16, 1981.

b. TO 101-05, "Reporting Relationships and Supervision of Officials, Offices and Bureaus, Delegation of Certain Authority, and Order of Succession in the Department of the Treasury."

c. Treasury Directive (TD) 18-02, "Authority to Approve Internal Revenue Regulations," dated September 4, 1986.

5. CANCELLATION. TO 27-10, "Organization and Functions of the Office of the Assistant Secretary (Tax Policy)," dated September 20, 1989, is superseded.

6. OFFICE OF PRIMARY INTEREST. Office of the Assistant Secretary (Tax Policy).

Kenneth W. Gideon

Assistant Secretary (Tax Policy)