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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 185 / Tuesday, September 28, 2021 / Rules and Regulations the estate tax return. Personnel issuing estate tax closing letters are alerted to begin that process only after the examination of the estate tax return has been completed and the IRS file has been closed. Thus, implementing such a change to current IRS procedures and return processing systems would substantially increase the burden on the IRS and would require increases in budget, staffing, and resources not currently available. In addition, as discussed elsewhere in this preamble, the procedure to be put in place for paying the user fee and requesting the estate tax closing letter is a convenient and not unduly burdensome alternative that balances the administrability concerns of both the IRS and the estates making requests for estate tax closing letters. For these reasons, this suggestion is not adopted.
2. Additional User Fee for Requests Related to Supplemental Estate Tax Returns One commenter requested further clarification of whether an additional user fee is required for estate tax closing letters after the filing of a supplemental estate tax return. Specifically, the commenter references Rev. Proc. 8127, 19812 C.B. 547, and identifies supplemental estate tax returns filed in relation to elections made under section 6166 of the Code as creating an undue burden on such estates if an additional user fee is required for a new estate tax closing letter after each subsequent filing of a supplemental estate tax return. The commenter suggests that only one user fee should be imposed per estate, regardless of how many estate tax returns are filed.
As directed by the OMB Circular, the cost analysis described in the proposed regulations is based on the number of estate tax closing letters requested over a specified period of time, whether related to an initial estate tax return or to a supplemental estate tax return, and the labor and benefits costs of campus employees required to process the requests. Each request requires the same amount of IRS resources to issue the estate tax closing letter, whether the request is related to the initial estate tax return or a supplemental estate tax return. In particular, each such request necessitates research and analysis of IRS
records, which makes up a significant part of the cost of the user fee.
Therefore, accommodating the commenters suggestion likely would increase the cost of a single request, and such increase would be borne equally by all estates requesting estate tax closing letters, including simpler estates filing only an initial estate tax return.

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Further, an estate filing a supplemental estate tax return is not required to request an estate tax closing letter in relation to both the initial estate tax return and the supplemental estate tax return, and presumably will request multiple estate tax closing letters only if the estate determines that the benefits of receiving a second estate tax closing letter merit the payment of the additional user fee. Accordingly, the suggestion is not adopted and each request for an estate tax closing letter will require a separate user fee.
3. Procedures for the Request and Issuance of Estate Tax Closing Letters Several commenters requested clarification on some of the procedural aspects of requesting estate tax closing letters. For example, commenters sought information on who is permitted to make the request, when the request can be made, how many letters will be issued in response to a single request, and who will be the recipients of the estate tax closing letters.
The procedure for requesting the estate tax closing letter and paying the user fee utilizes https www.pay.gov. In this web-based procedure, a request for the estate tax closing letter and the payment of the user fee will be accomplished by a single request, thus eliminating the potential under the current procedure for multiple requests and necessary duplicative follow-up.
As noted in the preamble to the proposed regulations, specific procedures for requesting an estate tax closing letter and paying the associated user fee for that request are not provided in these regulations. Such procedures change from time to time and therefore are best addressed and kept current in subregulatory guidance. It is clear that, while any person with sufficient information about the estate may request the issuance of a closing letter and pay the user fee, the closing letter will be provided only to certain authorized persons, a category that might not include the person making the request for example, an employee of the attorney, certified public accountant, or enrolled agent for the estate. Information about who will receive an estate tax closing letter in response to a request, together with specific instructions for requesting the estate tax closing letter and paying the user fee, will be available on https
www.pay.gov and on the IRS website at https www.irs.gov on or before October 28, 2021. To the extent possible, the procedures will reflect the comments and questions from these commenters, and the instructions and
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information are expected to address the issues these commenters raised.
In identifying the person liable for the fee for the estate tax closing letter, 300.13c of the proposed regulations includes persons properly authorized under section 6103 of the Code to request and receive the estate tax closing letter with respect to the estate.
Consistent with the decision to exclude the relevant procedural guidance for requesting estate tax closing letters from these regulations, 300.13 is revised in the final regulations by removing the reference to section 6103, which governs the disclosure of return information but does not necessarily govern who would be liable for payment of the user fee for requesting the estate tax closing letter.
4. Recommended Changes to Account Transcripts One commenter stated that, although the account transcript is a free alternative to the estate tax closing letter, the account transcript does not provide all of the information needed by an estate, including potentially the amount of net estate tax and the amount of generation-skipping transfer tax information that an estate tax closing letter provides. The commenter suggested that the IRS should modify the account transcript to include additional detailed information.
As discussed in Notice 201712, an account transcript may be an acceptable substitute for an estate tax closing letter, even though the information provided by each is not identical. As discussed earlier in this preamble, both documents can be relied upon for confirmation that the IRS examination of the estate tax return has been closed, which most often is identified as the primary purpose for requesting an estate tax closing letter. The commenters suggestion to change the information provided in the account transcript to include additional information also included in the estate tax closing letter is consistent with the determination that the issuance of an estate tax closing letter confers special benefits on identifiable recipients. Making changes to the account transcript as the commenter suggests would require costly programming changes and, moreover, is beyond the scope of this rulemaking. Accordingly, the commenters suggestion is not adopted.
Special Analyses These regulations are not subject to review under section 6b of Executive Order 12866 pursuant to the Memorandum of Agreement April 11, 2018 between the Treasury Department
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