Ms. Tara P. Volungis

Mr. Charles Wien

Office of the Associate Chief Counsel

(Passthroughs and Special Entities)

Internal Revenue Service

P.O. Box 7604

Ben Franklin Station

Washington, DC 20044

Re:      Proposed Regulations Relating to Reportable Transactions Under Sections 6011, 6111, and 6112 (REG-103038-05; REG-103039-05; REG-103043-05)

Dear Ms. Volungis and Mr. Wien:

Enclosed are comments prepared by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) regarding reportable transactions under sections 6011, 6111, and 6112. These comments were developed by the Reportable Transactions Task Force of the AICPA’s Tax Practice Responsibilities Committee and approved by the Tax Executive Committee. We previously requested to testify at the public hearing on these proposed regulations.

The AICPA respects the government’s desire for increased transparency to identify and deal with potentially abusive transactions, and commends its efforts to refine the reportable transaction rules to reduce unnecessary burden on taxpayers and tax advisors, such as in providing additional exceptions to certain categories of reportable transactions. However, as our attached comments reflect, the AICPA is concerned with aspects of the proposed regulations that do not seem to strike an appropriate balance between transparency and burden. We acknowledge the IRS’ need to capture meaningful information, but are concerned that the regime may be unnecessarily burdensome to taxpayers and tax advisors and, in the end, our goal is to ensure that the regime is properly administrable. Our comments identify concerns and offer suggestions which the AICPA believes supports the IRS’ commitment to transparency and elimination of abuse in the tax system, while also respecting the realities and burdens of taxpayers and tax practitioners who must comply with the disclosure rules.

We appreciate your consideration of these comments. If you have any questions, please contact me at jeffrey.hoops@ey.com; Jeffrey B. Frishman, Chair, Reportable Transactions Task Force, at effrey.frishman@gt.com; or Edward S. Karl, AICPA Director, at ekarl@aicpa.org.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey R. Hoops

Chair, AICPA Tax Executive Committee

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