August 27, 2001

FinCEN REGULATIONS TO BE DELAYED (RE: MONEY ORDERS, ETC.)

The regulation of convenience stores as "Money Services Businesses" by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) was scheduled to become effective as of the end of this year. SIGMA has learned that the effective date will be pushed back approximately 6 months. The reason for the delay is related to the change in Administrations; all regulations issued in the final days of the Clinton Administration are being reviewed by the Bush Administration, and thus are being delayed even when not changed.

The FinCEN rules will require that "Money Services Businesses" register with the Treasury Department, with an originally planned deadline of 12/31/01. For money orders, the "issuer" of the money order (such as American Express) is required to register; those who merely sell money orders issued by others are not required to register. Thus, most convenience stores would not be covered by this part of the regulation. However, those involved in check cashing businesses – including many convenience stores – are also required to register as "Money Services Businesses". The new deadline for registration, expected to be published soon, will probably be in June 2002.

Whether or not required to be registered, all c-stores which sell money orders or cash checks will be required to file "Suspicious Activity Reports" for transactions that may fit the profile of those involved in financial crimes. That requirement now will be delayed until around September 2002. We will keep you informed as these rules are finalized.

IRS AUDIT GUIDELINES

Earlier this month, the Internal Revenue Service issued a revision to its market segment specialization program (MSSP) audit guidelines for gasoline retailers. Those guidelines will soon be posted on the IRS website, although they were not yet there as of our press deadline. Go to www.irs.gov, click on the "Small Business and Self Employed Community" halfway down the left column, then on "gas retailers" (again, down the left column), and finally on "Audit Technique Guides" (third item in the center section of the web page.) SIGMA attended the conference where IRS unveiled the new guidelines, on August 13, and our attorneys have a hard copy of the guidelines if you need to see them right away. SIGMA is concerned, as are other marketer groups, that the audit guidelines still contain many of the provisions which were objectionable in the earlier version of the guidelines and which tend to portray gasoline retailers as tax cheats. There is another problem with the new guidelines: apparently IRS made an error in the depreciation tables for underground tank systems, using 15-year rather than 5-year depreciation. We understand IRS is moving to correct this error, but do not know when it will be done.

MTBE/OXYGENATE NEWS

A group of 5 oil companies have settled with a San Francisco area environmental group, agreeing to clean up MTBE leaks from underground storage tanks. Shell, Texaco, Chevron, Unocal, and Equilon have settled; Arco, Tosco, and ExxonMobil are still in litigation. Separately, officials from Orange County, Calif., are reported to be seeking outside counsel to help them obtain funds from oil companies for MTBE cleanup. BP, meanwhile, has indicated it would favor adoption of a national policy to resolve the oxygenate problem in reformulated gasoline (RFG). A company spokesman noted that, while a "California waiver" would help the company in the short run, the company would favor a national solution to the phase-out of MTBE that would avoid the necessity of blending ethanol into RFG. The issue of the California waiver and/or some national solution to the oxygenate debate will likely be considered in the Senate in September. Although the House has already acted in the negative, the issue isn’t dead.

EPA CLEANUP FUNDING

EPA is seeking applications for up to 40 pilot projects for cleanup of petroleum-contaminated sites under a special program. The funds are intended for use by states and tribal entities to clean up so-called "brownfield" sites – abandoned industrial sites – which contain abandoned underground petroleum storage tanks (USTs). The overall cleanup of brownfield sites is being funded under a Superfund program; however, because petroleum is excluded from Superfund, cleanup of petroleum contamination is not covered under brownfields.

It is estimated that up to half of the estimated 450,000 contaminated industrial sites nationwide contain at least one abandoned UST or have contamination from petroleum leaks from old USTs.

HELP KEEP DUES DOWN!

This SIGMA Weekly Report is distributed to some 1,000 individuals around the country – some by U.S. Mail, some by fax broadcast, and some by e-mail broadcast. On an annualized basis, distribution costs (alone) for Weekly Report are about:

Via U.S. Mail – $ 28 per subscriber
Fax broadcast – $ 16 per subscriber
Via e-mail broadcast – $ zero per subscriber!

The difference is clear: up to $28,000 per year that SIGMA could spend on more useful things like lobbying and information gathering (instead of postage, paper, and envelopes) if everyone went from regular mail to e-mail for Weekly Report!

Thank you for getting your subscription by email!  NOTE:  if you want to add extra people at your company to receive the email Weekly Report (at no additional cost to you), please also let us know their title and phone so we can add them to our regular database. If the new person is replacing someone else, let us know that too – so we can remove the "old person" from the list.

SIGMA IN SEATTLE

Members should have recently received promotional materials for both our Annual Meeting in Seattle, Nov. 10-12, 2001, and our Winter Management Conference in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Jan. 20-23, 2002. One update note for the Seattle meeting: children wishing to go on the Boeing tour must be at least 50 inches tall (that’s 4'2"). Special events are filling up fast for Seattle; we urge you to make your plans and sign up within the next couple of weeks to be sure you get into everything you want to participate in!

MEMBER INFO REQUEST

A SIGMA member is trying to gather information and would like to speak to other SIGMA members with 50 or more outlets who are using Radiant Systems. He wants to speak to those who will candidly share their experiences with Radiant in terms of reliability, accuracy of cost estimates, etc. If you are willing to share this information, let SIGMA know and we’ll put you in touch on a mutually-confidential basis. E-mail your willingness with your name, company, and phone number to tosborne@sigma.org, or fax your interest to 703-709-7007 to the attention of Tom Osborne.