On May 6, 2015, the Internal Revenue Service issued proposed regulations providing guidance on the activities related to minerals and natural resources that will generate qualifying income under section 7704(d)(1)(E) of the tax code. While welcoming the much-needed clarity that the proposed regulations would provide in this area, MLPA has significant concerns with some aspects of the Proposed Regulations, particularly the attempt to provide an exclusive list of the operations that will constitute qualifying activities and the narrowness with which some activities are defined.

On August 4, 2015, MLPA (then NAPTP) submitted detailed comments on the proposed regulations and requested that the IRS hold a hearing on them.