LIFO; price indexes; department stores. The April 2004 Bureau of Labor Statistics price indexes are accepted for use by department stores employing the retail inventory and last-in, first-out inventory methods for valuing inventories for tax years ended on, or with reference to, April 30, 2004.

Business expenses; timber fertilization. The costs incurred by a timber grower for the post-establishment fertilization of an established timber stand are ordinary and necessary business expenses deductible under section 162 of the Code. This ruling also provides procedures for a taxpayer to automatically change its method of accounting for post-establishment fertilization costs to the method provided in this ruling. Rev. Proc. 2002-9 modified and amplified.

Weighted average interest rate update; corporate bond indexes; 30-year Treasury securities. The weighted average interest rate for June 2004 and the resulting permissible range of interest rates used to calculate current liability and to determine the required contribution are set forth.