Sarah Bassler Millar, Dawn Sellstrom and Summer Conley Article Published in Health Lawyers Weekly

Chicago partner Sarah Bassler Millar along with counsel Dawn Sellstrom and Los Angeles counsel Summer Conley co-authored an article for Health Lawyers Weekly titled, “What the Delay of the Employer Mandate Means for Plan Sponsors.”

In the article, Sarah, Dawn and Summer summarize the IRS delay of the employer “shared responsibility” mandate and related information reporting rule. The IRS expects to issue proposed rules describing the information reporting requirements this summer during the transition. The IRS is encouraging employers to voluntarily comply with the information reporting requirements.

Voluntary compliance may help entities test their systems and ease the way for when reporting will be mandatory in 2015. Once the IRS issues the proposed reporting rules, reporting entities will be in a better position to assess whether voluntary reporting in 2014 is feasible and prudent.

In addition to providing relief from the healthcare coverage reporting obligations for 2014, the IRS notice confirms that the IRS will not assess penalties related to the employer mandate for 2014.

Although the IRS guidance encourages employers to voluntarily comply with the employer mandate and maintain or expand healthcare coverage in 2014, the IRS will not impose penalties for a failure to do so.  

The article also notes the many steps plan sponsors must take to comply with other affordable care Act requirements not impacted by the delay.

To view the entire article in Health Law Reporter, click here.