Regulators Seek Employer Input on PPACA Provisions

Notice 2011-36 solicits public input and comment on several issues that will be the subject of future proposed guidance as Treasury and the IRS work to provide information to employers on how to comply with the shared responsibility provisions.  In particular, the notice requests comment on possible approaches employers could use to determine who is a full-time employee.  

The agencies explained that under the Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more full-time employees that do not offer affordable health coverage to their full-time employees may be required to make a shared responsibility payment.  The law specifically exempts small firms that have fewer than 50 full-time employees. This provision takes effect in 2014.  

Consistent with the coordinated approach the Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services are taking in developing the regulations and other guidance under the Affordable Care Act, the notice also solicits input on how the three Departments should interpret and apply the Act’s provisions limiting the ability of plans and issuers to impose a waiting period for health coverage of longer than 90 days starting in 2014.  In addition, the notice invites comment on how guidance under the 90-day provisions should be coordinated with the rules Treasury and IRS will propose regarding the shared responsibility provisions.  

There are three ways to submit comments: 

• E-mail to: Notice.Comments@irscounsel.treas.gov. Include “Notice 2011-36” in the subject line; 
• Mail to: Internal Revenue Service, CC:PA:LPD:PR (Notice 2011-36), Room 5203, P.O. Box 7604, Ben Franklin Station, Washington, DC 20044; or 
• Hand deliver to: CC:PA:LPD:PR (Notice 2011-36), Courier’s Desk, Internal Revenue Service, 1111 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.