2019 Year End and New 2020 Regulatory Updates
In case you had other plans on New Year’s Eve and missed the fact that the IRS published the 2020 Standard Mileage rates or that on December 20, Congress enacted the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, we’ve highlighted items below of particular interest to our clients and their advisors:
**2020 Standard Mileage Rates:** Business Travel: 57.5 cents per mile Medical Care: 17 cents per mile
**Further Consolidated Appropriations Act** The Act repealed the following Affordable Care Act (ACA) taxes: - Excise tax on high-cost health insurance (aka the Cadillac Tax) - Annual fee on health insurance providers
The Act also repealed the provision that required tax-exempt organizations to treat amounts paid or incurred for qualified transportation fringe benefits and parking as unrelated business taxable income (UBTI). This is great news for our tax-exempt Commuter Benefit clients.
In addition to repealing these items, the Act also extended the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) fees until October 1, 2029. Our HRA clients are certainly disappointed with this part of the legislation!
**Hot off the Presses!** Just as we were ready to post this entry, the Department of Labor announced the following annual adjustments to the civil monetary penalties associated with benefit-related violations. Please see below for items of potential interest to our clients: - The maximum penalty for failing to provide a Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) increased to $1,176 per failure - The maximum penalty for failing to file Form 5500 increased to $2,233 per day that the filing is late.
Penalties for other types of violations can be found (link:https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb20-01.pdf text: here).
**2020 Standard Mileage Rates:** Business Travel: 57.5 cents per mile Medical Care: 17 cents per mile
**Further Consolidated Appropriations Act** The Act repealed the following Affordable Care Act (ACA) taxes: - Excise tax on high-cost health insurance (aka the Cadillac Tax) - Annual fee on health insurance providers
The Act also repealed the provision that required tax-exempt organizations to treat amounts paid or incurred for qualified transportation fringe benefits and parking as unrelated business taxable income (UBTI). This is great news for our tax-exempt Commuter Benefit clients.
In addition to repealing these items, the Act also extended the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) fees until October 1, 2029. Our HRA clients are certainly disappointed with this part of the legislation!
**Hot off the Presses!** Just as we were ready to post this entry, the Department of Labor announced the following annual adjustments to the civil monetary penalties associated with benefit-related violations. Please see below for items of potential interest to our clients: - The maximum penalty for failing to provide a Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) increased to $1,176 per failure - The maximum penalty for failing to file Form 5500 increased to $2,233 per day that the filing is late.
Penalties for other types of violations can be found (link:https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb20-01.pdf text: here).