Earlier this week, the Internal Revenue Service posted a notice in the Federal Register seeking stakeholder comments on COVID-related relief measures. The notice, entitled IRS Review of Regulatory and Other Relief To Support Economic Recovery, is in response to President Trump’s Executive Order 13924 and on-going agency actions taken to aid taxpayers during the pandemic.

Today, the Partnership for Employer-Sponsored Coverage formally filed the letters it had previously sent to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig requesting safe harbor relief under the Affordable Care Act’s employer reporting requirements and employer shared responsibility to address economic and compliance hardships businesses are facing as a result of the pandemic.

An excerpt of the letter is below and the full text is available HERE.

We respectfully request the Internal Revenue Service take these safe harbor requests under strict advisement as the COVID pandemic continues to greatly impact businesses of all sizes and the millions of American families under employment-based coverage. There is an urgent economic need to provide employers with immediate compliance relief from these burdensome requirements that are being further compounded because of state and locally mandated closures and operation changes, and unforeseen workforce transitions.