COMMITTEE on WAYS and MEANS

*UPDATE:  NEW TIME*

ALL OTHER DETAILS OF THE HEARING REMAIN THE SAME.

Congressman Charles W. Boustany, Jr., MD, (R-LA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on the Internal Revenue Service’s (“IRS”) implementation and administration of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (“Democrats’ health care law”).  The hearing will take place on Tuesday, September 11, 2012, in Room 1100 of the Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 9:45 A.M.

In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only.  However, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Subcommittee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing.  A list of invited witnesses will follow.

BACKGROUND:

Enacted in large part on March 23, 2010, the Democrats’ health care law contains 47 tax or tax-related provisions, some of which are already in effect and others that will become effective over the next 18 months.  These provisions include, the individual mandate and employer mandate taxes, restrictions on the use of Flexible Spending Arrangements and Health Savings Accounts, a new 3.8 percent tax on investment income, newly-mandated information reporting on health insurance coverage, new taxes on medical devices, a new Medicare payroll tax, the health insurance premium subsidy, and new requirements for tax-exempt hospitals and group health insurance plans.

The IRS is charged with implementing and administering these new provisions on top of its existing duties under the Internal Revenue Code, which include collecting $2.4 trillion in taxes, processing 145 million individual tax returns, issuing $345 billion in tax refunds, and administering numerous non-revenue provisions such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and various green energy subsidies.

Along with its review of the IRS’s new duties, the Subcommittee will consider: (1) how the IRS’s new duties under the health care law will affect both taxpayers and the IRS’s core revenue-collection function; (2) the IRS’s progress in implementing various provisions of the health care law, both those that are already in effect and those that are not yet in place; and (3) how the agency will coordinate with other federal departments, state governments, and stakeholders to implement the new tax provisions.

In announcing the hearing, Chairman Boustany said, “In recent years, the Subcommittee has held hearings on the IRS’s budget, its administration of our complex and convoluted tax code, and an estimated $100 billion in taxpayer dollars that have been lost to fraud, waste, and abuse over the past decade.  Under President Obama’s health care law, the IRS is now charged with administering much of the health care law.  It is imperative that we take a close look at these new duties and consider the impact they will have on the agency and the taxpayers it serves.”

FOCUS OF THE HEARING:

The hearing will focus on the IRS’s implementation of various tax provisions enacted in the Democrats’ health care law and consider how the agency’s  implementation of the law will affect taxpayers and its core revenue-collection mission.

DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS:

Please Note: Any person(s) and/or organization(s) wishing to submit for the hearing record must follow the appropriate link on the hearing page of the Committee website and complete the informational forms.  From the Committee homepage, http://waysandmeans.house.gov, select “Hearings.”  Select the hearing for which you would like to submit, and click on the link entitled, “Click here to provide a submission for the record.”  Once you have followed the online instructions, submit all requested information.  ATTACH your submission as a Word document, in compliance with the formatting requirements listed below, by the close of business on Tuesday, September 25, 2012.  Finally, please note that due to the change in House mail policy, the U.S. Capitol Police will refuse sealed-package deliveries to all House Office Buildings.  For questions, or if you encounter technical problems, please call (202) 225-1721 or (202) 225-3625.

FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:

The Committee relies on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record.  As always, submissions will be included in the record according to the discretion of the Committee.  The Committee will not alter the content of your submission, but we reserve the right to format it according to our guidelines.  Any submission provided to the Committee by a witness, any supplementary materials submitted for the printed record, and any written comments in response to a request for written comments must conform to the guidelines listed below.  Any submission or supplementary item not in compliance with these guidelines will not be printed, but will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.

1. All submissions and supplementary materials must be provided in Word format and MUST NOT exceed a total of 10 pages, including attachments.  Witnesses and submitters are advised that the Committee relies on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record.

2. Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material will not be accepted for printing. Instead, exhibit material should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased.  All exhibit material not meeting these specifications will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.

3. All submissions must include a list of all clients, persons and/or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears.  A supplemental sheet must accompany each submission listing the name, company, address, telephone, and fax numbers of each witness.

The Committee seeks to make its facilities accessible to persons with disabilities.  If you are in need of special accommodations, please call 202-225-1721 or 202-226-3411 TTD/TTY in advance of the event (four business days notice is requested).  Questions with regard to special accommodation needs in general (including availability of Committee materials in alternative formats) may be directed to the Committee as noted above.

Note: All Committee advisories and news releases are available on the World Wide Web at http://www.waysandmeans.house.gov/.