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B-329916 1 (2018-05-17)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadupu0001 and id is 1 raw text is: GAOU.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 B-329916 May 17, 2018 The Honorable Mark Meadows House of Representatives Subject: Internal Revenue Service: Applicability of the Congressional Review Act to the IRS Statement on Health Care Reporting Requirements Dear Mr. Meadows: This is in response to your request1 for our opinion whether an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Statement regarding electronically filed tax returns where the taxpayer does not address the health coverage reporting requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a rule for purposes of the Congressional Review Act (CRA).2 In that Statement, IRS announced that for the 2018 tax filing season it would not accept electronically filed individual income tax returns where the taxpayer does not meet ACA reporting requirements, specifically to report full-year health coverage, claim a coverage exemption, or report a shared responsibility payment (known as silent returns). As explained below, we conclude that the Statement falls within a statutory exception to CRA because it is a rule of agency procedure or practice that does not substantially affect taxpayers' rights or obligations . 1 Letter from Chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, House of Representatives, to Comptroller General (Feb. 16, 2018). 2 CRA was included as part of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996. Pub. L. No. 104-121, title II, subtitle E, 110 Stat. 857, 868 (Mar. 28, 1996) (codified at 5 U.S.C. §§ 801 -808). 3 Our practice when rendering opinions is to contact the relevant agencies and obtain their legal views on the subject of the request. GAO, Procedures and Practices for Legal Decisions and Opinions, GAO-06-1064SP (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 2006), available at www.gaogov/products/GAO-06-1064SP. We contacted the Chief Counsel of IRS to obtain the agency's views. Letter from Assistant General Counsel, GAO, to Acting Chief Counsel, IRS (Mar. 29, 2018). We received a response on April 12, 2018. Letter from Acting Chief Counsel, IRS, to Assistant General Counsel, GAO (Apr. 12, 2018) (IRS Letter).

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