House GOP presses IRS on ObamaCare

The new House Oversight chairman is pushing the IRS for details over how it’s implementing the agency’s role in ObamaCare — and what it will do if the Supreme Court rules against the administration in a new healthcare case.

{mosads}Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), joined by Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), told the IRS on Thursday he wants to know what the agency is doing to help taxpayers understand new requirements from the Affordable Care Act. 

Taxpayers have to reconcile the amount of credit they received to help purchase healthcare on their tax returns this year with their income amount. Plus, roughly six million people might have to pay a penalty for not having insurance. Those new requirements are coming at a time when Congress has slashed the agency’s budget, and IRS officials are warning that services for taxpayers will be reduced this year.

“Tax professionals have noted the new forms are complicated, and many taxpayers are wholly unfamiliar with the new requirements,” the three Republicans wrote to John Koskinen, the IRS commissioner.

“In fact, it appears the biggest beneficiaries of the ACA’s changes to our tax system may be private tax preparation companies,” they added.

The Republicans also said they were concerned that the IRS won’t know how to respond if the Supreme Court rules that subsidies for insurance can’t be issued through the federal exchange. 

Because of that, the Oversight panel asked the IRS for a wide range of information: documents from the start of 2014 dealing with messaging on taxpayer services, ACA-related forms, the tax credit for insurance and contingency plans for the Supreme Court’s ruling in King v. Burwell.