New rules that change the way nonprofit hospitals report to the Internal Revenue Service are burdensome and do not comply with the law, said the American Hospital Association (AHA) and the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA), who called for the withdrawal of Schedule H on Wednesday.
AHA and HFMA, which represent 5,000 health organizations and 39,000 executive members, respectively, argue that Part V of Schedule H does not comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act.
Schedule H requires health systems to issue separate reports for each hospital instead of a system-wide report, among other excessive documentation, national collaborative for nonprofit healthcare organizations VHA testified at Wednesday's House Ways and Means Committee Oversight Subcommittee hearing.
Part V, specifically, contains "redundancies, inconsistencies, onerous reporting requirements and undefined terms," AHA and HFMA said in the 20-page letter to the IRS, which details line-by-line recommendations.
AHA and HFMA said they were troubled with the inconsistent messages in the IRS' intent to comply with the Act. "[T]he actions of the IRS remain at odds with PRA compliance," they state.
While the Paper Reduction Act allows for 60 days of public comments, the IRS only allowed for five days, the trade groups said. They urged the IRS to withdraw Part V Schedule H completely or at least make it optional until the Office of Management and Budget approves it.
For more information:
- see the AHA letter (.pdf)
- here's the AHA News Now brief
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