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IRS Announces Coronavirus Relief

Client Alert

On March 18, the IRS released Notice 2020-17, Relief for Taxpayers Affected by Ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic which sets forth the scope of the relief being granted taxpayers.

What Has Been Extended

The Notice provides for the extension of payment of up to $1 Million on the balance due on 2019 individual returns (Form 1040) and trust and estate returns (Form 1041) until July 15, 2020. It also provides for the extension of time to make the first federal estimated payment until July 15, 2020. Under both circumstances, there will be no penalty or interest assessed; provided payment is made by the July date. It has been explicitly stated that interest and penalty will begin to be calculated and imposed effective July 16, 2020.

C corporations and consolidated groups whose returns are due on April 15, 2020, have also received an extension to make payments while avoiding the imposition of penalty and interest until July 15, 2020. Each C corporation that is not part of a consolidated group will be able to defer the payment of up to $10 Million on the balance due on 2019 corporate returns. Each consolidated group will be able to defer the payment of tax due up to $10 Million. Submission of any estimated payments due on April 15, 2020, has been extended as well. As with individuals, interest and penalties will begin to be charged effective July 16, 2020.

What Has Not Been Extended

Most importantly, the filing deadline has not been extended. All returns must be filed or extended by April 15, 2020. While there is no form that is required to receive the payment relief set forth above, they have not waived the penalty and interest for failure to timely file your returns.

Additionally, note that this extension applies only to federal INCOME taxes. That means if you owe any other type of tax (most notably, I point out that first quarter payroll taxes are due April 30, 2020), you still must file those returns and pay the taxes on time. Penalty and interest will be assessed from the normal due date.

What We Still Don’t Know

At this point, we still have not received any guidance from the State of Ohio or any city about the filing and payment deadlines for any taxes due.

As always, we will continue to update you with any changes. For more information, please contact BMD Business, Corporate & Tax Member, Priscilla Grant at pagrant@bmdllc.com or 330-253-5934.


Ohio Hospitals and Healthcare Clinics: It’s Time to Revisit Your Billing and Collection Practices

According to a recent Cuyahoga County case, certain healthcare entities may not be protected from liability when engaging in unfair or deceptive billing acts. This decision is consistent with the growing trend across the country to encourage price transparency and eliminate unfair surprise billing practices by health care organizations. Now is the time for hospitals and other health care organizations to revisit their billing and collection policies and procedures to confirm that they are legally defensible and consistent with best practices.

HIPAA Business Associate Agreements: Why These Contracts Matter

No one loves drafting, reading or negotiating HIPAA Business Associate Agreements (BAAs). Yet many of us need to do so, and some of us do so daily. They are often boring, dense and technical, but BAAs are important from both a legal and a business perspective, and they deserve our attention. Failure to enter a BAA when one is required can constitute a HIPAA violation that results in substantial liability, as demonstrated by certain recent Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) settlements.1 A business associate who makes a disclosure that is not authorized by the applicable BAA or required by law can be subject to civil and, in some cases, criminal penalties. Further, parties are often presented with BAAs that contain onerous one-sided indemnification and other provisions that can be devasting to an organization in the event of a HIPAA breach. The significance of a BAA is often not fully understood by the parties until something goes wrong (e.g., a HIPAA security incident or breach, an Office of Civil Rights (OCR) audit or a fracture in the relationship between the parties) and, at that point, there is limited opportunity to mitigate legal and business risk. Ideally, attention should be given at the commencement of the business associate relationship, when the parties are able, to thoughtfully addressing regulatory requirements, planning and preparing for potential adverse events and appropriately allocating risk among the parties. As with most healthcare regulatory compliance initiatives, a proactive approach with respect to BAAs is preferable. This article provides a broad overview of certain BAA requirements and some practical negotiating tips for the parties involved.

“I’m Out Of Here!” Now What?

We all know that the healthcare industry is experiencing a wave of integration. This trend has been evident for many years. Fewer physicians are willing to assume the legal, financial and other business risks associated with owning their own practices. More and more physicians, including anesthesiologists, are becoming employed by large physician groups, health systems and national providers. This shift necessarily involves not only entry into new employment arrangements but also the termination of existing relationships. And those terminations are often governed by written employment agreements, state and federal healthcare laws and employer benefit plans and other policies and procedures. Before pursuing their next opportunity, physicians should pause for a moment and first attend to the arrangement that they are leaving. Departing physicians need to understand their legal rights and obligations when leaving their current employment relationships in order to avoid unintended consequences and detrimental missteps along the way. Here are a few words of practical advice for physicians contemplating an exit from their current employment arrangements.

Investment Training for the Second and Third Generations

Consider this scenario. Mom and Dad started the business from the ground up. Over the decades it has expanded into a money-making machine. They are able to sell the business and it results in a multimillion-dollar payday for their labors. The excess money has allowed Mom and Dad to invest with various financial advising firms, several fund management groups, and directly with new startups and joint ventures. Their experience has made them savvy investors, with a detailed understanding of how much to invest, when, and where. They cannot justify formation of a full family office with dedicated investors to manage the funds, but Mom and Dad have set up a trust fund for the children to allow these investments to continue to grow over the years. Eventually, Mom and Dad pass. Their children enjoy the fruits of their labors, and, by the time the grandchildren are adults, Mom and Dad's savvy investments are gone.

Provider Relief Funds – Continued Confusion Regarding Reporting Requirements and Lost Revenues

In Fall 2020, HHS issued multiple rounds of guidance and FAQs regarding the reporting requirements for the Provider Relief Funds, the most recently published notice being November 2, 2020 and December 11, 2020. Specifically, the reporting portal for the use of the funds in 2020 was scheduled to open on January 15, 2021. Although there was much speculation as to whether this would occur. And, as of the date of this article, the portal was not opened.