Client Alerts
Client Alerts
1162 items, 20 items per page
In a welcome development, the IRS announced on December 28, 2015 (IRS Notice 2016-04) the following extensions of Form 1095-C and Form 1095-B deadlines:
Original Deadline New Extended Deadline Distribution to employees February 1, 2016 March 31, 2016 (2-month extension) Electronic filing with IRS March 31, 2016 June 30, 2016 (3-month extension) Paper filing with IRS* February 29, 2016 May 31, 2016 (3-month extension) * Paper filing is only permitted if an entity is filing fewer than 250 Forms 1095-C or 1095-B.
- Recently the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced three settlements to resolve investigations into potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
- In October 2015, Representative Tom Brinkman introduced House Bill 377 in the Ohio General Assembly to make Ohio the nation’s 26th right-to-work state (along with Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming).
- The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices recently released guidance for employers conducting internal I-9 audits. The guidance covers topics including how to define the scope of an internal audit, how to communicate to employees regarding the audit, how to fix specific errors discovered during the audit, and other related questions.
- On January 1, 2016, the Texas Open Carry Law becomes effective. The new law allows a person with a concealed handgun license to carry a holstered handgun in plain view in any public place where a concealed handgun is otherwise permitted.
- Members of the Ohio House and Senate concluded their formal work schedule for 2015 last week with a flurry of activity aimed at finalizing pending legislative issues before heading back to their respective districts for the holidays. They are expected to return to Columbus January 20th for a very limited schedule prior to the March 15th Primary Election.
- In November 2015, the Ohio House of Representatives passed a bill (House Bill 48) to expand Ohio’s concealed weapons law.
- Ohio’s biennial budget bill for FY 2016-2017 (Am. Sub. H.B. 64) added Section 5124.70 to the Ohio Revised Code. This section, which was effective September 29, 2015, prohibits, with limited exceptions , an ICF/IID from allowing more than two residents to share a sleeping room.
- On Dec. 3, 2015, the Ohio EPA issued an invitation to certain interested parties to begin discussions on how to address USEPA’s Notice of Deficiency for Ohio’s Startup, Shutdown and Malfunction (SSM) rules.
- In November, 2015, as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, new rules were enacted governing partnership audits and assessments by the IRS.
- As part of a modernization project that was begun by the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules in 2008, most of the Official Bankruptcy Forms will be replaced with substantially revised, renumbered and reformatted versions, effective December 1, 2015.
- In an Official Press Release last week, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it has approved final amendments to its Telemarketing Sales Rule that, in large part, help protect consumers by eliminating various payment methods popular amongst scam artists.
- As more employers consider paying their employees with payroll debit cards, they need to be aware of lawsuits challenging the practice and what sparked those suits. In several cases, employees argued that the payroll cards imposed fees for withdrawals, transfers, balance inquiries, and/or inactivity, which allegedly made it impossible for employees to obtain their full, earned wages.
- Recently five federal agencies, The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Farm Credit Administration and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, issued much-anticipated joint final rules that establish minimum margin and capital requirements for registered swap dealers, major swap participants, security-based swap dealers and major security-based swap participants for which one of the Agencies is the prudential regulator.
- The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (11/2/2015) includes a rare bipartisan amendment to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA would have required that employers with 200 or more full-time employees auto-enroll their full-time employees in health coverage.
- The federal bipartisan budget contained a little-noticed provision entitled the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act. This Act requires the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to increase its monetary penalties for the first time since 1990.
- The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (the Act) was enacted just days ago. When the Act takes effect, it will materially reduce reimbursement for new, off campus hospital outpatient departments (OPD), such as hospital-based clinics.
- On November 5, 2015, the Supreme Court of Ohio answered two questions concerning the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act (DMA). In Chesapeake Exploration, L.L.C. v. Buell, the Court held that under the DMA: (1) a recorded oil and gas lease is a title transaction that serves as a savings event that prevents minerals from being abandoned to a surface owner; but (2) that the unrecorded expiration of an oil and gas lease is not a savings event.
- During Monday’s oral argument in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, No. 13-1339, the Supreme Court appeared sharply divided on the issue of whether a plaintiff has standing to sue for a technical violation of a federal consumer law even when there is no indication that the plaintiff has actually been harmed by the violation.
- In October 2015, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that it will soon issue a final rule concerning safety incentive programs that reward employees for low accident levels.