The Internal Revenue Service on Feb. 7 published a temporary rule, effective Feb. 7, describing how nonprofit health plans participating in the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP) program may apply for tax-exempt status under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In December, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued a final rule detailing eligibility and other standards for the CO-OP program, which will provide $3.8 billion in loans and grants to help organizations develop nonprofit health cooperatives to sell qualified health plans to individuals and small businesses through state insurance exchanges.
The IRS rule requires CO-OPs to include a copy of the CMS Notice of Award and Loan Agreement with their application for tax-exempt status, and allows the IRS to make tax exemptions retroactive to the date of the CO-OP's formation or March 23, 2010, whichever is later. In addition to the temporary rule, the IRS published an identical proposed rule for comment through April 9.
[ via AHA News Now ]
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